“Marcus wants to meet you.”
“To make sure I’m suitable?”
“More like curious.” Jack shrugged. “He says I smile so much whenever you text. Says I talk about you so much he needs to put a face to the name.”
Ed idly fingered the smooth rim of his coffee cup. “I understand, and Marcus sounds really interesting, too, but—”
Jack’s heart skipped. Ed didn’t want to meet his brother. Whatever they were doing was moving too fast in a direction he didn’t care for. Ed liked him, wanted to have a great time with him, wanted to get off with him—but he wasn’t up for being boyfriends. Wasn’t in this for any emotional investment.
Heat clawed up the back of Jack’s neck. His laugh scratched his throat. “Forget I asked.”
“Jack, stop.” Ed’s hands snaked across the small table, snatching his when Jack tossed bills on the check. “Let me process it overnight?”
“There’s nothing to process. We’re just having fun. Why complicate things by introducing my friends?” Jack plastered on a large smile and waved Jacob over.
Jacob collected the check and money. “I’ll be right back with change.”
“Keep it.” Jack’s voice was low and flat. “You were great.”
Ed put his napkin down. “C’mon. Let’s talk outside.”
Jack snatched his wallet from the table and followed his date toward the exit. The walk back to the Jeep seemed endless. Should he wait until they were inside, or was it okay to talk in the parking lot? His eyes darted to the small magnet he’d placed over the sticker to make Ed feel more comfortable.
Ed opened the passenger door. “I still can’t believe you don’t lock your car.”
A dispassionate shrug later, Jack slipped into the driver’s seat. “It’s a Jeep, not a car. The plastic windows zip out. What’s the point in locking it when anyone can just let themselves in. Better to not leave anything valuable inside than to lock it.”
Swiveling in his seat, Ed examined the side and back. “Good point. I usually have more than a few tools inside my cab.”
“Anyway.” Jack caught a hint of Ed’s scent, clean but not overpowering. He wanted to reach over, but now wasn’t the time. “Maybe Sunday brunch is a bad idea?”
“Whoa, hold on, please.” Ed put a hand on Jack’s thigh. “I told you, I’m not out. Certain people figuring me out could make things harder at work than I’d like, and I need the job.”
“How’s meeting Marcus going to compromise your job?”
Ed rested his head back and stared out the windshield. His brow pinched together in frustration, and he rubbed at it with his thumb. “I try to avoid all Harrison students.” More quietly, “There’s a reason I’ve never picked you up from campus.”
“What the—why?”
Lips drawn tight, Ed dropped his gaze toward his lap. “Some of my coworkers have family working there. My boss’s son goes to Harrison. Kids of my parent’s friends. Coming to campus, even just to pick you up, is too weird. Meeting people on campus might get back to my coworkers too. They’ll be suspicious. Me, a community college guy, hanging out with the Harrison kids. They’ll wonder why. It won’t take them long to jump to… conclusions.”
“Wow, Ed. You didn’t promise too little with your Narnia comment.”
Ed winced, and Jack immediately wanted to kick himself.
“There was this guy at work, Wayne. I’m not sure if he was gay or bi, but I’m pretty sure he’d had a boyfriend and they broke up. The ex, or the one we all assumed was his ex, kept coming around looking for Wayne. People started to treat him differently. They avoided him, were always asking each other if he was gay or what.
“I didn’t know and he didn’t set off my gaydar, so I stayed out of it. But he looked really uncomfortable working there once people started talking. After a couple weeks, they fired Wayne.”
“Wow. They fired him for being gay?”
“No one said he was fired.” Ed shook his head. “My mom’s worked in HR for the last couple years. She said companies never say someone’s been terminated anymore to avoid getting sued. But one day Wayne was working with us, the next he wasn’t.”
“Maybe he quit.”
“I dunno. If he’d gotten a new job, you’d think he’d have told someone, and he’d probably have given a few days’ notice or something. Nothing. Just gone.”
“Shit, I’m sorry. Forget I said anything.” Jack put the key in the ignition and pressed down the clutch. He didn’t know what else to do. When the engine roared to life, Ed’s hand gently covered his on the shift.
“I really do like you.”
Screwing on a smile he didn’t feel, Jack faced him. A part of him whispered to get out of this, but another part bargained against it. Ed had tried tonight. They could have parked somewhere and tried their luck at getting into each other’s pants again, but he’d insisted they eat out. Twice Ed had even driven in Jack’s Jeep, despite the sticker that proudly told the world he was gay. Plus, their insane attraction. Jack could hardly ignore the semi he’d been sporting through dinner. Or the fact that, even frustrated, he wanted to reach over and kiss the worried pout of Ed’s lips.
Letting the warm hand stay atop his, Jack headed back to Ed’s truck. “We’re still on for Sunday brunch.”
Jack woke to Marcus whacking him with a pillow. “What the hell?” he said sleepily, curling onto his side.
“It’s Saturday. I should be sleeping in.”
Jack peeled one eye open. “Why don’t you do that then?”
Marcus grabbed Jack’s phone from the dresser and shoved it in his face. “Because this thing hasn’t stopped buzzing for the last twenty minutes.”
Jack lurched up. He tried snatching the phone, but Marcus pulled it out of reach. “Your dude is either crazy, texting at the crack of dawn every morning, or he’s head over heels. Either way, set your phone on silent.”
“Gimme.”
“When are you guys meeting next?”
Jack stretched, words coming out on a yawn. “Brunch tomorrow at that diner I told you about.”
“Have you asked him to the formal yet?”
That wasn’t likely to happen. “Nope.”
“Somehow I don’t think he’ll say no.” Marcus tossed the phone on his lap. “God, I can’t wait to see the back of Harper.”
Jack’s stomach twisted and he messed up the combination to unlock his phone. “We wouldn’t really toss him out if he lost, though, right?”
Marcus paused. “I want to say hell yeah we would, but… nah. At least we wouldn’t force him. He’d get taken down a peg or two, though. He’d lose cred, and maybe he’ll choose to leave on his own.”
Jack let out a relieved breath. He could handle embarrassing himself if it meant he didn’t really have to leave the house. He glanced at the side of his bed. At the skirting board, his and Marcus’s dads’ names were scratched into the wood. What would his dad think if he really had to leave? He would’ve accepted whatever stupid things Jack ended up doing in college—but he’d be a touch disappointed too.