Taking a deep inhale, he said, “Okay. I’ll see how I feel tomorrow.” He lifted the edge of his mouth. “I admit some part of me is excited to feel like a part of the LGBTQ community and going there might be…fun.”
“It’s definitely very fun.” Hot damn, I’d get him there at some point. Now we had to go.
Dante appeared behind Colton. “Oh, am I interrupting something?” He arched a brow.
I released Colton’s hand and rubbed my brow. Shit, how could I explain holding Colton’s hand? “Yeah, we were, uh, talking about the girl he just broke up with.” That was stupid. Now I’d opened a whole can of worms.
“Oh, was it painful? Did she break your heart?” Dante slipped in next to me. “I don’t have any experience with women, but I sure have experience with heartache.” He stole a peek at me.
What the hell was that for? “It was a student he was tutoring. They only went out a few times.” I pinched my lips. Would Colton get the hint?
Colton furrowed his brows and then choked out a laugh. “Yeah, I’m not heartbroken. She was nice, but she wasn’t for me.”
“Oh.” Dante poured fresh beer for himself and Colton. “Tell me all about it.”
With a glance at me, Colton said, “I don’t think it’s worth talking about. It’s over and we’re good now.”
After spendinga few hours with Colton, it was time to leave. I needed a full night’s rest before the game tomorrow, and I’d have meetings with the team in the morning since the game was at one in the afternoon. We’d firmed up plans for Colton to meet with Dante at the stadium.
As we hopped out of our Uber and strolled toward the house, Dante said, “Well, Colton sure is cute.”
“Yeah?” I unlocked the house and stepped inside. Dante had said little on our Uber ride home.
“He is.” Dante followed me in, tapped my ass and said, “I’m surprised you haven’t hooked up with him yet.”
Malik and Grey sat on the couch, wrapped in each other and watching a movie. Malik lifted his head and said, “Oh, hey, guys. Did you have a good time?” He sat up while Grey did the same.
Dante had to bring this up in front of Malik and Grey. “Yeah, well, he’s not, uh, queer, so…”
“Oh, you must be talking about Tex’s tutor.” Snickering, Malik raked his fingers through his bangs.
“I sure am. Have you met him yet?” Dante dropped onto the open end of the sectional.
Damn it, here we go.As I rolled my eyes, I strode into the kitchen. “I’ll get us some water, Dante.”
“No, we haven’t. Tex has been holding out on us.” Grey sniggered.
I grabbed two bottled waters, handed one to Dante, and sat beside him. “Colton has been busy. The guy got a bunch of new students a couple of weeks ago.” It wasn’t a lie. I unscrewed my water bottle.
“You didn’t drink tonight, did you, Tex?” Malik smirked at me.
“He was a good boy and had only one beer.” Dante bumped his shoulder with mine and then sipped his water.
“You two will meet Colton soon enough.” I gave them each a pointed look. I wanted this conversation dropped.
“Well, he’s got that adorable nerd look to him.” Dante growled like a wildcat, holding his fingers up like claws. “I’ll bet he’s a tiger in bed. Can you imagine him on his knees?—”
“Dante, that’s enough.” Heat bristled in my chest. Only I could think about Colton that way. No one else. I threw him a quick glare.
“Oh…” Dante covered his mouth with his fingers. “I knew you liked him, Tex.”
“Of course, he’s a nice guy.” Damn it, Dante knew me better than anyone. I had to cool it. “If it weren’t for him, I might be failing my analytics class right now.” I took a swig of water.
“Then why did you hold his hand when I left for the bathroom?” Dante hooked a brow.
“He did?” Grey’s eyes widened as he leaned toward me.
“Oh, come on. Guy friends can hold hands. It’s no big deal.” I scoffed and focused on Grey. “Dude, you held Malik’s hand all the time before you started fooling around with him. So, don’t look so surprised.” There, that would fix him.