The resort was huge, the restaurants with both indoor and outdoor seating and every kind of food you could want.
As I knew it would be, there were a lot of eyes on us. It was still pretty early for dinner, but after the night we’d had and traveling, we were both exhausted. We ordered beer, steak and potatoes, and just…hung out. Nothing was different about us. It wasn’t weird that we were wearing wedding rings and were officially husband and husband. We laughed and chatted like we always would.
“What are our plans this week?” Caden asked.
“Not sure. Whatever you want. I want to do some swimming, exploring, dancing.”
“Absolutely to dancing.” Caden loved it. “Is there zip-lining?” he asked, making my heart race with excitement.
“Yes! I wanted to do that, but Jack isn’t into it, so I decided against it.” I’d never zip-lined before, and always wanted to.
“Just because he didn’t like it, didn’t mean you couldn’t do it, A.”
“I know, but it was our honeymoon.”
He groaned. “Don’t remind me.”
“You know, sometimes you seem awfully jealous.”
“Bite me, Bailey-Hill. I just knew he wasn’t right for you.” The waiter approached us right then, and Caden said to him, “It’s our honeymoon. I think that calls for dessert.”
I knew Caden, and he was going to spend the whole damn week telling people we were married and on our honeymoon. He just liked to fool around that way.
And I would probably spend the week wishing it was forever.
Chapter Six
Caden
I knew I was going overboard with the whole being-married thing—wearing the rings, telling people and things like that—but I was feeling…weird about it. Not bad-weird or anything against Alex, just…okay-weird. Kinda-like-it-weird. Settled-weird. It was throwing me for a loop, and when I didn’t know how to deal with something or what to make of it, I usually turned a little obnoxious about it. I was lucky Alex had put up with me for so long. I was a bit of a crazy friend.
After dinner and dessert, we went back to our suite, changed into sleep shorts, and lay in bed, watching true-crime shows until we fell asleep. We were both suckers for that shit and always had been.
It was morning now. I could feel the sun heating the room, a sliver of light across the bed, and…Alex’s body beneath mine. Not under me, under me, but he was on his side, and I’d curled up behind him, fit my legs with his, my chest against his back, my cock nuzzling his ass. It wasn’t the first time we’d accidentally ended up cuddling. How could we not, when we’d spent so much of our lives sharing a bed? But it felt different with the weight of the shitty wedding ring on my finger. Seriously, if we ever got married for real, we’d choose way better representations than this.
If we ever got married for real? That wasn’t supposed to be a possibility. It wasn’t supposed to be something I ever considered, because I was straight and wanted to stay single.
“Your dick is getting a little friendly with my ass back there, slugger,” Alex said, his voice husky and sleepy.
“It’s morning wood, asshole. It has nothing to do with you, and I like that, you calling me slugger. Is that because you feel what I’m packing?”
“Oh my God!” Alex groaned. “Why am I friends with you?”
“Because you love me.” We both stiffened at my words—beyond my cock, that was. Neither of us should have been surprised. I was definitely the open-mouth-insert-foot one in our relationship, and Alex did love me, and I loved him. But now we were married, and I’d been feeling freakishly weird about Jackass, and all I could think about was that one night when Alex told me he was in love with me. I’d blown it off for years, thinking it was just a random drunken thing, but given our current situation, talking about him loving me felt like a step too far.
“Whose dick is pressed against whose ass?” Alex asked, effectively breaking the tension.
“It’s morning wood!” I said again. “I’m sure you’re in the same situation.” My fingers twitched because…um…did I want to feel and see if I was right?
As if he’d electrocuted me, I jerked and rolled away.
Alex sighed. “On that note, I’m going to the bathroom.”
“Alex,” I said as he got out of bed. He was annoyed. I could see it, and I’d heard it in the sharpness of his voice. “Alex,” I called out again.
He turned before going into the bathroom. “I have to piss, Caden. It’s not a big deal.”
But it was. I’d hurt his feelings by pulling away from him, and that wasn’t something I ever wanted to do. I hated feeling like I let him down in any way.
Why is that? Why is Alex so special to me? Why has he always been?
A snippet of conversation came back to me, Dad saying, “You’re not… The two of you aren’t… You’re not messing around with Alex, are you?” The disappointment was clear in his tone.
“What? No, Dad! It’s not like that with us.”
I rolled to my back, rubbed the heels of my hands against my eyes, as if I could wipe away the memories—how Dad had looked at me when Alex had officially come out; the questions he always had about why we were so close, and my own confusion about my feelings for him; the way Dad stressed he had no problem with Alex, just didn’t want me to be that way with him, or any guy, for that matter.
I straightened my arm, looked at the band on my finger. I was married. To Alex. My Alex. I smiled. Why the fuck I was smiling, I didn’t know, but I couldn’t stop myself. My mouth suddenly had a mind of its own, and the bastard was stubborn, because no matter how many times I tried to frown or relax, it didn’t work.
“What are you doing? Why are you making weird faces while looking at your ring? You’re freaking me out here.”
Shit. I hadn’t heard him come out. “I don’t know,” I answered honestly.
His forehead wrinkled. “Did you take something?”
“Yes, Alex, because I take drugs often.” That wasn’t our scene.
“It was seriously creepy. You were going back and forth between smiling like The Joker, frowning, and trying to mean-mug your wedding ring.”
I ignored that and said, “You’re already not mad at me anymore. You can never stay upset with me for long.”
“I wasn’t mad at you, and stop bragging.”
I got up on my knees and walked that way to the edge of the bed. “Hey.” I put my hands on his waist. “I didn’t mean anything by it.” He was shirtless, and I found myself stroking his warm skin with my thumbs. It felt…good. Felt right.
“I know. And you’re smiling again.”
“I know. I’m happy.” I was so fucking happy—that he hadn’t married Jackass, that he’d taken me with him to Puerto Vallarta; that he was my best friend and put up with my shit; that he said I’d never lose him.
Alex cocked his head slightly, his mossy-green eyes dark and seeking. “Why?”
“Because I’m with you.” I was always happy when I was with him, but even more so now that he hadn’t married Jackass…but he’d married me. Yeah, he was drunk, which took some of the wind out of my sails, but still.