Rocco glanced at me with a genuine smile. “Please do. Parker mentioned the other night that you were a great skier.” He lowered his voice. “He also mentioned something incredibly intriguing about tattoos that I’d love to know more about, if you’d like to share.”
“Oh. Ha.” I licked my lips. “Sharing. That’s, ah… that’s not…”
Across the table, Parker clenched his jaw like he was waiting for me to tell Rocco that I wasn’t Parker’s best man, I was his man, and that my tattoos were none of Rocco’s damn business. I wanted that too, so badly it hurt. But Tiller and Mikey were sitting right there, watching the whole exchange like they’d stumbled into a reality TV show, reminding me of all the logical reasons why Parker needed to slow his roll.
I cleared my throat. “About the skiing. I’m afraid I have to, um…” I tried to think up a work assignment urgent enough to skip out on skiing and the inquisition I knew Mikey and Tiller would stage if I stuck around.
But before I could come up with one, the cute Grindr guy who’d been hanging with Parker in my living room the other day suddenly appeared at my side of the table, dangling a set of keys toward Rocco.
“M’kay, got your backup battery, and I am prepared be your director of cinematography. Just remember I have my own classes to film tomorrow, so I’m gonna leave the moguls to you and the professi— Ohmigod, no way!” His smile warmed by a thousand degrees when he noticed my best friend. “Parker? Baby, how are you?”
Baby?
He dropped into the empty seat at Parker’s side and leaned up to kiss Parker’s cheek in the same spot where I’d kissed Parker that morning. Not that I noticed or anything.
I also did not notice that his hair was perfectly styled, his dark eyes were ringed with black liner, and he was dressed to ski, like some sort of twinky Goth-jock hybrid—which was way sexier than I would have imagined that combination being.
“BJ!” Parker grinned back, because he was Parker, and Parker’s only two speeds were friendly and asleep… well, unless you were Rocco, who seemed to be the sole exception. “I’m doing great.”
“Yeah?” BJ tilted his head toward me and then back in a meaningful sort of way, like they were passing secret coded messages.
Parker’s face softened, the way it usually only did for me. “Yeah,” Parker confirmed with that same meaningful undertone. “You?”
“Ehhhh.” BJ waved a hand and gave a self-deprecating smile. “Still in sad panda territory, but I swear I’m almost getting used to that. It’s gorgeous here in Aster Valley, though, and work is going well, and I forgot how much I enjoy skiing when I’m not falling on my ass.” He gave Parker a wink that made me want to hit something. Or someone. “Still bendy, you know? That helps.”
“Yeah.” Parker’s grin deepened. “I remember.”
He remembered that BJ was bendy? What exactly had I missed yesterday?
A wave of jealousy swamped me, powerful enough to make my stomach lurch.
I’d figured I was more or less immune to the emotion by now, given that I’d had to push it down a dozen or more times over the years whenever Erin had waltzed back into Parker’s life. But it turned out there was a whole other half of the population I hadn’t known I could be jealous of, and my stupid heart hadn’t gotten the message that we were supposed to proceed with caution here.
Lucky me.
“Sorry, back up. BJ, you and Parker are friends?” Rocco demanded. “How’d that happen?”
Exactly what I wanted to know.
“Yeah. We met yesterday because of a weird mix-up with a, um…” BJ paused and glanced around the table like he wasn’t sure whether he should drop the word “Grindr” in front of everyone. “Address? But Parker invited me in. We, you know… chatted.” He gave Parker a happy grin, and I ground my molars together.
“You chatted.” Mikey’s suspicious gaze bounced from Parker to BJ to Rocco to me, and then down to his own phone. His eyes widened, like maybe he’d made the Grindr connection on his own. “Wait. BJ came by, and you chatted? You and… and BJ?”
“Sure.” Parker shrugged. “I chat with lots of people. And BJ was great.” He gave Emo Ski Boy a fond look. “Patient.”
“Aww.” BJ tilted his head down onto Parker’s shoulder for a second. “And I found you inspiring, Parker. Truly. I’m so glad things worked out the way they did.”
Mikey’s jaw dropped. “But I thought… I mean, I got the impression, Parker, that you had been chatting with Jules.”
Parker frowned, clearly confused. “Well, sure, but Julian went to your place. And I was at the cabin alone. Remember?”
I stared at Parker for a moment as the truth of that hit home. Parker and I had kissed and frotted, and it had been magnificent. It had been his first sexual experience with a man, because I was so not counting that nothing of a kiss with Tiller. And what had his best friend, the guy who loved him most in all the world, done to make sure Parker felt loved and supported after exploring his sexuality?