Page 52 of Their Wicked Ways

“Do I look like a bar maiden?” I stood and stretched out my back.

Jesse spluttered with laughter. “Oh god. I just got a mental picture of you in one of those Oktoberfest dresses with giant fake boobs.”

“You don’t think I could rock one of those?” I arched my eyebrow at him.

“I mean, you pulled off that sexy Snow White dress the year you lost that bet and me and Wes got to pick your Halloween costume.” He snickered. “I suppose you could pull off a bar maiden outfit too.”

“Damn straight I could.” I pretended to do a little hair flip. “Now, are you done sassing me so I can go make you food like the good host that I am?”

“For now. But first, beer me.”

“Get your own damn beer,” I called, heading into the kitchen. “Unless you want to spend the whole night wondering what I did to the open can I’m gonna give you.”

“Fucker.” Heavy footfalls rang out as Jesse hurried after me. “I haven’t forgotten what you did at Adam’s twenty-first.”

Laughing, I went to the cupboard to pull out my bread maker.

Shutting Jesse out while I tried to deal with the clusterfuck that was my life had been a mistake. Thank god he cared enough to keep breaking down my walls instead of running away like most people did.

Jesse wasn’t just my best friend; he was family. And I needed to remember that it was okay to lean on your family when things were tough.

10

WES

“We need to talk,”Ez said in a hushed tone.

I hung my head. I’d been waiting to hear those four words for weeks now. “Okay,” I mumbled.

“Look at me.”

I raised my eyes.

Ez was staring at me with a mix of fear and despair in his eyes. That was so much worse than anger, which is exactly what he should have felt.

“Wes.” He put his hand on mine where it rested on the table.

Instinctively, I pulled away. Not because I didn’t want to touch him, but because I didn’t deserve his kindness or his soft touches right now.

“Babe.” His voice was filled with so much anguish my heart broke.

Fuck. I was hurting the man I loved because I couldn’t get out of my own damn head and talk to him. I was a terrible person for everything I’d done to him.

“I’m sorry.” I tucked my hands under my thighs so I wouldn’t be tempted to reach for him. I didn’t deserve his comfort after I’d brushed him off like that.

“Why are you sorry?”

I shrugged and looked away.

I knew exactly why I was sorry, but I couldn’t tell him without ruining everything.

Tears filled my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I was the asshole here. I had no right to be upset.

Ezra sighed and busied himself with stacking our dinner dishes and pushing them to the other side of our small kitchen table so they weren’t in the way.

“I didn’t mean to,” I started, my voice scratchy and rough.

“You didn’t mean to develop feelings for him?” Ez asked point blank.