“I’ve loved him almost from the start. Even when I didn’t realize it, I loved him. I never wanted a relationship because I never thought I could have him, and…damn, Hutch, he’s it for me. He will always be it for me.” I held my breath, unable to believe what I’d just admitted to him, how much I’d told him about how I felt.
“The two of you should come over for dinner tonight. I should make sure he realizes how terrible his taste is.”
“Not as bad as Ryder’s,” I countered. I wanted to do what he asked, though. I wanted to spend time with Lane and my friend. “I’ll talk to Lane about dinner. I probably shouldn’t have been telling you, but—”
“Yes,” Lane cut me off. I turned to see him standing in the hallway, watching me. “I don’t even know who it is, but if he asked us to dinner, yes. And you will always be it for me too.”
“It’s not nice to eavesdrop,” I replied, heart in my throat.
“Shut up and tell him yes, Isaac.”
“It’s Hutch,” I told Lane, then to my friend, “Did you hear him? Apparently, I’m forced to be in your company tonight.”
“Don’t try to hide it. You can’t wait.”
“What time should we be there?”
“Six,” Hutch replied. “I’m happy for you, Isaac.”
“I’m happy for me too.” I ended the call, cocked a brow at Lane. “You know that means you have to get dressed, right?”
“Damn it! Can’t he come here instead?”
I chuckled, went to him, pushed his hair off his forehead. “You’re a mess.” I didn’t know how he always ended up with paint all over himself. Likely because he didn’t care.
“You like me this way.”
He was right. I did.
“Ugh. It’s you,” Hutch said the second he opened the door to his condo.
“You’ll have to excuse my friend. He suffers crippling insecurity every time he’s around me, which results in terrible jokes and trying to one-up me, yet failing at every turn. What have we talked about, Hutch? It’s okay not to be as good as me. It’s okay to be jealous. You should be happy with who you are.”
Hutch rolled his eyes. “Why is it every time I see you, I hate you more?” he said playfully before looking at Lane. “Hey, man. It’s good to see you again. It’s been a couple of years.” He was referring to the one and only time they’d met.
“You too.” Lane reached out, and they shook hands.
“Stop stalling and help me cook!” Ryder’s deep voice came from inside.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Hutch replied.
“Are you sure you want us to stick around for that?” I teased, making my friend shake his head.
I signaled for Lane to go in front of me, then placed my hand at the small of his back when we got inside.
“It’s almost done. This guy just needs to finish the pasta.” Ryder pointed to Hutch. He rinsed his hands, dried them, then held one out for Lane. “Hi, I’m Ryder.”
“Lane. Nice to meet you.”
“What’s up? It’s good to see you again,” Ryder told me.
“I’ll try not to vomit on you this time.”
Ryder chuckled, and I felt Lane’s curious gaze on me. “The night I met him was the night after our hike. I got a little drunk. It wasn’t pretty. I blame you.” I winked so he knew I was just playing around. The best way to deal with it was to make a joke out of it, if you asked me, and I also didn’t want Ryder to think that was typical for me.
“Hmm, maybe I’ll have to put a sign around your neck that says, If lost, return to Lane Ryan, so we don’t have to worry about that happening again.”
“Do you get one too?” I held his waist, pulled him close, and dropped my forehead to his.
“Obviously,” he replied, and I realized the apartment was quiet. I turned to Ryder and Hutch, who were both staring at us. I didn’t know Ryder very well, but it was clear even he was surprised by our display.
I held Hutch’s gaze. “Shut it.”
“Holy shit. I don’t think I can. This is the best thing I’ve ever seen. Are you going to start humping his leg, because if so, you can go to the spare bedroom. If not, I’m just going to give you shit about the hearts that shot out of your eyes because I’ve never seen you like this before.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t see you like this before Ryder either.”
“And you tease me too. It’s way more fun on this side of it.”
“Wait, are you saying it’s not fun to be in love with me?” Ryder asked.
“How did you get that out of what I said?” Hutch replied.
“It gives me great joy to find a way to turn things around on you when I need to,” Ryder answered.