I nodded. “I know, I just...When I’m ready, I’ll talk. But right now, it hurts too much. And I promise it’s not Cole. He’s...He’s perfect.” I brushed the tears that had escaped from my face.
“You know what we should do?” Zach gave me a soft smile, but his eyes were filled with worry. “We should go out. Grab an iced coffee and just enjoy ourselves. My treat.”
I sniffed. “You just want to see Tate.”
“No, I want to spend time with my best friend,” Zach assured me. “Please? Let me spoil you a little bit.”
When I nodded, he stood up and yanked me to my feet.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Reed, babe, you never have to thank me. Not for this or anything. I would do anything for you.” Zach grabbed my hand. “Best friends for life, remember?”
I managed a tight smile. “For life.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Cole
Iwas worried about Reed. He’d had his first therapy session this morning. He had been terrified about what that would mean. What the therapist would ask him and try to get him to talk about. Reed hadn’t wanted to talk about anything. But since it was nearly noon now, that should be over. And he hadn’t reached out to me. Had it gone as badly as he thought it would? Or maybe something worse happened...
I had kept pacing the house, up the stairs and down the hall, before Oscar finally stopped me and dragged to the Bean on Main. I knew it was most likely because he wanted to see Tate, but he assured me it was to get me out of the house and my head. Imagine my surprise when we walked into the coffee shop to find Reed and Zach.
“You good?” Oscar asked when I came to a complete stop. They hadn’t seen me yet, and I took a moment to watch them. Heads pressed together with iced coffee before them. They each had a muffin as well, but it didn’t look like Reed had touched his at all.
I squared my shoulders. “Perfectly fine. Thank you for asking.”
“Oscar!” Tate squealed when he saw my best friend and nearly jumped into his arms. “I didn’t know you were coming by today.”
Oscar’s ears burned pink. “I wanted to surprise you.”
I turned away to give them privacy, only to find Reed standing before me. He gave me a shy smile, grabbed my hand, and led me over to the table where Zach still sat. When I sat down, he slid into my lap and kissed me.
“I should just...I’m going to go talk to Tate and Oscar.” Zach pushed back his chair. “Let the two of you have a few minutes alone.”
“You don’t have to go.” I tried to stop him, but Zach waved me off. “Baby, you okay?” I pushed the hair back from Reed’s forehead. Exhaustion was written all over his face. And his eyes were bloodshot, like maybe he had been crying. I wanted to ask him about his therapy session, but I knew he would tell me when he was ready. And if he didn’t, that was okay, too.
Reed nodded. “Better now.” He put his head on my shoulder. “Are you mad at me? I’m sorry I didn’t text you.”
“No.” I shook my head and pulled back so I could look at him. “Don’t do that. You needed time to process everything. I’m glad that you’re out with Zach and spending time with your friend. That’s important.”
Reed kissed the tip of my nose. “Zach practically dragged me here. I think he just wanted to see Tate and figured Oscar would show up at some point.”
“I bet.” I chuckled softly. “He was at the house this morning. Zach, I mean. He tried to sneak out before anyone was up, but I saw him. I think I nearly gave him a heart attack.”
Reed giggled softly. The sound made my heart sore and my cock twitch. “He sort of told me. Not everything, but something about kissing Oscar and then watching him have sex with Tate.”
“He...What?” I gasped, and Reed laughed even harder. “You’re serious.”
He nodded. “Dead serious. Whatever this is between the three of them is none of my business.”
But I had questions. Lots of them, actually. Tate and Oscar were destined to be together. I didn’t want Zach to come in and mess that up for them. But when I turned to look at my best friend, he was smiling at both men who were holding hands again. “Huh.” Whoops, I hadn’t meant to say anything.
“Right?” Reed scrambled off my lap and into the chair next to me. He grabbed his coffee and muffin, and slid them closer. He picked a piece of the pastry off and popped into his mouth. “They’re cute.”
“They’re like Wyatt. I mean, he has two husbands,” I murmured.
I was too young when any of that happened, and Wyatt had left Boston by then, but I remembered Dad talking about it. With Asher mostly, because they apparently had been a thing before Wyatt asked to be traded. When Reed didn’t say anything, I turned to look at him. His eyes were wide. “What? Did I say something wrong?”