Page 29 of Their Wicked Ways
Gray and Noah laughed.
“You took things literally as a kid?” Wes asked.
“Yup. Still do.” River shrugged. “My brain is weird.”
“Mine is too.” Wes peeled the wrapping off his sandwich. “My older brother told me I had beans in my ears when I was little, and I ran to our mom screaming because I thought there were actual beans in my ears.”
“Beans in your ears?” Quinn asked.
“It was something he heard her say to our dad a few times. Apparently it means you’re not listening. It was the first time I’d heard it, and my dumb ass took it literally.”
“I have soooo many stories like that.” River shot Wes a commiserating smile.
“Same.” Quinn shook a big container filled with salad fixings. “It took me a long time to figure out the concept of sarcasm.”
“I still don’t really get it, TBH.” River took a bite out of a shiny red apple.
“How long have you guys been together?” Gray asked.
I glanced at Wes, dragging my gaze over Jett in the process. He was staring into his lunch container, but I could tell he wasn’t really seeing what was inside and was focused on the conversation.
“Almost eight years.” Wes took a bite of his sandwich.
“Eight years?” Noah spluttered. “How old are you guys?”
“I just turned twenty-five. Wes is twenty-four.”
“You’ve known each other since you were sixteen?” Zane asked.
I uncapped my water. “We started dating when we were sixteen, but we knew each other for a year before we got together.”
“Jesus.” Gray whistled through his teeth. “I was such a shit at sixteen.Iwouldn’t have dated me.”
“Same.” Noah toasted him with some of the peel he’d just pulled off his orange.
“You’re still a shit.” Zane batted his eyelashes at Noah.
“Takes one to know one.” Noah tossed the peel at Zane, who caught it and dropped it into his lunch bag.
“And you’ve been together this whole time? No breakups or anything?” River asked. “Our parents were high school sweethearts too, but they broke up a few times before they graduated. Not for long, only a month or a couple of weeks. Did that happen to you?”
“Nope.” Wes leaned back on one hand. “Once we got together, that was it. He’s it for me.”
“That’s really sweet.” River made fake moon eyes at us. “I’d be super jelly if I didn’t have Hayden.”
“I’m so sorry if this is too personal, but I have to ask.” Gray looked like he was about to explode from either curiosity or fromphysically holding in whatever question he was about to blurt out. “Were you guys each other’s firsts?”
“That might not be the most appropriate thing to ask at work,” Quinn spoke up, shooting us an apologetic look.
“Sorry,” Gray said sheepishly. “I shouldn’t have said anything. Especially not here. It’s just hard for me to picture being out in high school and having a boyfriend.”
“It’s fine.” I dug a protein bar out of the bottom of my cooler. “I get it. We weren’t out when we started dating. We were outed, but we tried to keep it quiet.”
Quinn’s look told me he remembered exactly how bad things were back then.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything,” Gray said guiltily.
“It’s fine,” Wes echoed and sipped his water. “High school sucked for a lot of reasons. Being gay was just one more layer to a shitty time.”