“Tell that to my knees.” Dad chuckled
Dean nodded. “You should come to dinner at Mav’s tomorrow. It’s family night. And you should bring Reed.” They both gave me hugs again, told me they loved me before they left me staring at Reed, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but in this place with me.
I glanced around the bar, watching Zach speaking with Ezra, Tate and Oscar smiling with one another, and anger suddenly spiked in my veins. I gritted my teeth as I marched over to where Reed stood.
“What the fuck?” I grunted.
“Please don’t do this here, Cole.” He took a step away from me.
I shook my head. “Don’t play stupid. You know what I’m talking about. We spent the entire summer together. And then poof, you were just gone! I woke up to find you had gone back to New York. Without an explanation or even saying goodbye? We had made plans together. Do you have any idea...God, I’m so mad at you right now.”
“I’m sorry, okay? I don’t know what else to say. I made a mistake. If I could go back, I’d change how I did things. I wouldn’t have done it the way I had.”
“A mistake? You made a mistake. A mistake is not using your turn signal or maybe rolling through a stop sign when there was a cop down the road. Not disappearing on me in the middle of the night and ignoring my calls and messages. I fucking loved you.”
Reed’s chin quivered as he stared at me, his eyes full of tears. “Please don’t do this here. We could go somewhere else and talk. Alone,” he begged.
“I think that I’m owed some sort of explanation. I’ve waited long enough.” Rage burned behind my eyes as I fisted my hands at my side.
I was devastated when I woke up and Reed was gone. Too embarrassed to go to his parents to ask them for his address at school or to tell my dads what had happened. So, I suffered in silence and tried to forget. I tried to find someone else when I started dating Fiona, but my heart was never in it, and she was just using me. Maybe we used one another.
Reed shook his head. “I can’t do this right now.” He tried to push past me, but I grabbed his arm, yanking him against me. “Cole, don’t, please. Let go.”
“Don’t what? Try to have a conversation with you? The one you owe me?” Tears slipped down his cheeks. “Jesus, baby, what happened to you?”
I reached up to brush the wetness from his face, only to have him turn away. I knew the second I let go of him; Reed was going to run. Back to his parents’ house, hell, maybe right back to New York, and the chance I had to talk to him would be gone forever. I couldn’t force him to stay here or give me the answers I was desperate for. I relaxed my grip, and the second I did, Reed rushed away from me and right to Zach. Zach’s expression turned from surprise to shock and then he wrapped his arms around Reed to pull him close. He glanced at me for a second before he hugged his friend closer.
This was not going according to plan. I wanted Reed to confess everything to me so we could move on. Maybe try again. Instead, I was stuck watching as another man gave him the comfort he wasn’t willing to let me give him. I sighed, turned around, and nearly smacked right into Wyatt. Standing right behind him were his husbands, Noel and Seth.
“Everything good?” he asked. He glanced over where I had been staring and then shook his head. “Which one is it? Reed or the blond who’s been chatting up Ezra all night?”
I pretended not to notice the tray of shots that had suddenly appeared or the fact that Reed had just downed three of them ina row. That wasn’t going to end well. Who was going to take care of him when he drank too much? What if he threw up in his hair? Who would help him tomorrow morning when he was nursing a hangover? Wait, that wasn’t my problem anymore, was it?
“I should go.”
“It’s Reed.” Seth looked more than proud of himself. “What? Don’t look at me like that. I remember when your dads got married. You two were inseparable that summer. We all saw you running around town together. We made him a WAG.”
I felt myself grow warm, only when I looked back at Reed again, he was laughing with Zach. Guess he had forgotten all about me again. “Wewereinseparable that summer, but things change.”
“Ah, well, that makes sense. He’s here now, right? That has to mean something.” Wyatt squeezed my shoulder.
Yeah, but he won’t even talk to me.
“I guess.” I watched in horror as Reed and Zach inhaled more shots. Who was going to make sure he got home safely? I shook my head. Nope, not my problem. Maybe I should go find a hookup to ease my sorrows. I’m sure there were plenty of willing participants here.
“You’re going to go over there, aren’t you?” Seth teased, a smile pulling at his lips.
Noel rolled his eyes. “You’ll figure it out. In the meantime, I’m going to take my guys home. Congrats on the win tonight, man.” He patted my shoulder before he wrapped his arms around his husbands and guided them toward the door.
I stood there watching Reed and Zach for a couple more minutes before I decided I needed to intervene. Before they got too drunk to go home or someone tried to take advantage of them. As I got closer, I could hear Reed slurring his words while Zach was nodding his head in agreement. They both stopped tostare at me with glossy eyes. That had happened way faster than I thought.
“Hey, youuuuu.” Reed batted his lashes at me. Yep, he was drunk. “Come to try to force me to tell you all my deep, dark secrets? I mean, you don’t have to force me. I’m almost willing now.”
I sighed softly. “Time to go.”
“Party pooper.” Reed stuck his tongue out at me and blew a raspberry.
Zach giggled loudly. “Fun ruiner.” He looked around the bar. “Where did that big, sexy hunk of a goalie of yours go? I was hoping to climb him like a tree tonight.”