Page 47 of Their Wicked Ways

Jesse was the ultimate chameleon and was a master at hiding his emotions and feelings. Unless you knew what to look for.

Guilt cut through my distraction.

Jesse and I had met when I moved to town with my parents. I was the weird new kid who listened to heavy music and had an eyebrow piercing that the school made me take out while I was on campus.

Jesse and his best friend adopted me on my first day, and we struck up a fast friendship.

And I repaid his kindness by falling in love with his best friend and essentially stealing Wes away from him.

The three of us had been inseparable during school and had stayed close all these years, but it wasn’t the same, and Jesse had basically been our third wheel for the past nine years.

“Yeah, we’ve been pretty busy with work,” I said lamely.

“Right. Work.” Jesse shot me a flat look. “You do remember that your boss is my stepbrother, right? And he talks to me about his work and how busy things are?”

Sighing, I tapped the tab of my beer. “Yeah. I know.”

“So are you sticking with that story, or are you going to tell me the truth?”

“It’s…complicated. But it’s not a big deal.”

I didn’t miss the disappointment that flickered across his face. “Oh. Okay.”

“So, you were in the area?” I asked, feeling like the world’s biggest asshole.

Jesse wasn’t just one of my best friends; he was family. But I couldn’t talk to him about this. I couldn’t talk to anyone about what was going on.

“Yeah. Had a meeting with a client.” He studied the label on his beer can. “One of my regulars.”

“Are you still thinking about quitting?”

He nodded but didn’t look up from where he was staring at his drink.

For the past two years, Jesse had been working as an escort. He didn’t tell me details about his clients or exactly what he did with them, but I knew sex was only one of the services he offered, and he’d mostly had what he called companion clients.

“That was our last meeting, and he was my final regular.” Jesse gulped down some of his beer. “I’m officially out of the biz.”

“Really?”

He’d mentioned wanting to quit the last time we talked. He’d already done it?

He shot me a wry smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Like I said, it’s been a while.”

“I’m sorry.” I scrubbed a hand over my face.

“Are things okay with Wes?”

“Yeah.” I toyed with the tab on my beer can. “We’ll be fine. Things are just a bit weird right now.”

He nodded, his face falling when I didn’t elaborate.

“I’m sorry.” I put my beer on the table so I didn’t chug it or squeeze the can so hard I made a beer fountain. “I really wish I could talk to you about this, but it’s…complicated.”

“More complicated than you and Wes picking up thirds at Envy?” he asked casually.

Thank fuck I’d put my beer down because I would have done an epic spit take if I’d been in the process of drinking when he said that.

Even without the beer, I still choked on nothing.