Eddie kissed his throat again. “Do you mind if Mike joins us?” he whispered against Oliver’s flesh.
He froze. “Excuse me?”
“Just for fun,” Eddie clarified. “Sometimes we like to have threesomes with our dates, but it’s okay if you aren’t interested.”
“What?”
“Threesome. Like I said, it’s okay if—”
“No. I heard you. I’m just wondering what I said or did that made you think I would want to have a threesome with you and your roommate the first time I’ve even slept with you?” Was this a thing? Unplanned threesomes?
“What?” Eddie asked as though he didn’t understand Oliver’s hesitance. And maybe he didn’t. Maybe this was another way Oliver was different from most of the people he knew.
“You don’t just do that. It’s different if you meet someone at a bar or something and ask them if they want to come home with you for a threesome, but you don’t ask that of someone you’ve dated who has never once given you any inclination that they’d want to fuck you and your roommate. Jesus.” This time when he pulled back, he planned to stay there.
And then it happened…Eddie gave an uncomfortable laugh, and there was the gurgle that made Oliver want to lose his dinner.
“Oh, fuck. I need to get out of here.” He stood and Eddie did as well. Oliver began walking away before Eddie spoke again.
“It was just a question. You don’t have to be so uptight.”
He stopped and turned. “I know it was. And maybe I am too uptight.” His friends would likely think he was. “I don’t want to fuck you and your roommate. There are probably plenty of men out there that do, though. I suggest looking into Grindr for a hookup.”
Without another word, Oliver left the apartment. He couldn’t write this shit if he tried.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Matt sat on Oliver’s couch feeling antsy. Oliver had left a couple of hours before to go on his date. He found himself wondering about the man Oliver was going out with. Had they been dating long? What was he like? Why hadn’t Matt heard about him earlier? Were they serious? It surprised him that Oliver hadn’t had a serious relationship before. He would never have thought he’d have been the one in a relationship before Oliver, but then in some people’s eyes maybe what he and Parker had didn’t qualify, and it was over anyway.
It was something he’d always expected from Oliver, though. He deserved a good man like himself and Matt couldn’t help but wonder if he’d found that in the guy he was seeing tonight.
Matt let his eyes wander to the corner of the room—to the piano that looked as it had the first time Matt saw it in Oliver’s house as a child. He’d been drawn to it right away. Wanted nothing more than to run his fingers over the white and black keys.
Seeing it again made him feel like that boy with his dream right in front of his fingertips but not able to grasp it. Made him remember what it was like to see Oliver who had all the things Matt didn’t have but was also so damn nice that he kept asking Matt if he wanted to hang out with him and his friends, no matter how many times he said no.
Before that day with the piano, he’d always turned him down, even though he’d wanted nothing more than to be friends with Oliver.
“Fuck.” Matt shook his head and shoved to his feet, annoyed at himself for being such a mopey bastard. He’d been back in LA for less than twenty-four hours, and he was already starting to feel sorry for himself.
His stomach let out a deep growl, so he ignored the piano in the room and made his way toward Oliver’s kitchen. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten something.
The kitchen was a spacious room with high-end appliances and somehow had a modern yet rustic feel at the same time. It fit Oliver perfectly.
Matt’s stomach rumbled again, so he opened Oliver’s pantry and looked at the expansive space. “Jesus fucking Christ, Ollie. I could live in here,” he mumbled to himself. He didn’t know why it was a surprise to him. It was similar to the pantry Oliver had in his childhood home, which had been about the size of Matt’s bedroom.
The shelves were perfectly organized—snacks, baking supplies, dinner foods, all separated into their own section—and Matt found himself chuckling. Some things never changed. Oliver had always been somewhat of a perfectionist, and he loved knowing his friend still had those tendencies.
He shuffled things around looking for something that he knew Oliver always had on hand. Matt pushed boxes and packages to the side, knowing that it had to be here somewhere. It took him a moment to realize he was frowning. It was stupid to feel…almost hurt. People grew, their taste buds changed; he was looking for a box of cereal for fuck’s sake, but then he saw it—two boxes to be exact, shoved behind pancake mix—chocolate and regular Lucky Charms.