"Your ex is a dick," Rook growled before downing the rest of his beer and turning away from me.
His profile gave me a glimpse of the half-moon scar near his temple that poked out from beneath his white beanie. The mark had been caused by a freak basketball practice accident that involved a collision with the corner of the bleachers our freshman year.
"Agreed. That better not be why you dragged me out here."
Rook had been popping out with random rants about Brad from the time I'd told him what my cheating ex had done. It was fair to say he wasn't a fan of Brad. Not that I could blame him.
When Brad had moved close to campus over the summer for a new job, he’d reached out via social media. For months I’d turned down his increasingly frequent offers to meet up. He caught me on a bad night when I was thinking about Rook and drowning in my own unrequited love pity party, so I said yes. I’d finally decided it was time for my heart to move on. Or at least try to.
I'd always been uncomfortable dating Brad behind my brother's back. He swore it would be temporary, and I had believed him. But what I'd told Rook was true. Other than irritation and mild embarrassment, I wasn't upset. Not as much as I probably should've been. Because my heart had refused to give up on Rook. It was emotionally exhausting sometimes. Did that make me as guilty as Brad? I wasn’t sure. Why did love and relationships have to be so frustratingly messy?
Rook shivered and stuffed one of his hands in the pouch of his hoodie. “I still can’t believe you didn’t tell me for an entire week.”
"We've been over this already." Several times in fact. “I would have, eventually.”
Rook cut his narrowed eyes toward me and huffed. “So, what’s the plan?”
His cheeks and nose were turning red, and he was stepping back and forth in an effort to stay warm.
I sucked back a long pull from my beer before shrugging. “No plan. I think I’ll just enjoy being single for a while."
Rook held out his bottle, and I reluctantly met him halfway, clinking them together. I rolled my eyes but tipped my head back and polished off the bottle.
Talking about Brad was getting old, but there was one unavoidable topic because Rook would be crossing paths with him in just a few short weeks. While I was pretty sure Rook wouldn't actually deck the guy… I eyed him closely, remembering his threats from earlier. Okay, I was almost certain he'd keep his hands to himself. Either way, we needed to talk.
I cleared my throat. “My brother’s wedding is two weeks from now.”
"Five solid days of Winter Wonderland bullshit." He scowled. “I remember.”
I wasn't that excited about it either. For anyone but my brother, I'd happily decline the invitation. Unfortunately, I was also part of the wedding party.
While, like me, my brother had been a scholarship student, he'd somehow met, dated and gotten engaged to the daughter of an extremely wealthy family who owned a ski resort in Avondale, Colorado. I'd never been, but my mother loved both Kendra and her family and sent me a steady stream of pictures of the mountain views. They were gorgeous, but I just didn't want to see them in December.
Kendra was the Greene’s only daughter, so they'd closed the entire resort for her wedding to my brother.
I wouldn't know what to do with that kind of money, but I could promise you I wouldn't spend it to put a ring on someone's finger while I froze my balls off in the snow. I shivered at the thought.
The only person I knew that would hate it more was Rook. I almost felt bad about dragging him to his personal version of hell for the only week he had off from basketball season.
Rook had missed my purpose of bringing up the wedding in the first place.
"Right. Five days and…Brad—"
"Brad's a fucking groomsman." Rook shot off a chorus of expletives under his breath. "Trevor doesn’t know about you and Brad, so he’s still going to be there.”
I grimaced. “Yep. He’s Trevor's best man, actually.”
Rook shook his head. “If only he knew… Dammit, Noah, I told you dating him behind your brother’s back was a bad idea.”
I sighed. “How could I forget with your constant reminders?”
“Are you going to tell your brother about Brad?"
The question wasn't unexpected. It was something I'd pondered over and over since receiving the texts from Andy. "Fuck if I know. I have to choose between possibly ruining my brother's wedding or him having Brad next to him in all his wedding photos if things go south after he finds out."
Rook shook his head. "I fucking told you—"
I glared. "Finish that line, and I will throat punch you."
"Now, who's the violent one?" He smirked.
"I could just not tell him at all. You know me and Trevor have never been that close." Every option felt like the wrong one, and I was tired of thinking about it. I took another drink. "Can we be done talking about this now?"
Rook chewed on his lip and then finally gave a decisive nod. "For now."
Thank fuck. I kicked off the pillar, ready to head inside and away from the cold. Rook stopped me by tipping his bottle toward me. “But you know what you need?”
With a groan, I sagged back against the smooth stone. “I’m sure you’ll tell me.”
Rook went quiet, so I cocked a brow while studying him. His brows furrowed in contemplation before he nodded to himself. His gaze snapped to mine. “You need to take a date.”
“What?" My eyebrows shot up. That was not what I was expecting him to say at all. "Why?"
"Because your ex—"
I was already shaking my head. "No. Seriously, Rook. I don't care."
“Well, I do.” Rook strode to the trash can masked as a standing stone and tossed his empty bottle inside. When he returned, he took up the space beside me, leaned back against the pillar. “And he’s an asshole, Noah. He should see what he lost out on.”
While I understood where he was coming from, I wasn't going to take a date to the wedding just to try and make Brad jealous. Not only was it insane, I also didn't want to bring someone I'd have to spend time with for five solid days.
I removed my beanie and ran my fingers through my hair before pulling it back in place “Careful. You might start to sound like my mom.”
Ever since she’d found out I was gay last summer, my mom had been trying to set me up with every gay man she knew. She was convinced she was up to the task, especially as the year wore on and I hadn't really dated. My mom hadn’t known about Brad though, which was probably a good thing. If she knew I’d been cheated on, she’d be really upset and likely just try harder. In her own weird way, she was trying to be supportive, but it drove me crazy.
“No, it’s different,” Rook insisted. “I’m not saying you need to find an actual date. Just a little fuck you, Brad. You know?”
"You mean a fake date?" I asked. When he nodded, I gave him an incredulous look because there was no way I was doing what he was suggesting, but I decided to humor him. “And where exactly am I supposed to find this guy?”
His shoulders squared as he gave me a duh look.
My heart suddenly thudded in my chest, and my eyes widened. “You? You can't be serious. No way.”