He spun to leave, stomping down the hall, pausing only to punch a wall when he reached the corner. “Fuck!”
Cole leaned out the door. “Stay the fuck away from me! You hear me? Stay out of my life, you asshole!”
“Come inside,” Ridley said.
Something touched him, and he flinched, whirling around. Ridley lifted his hands up, eyes wide. “Whoa. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Fuck,” Cole gasped, throwing his arms around Ridley’s neck and hugging him tightly. “Thank you for being here.”
“I’m always here,” he said lightly.
But his arms tightened around Cole, and he whispered, “You’re shaking like a leaf. Should we call the police?”
Cole buried his face in Ridley’s neck, breathing him in, a mix of shampoo and clean skin.
“Cole?”
He shook his head, squeezing Ridley a little tighter. Ridley held him for long minutes until he was ready to pull away.
“You sure you don’t want to report this?” Ridley asked in concern when Cole had finally withdrawn and closed his apartment door. None of the neighbors had come to check on the fuss. He wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or offended. Would they have let him be assaulted without trying to help? Probably. It wasn’t as if he knew anyone that well. Cole was super friendly at work, but by the time he got home, he’d usually expended his energy for socializing.
Cole blew out a breath. “I’m sure. It looked worse than it was.”
Ridley bent down to pick up a piece of the photo printout Cole had torn up. “What was it anyway?”
Cole glimpsed a slice of his chest in the pic and grabbed it from Ridley. “Don’t look at these,” he said, scrambling to pick them up, face burning. He’d never been shy about his body, but this was different. He’d been sleeping, and this photo was taken without his knowledge. It felt mortifying, the idea of people seeing it.
Ridley watched Cole crawl on hands and knees, picking up fragments of printed-out photograph.
“It’s okay,” he said gently. “I won’t look. Okay, Cole? You don’t have to worry.”
Cole sat back on his heels, breathing heavy. At some level, he recognized that he was acting nuts. Ridley probably thought he was on the verge of totally losing his shit.
“It’s a photo,” he admitted. “I didn’t know about it, and um ... ”
“That was your ex, right? The one from the store that day.”
Cole eased to his feet and went to the kitchen to toss the paper fragments. “Yeah, Travis.”
“I saw him kiss you.”
Cole turned to see Ridley leaning against the doorway.
“I didn’t kiss him back!” Cole said desperately.
It didn’t matter that they weren’t dating and Ridley had no official claim on him. They were fucking on the regular, and Cole would never, ever—
“Jesus, I know,” Ridley said. “That was assault.”
“No...”
“Cole,” he said firmly. “I can’t make you report it, but don’t delude yourself. You were fighting like hell to get away because he had an iron grip on your arm. I wouldn’t be surprised if you bruise.”
Cole glanced down at his arm, suddenly aware of the full ache. Dark red indents — four on top of his arm and a wider one on the underside. From fingers digging into his skin.
“Shit,” he murmured. Looking up, he said, “He’s not violent. He was freaking out, that’s all. He thought I told his wife about us.”
“And the kiss? How do you explain that?”
Cole opened his mouth, but he didn’t have an answer. “Um.”
“Listen, if you won’t report it, I’d feel better if you at least weren’t here alone.”
Cole wasn’t much up for being alone either. But Anita had plans with Gabrielle, and Ridley, he suddenly remembered, had plans with friends tonight. He’d planned to come by early and then leave by eight.
“I’ll be fine,” he said, sounding far from convincing.
Ridley shook a head. “I was going to see a movie with Jace—”
Cole’s heart dropped. “A date?”
“No,” Ridley said quickly. “A movie with Jace and Ronnie both.”
“Oh.” Cole swallowed. He shouldn’t feel so relieved, but it was easy to forget that Ridley wasn’t really his to keep. “You should go. I’ll be okay.”
“But we can just stream something at the house,” he continued as if Cole hadn’t interrupted. “Pack a bag. You can stay over.”
Cole’s stomach clenched. He really didn’t want to spend time around Jace. God, that put a bad taste in his mouth. But he also didn’t want to stay at his place. Maybe he could call Theo or go to the LGBT Center.
“Please, Cole?” Ridley implored. “I’ll worry about you. Do it for me?”
Ridley’s big, brown eyes were being used to full effect. Cole couldn’t possibly resist, and with a flash of Travis’s angry face at the forefront of his mind, he nodded.
“Okay, I guess just for tonight.”
“And tomorrow night?” Ridley suggested. “You could spend the whole weekend.”
As tempting as that was, it sounded like a bad idea. Cole would love spending so much time with Ridley, but he had to come home sometime and face reality.
He shook his head. “Just tonight. I can’t be afraid of my own house. Not like I can just move in with you.” He laughed nervously. “I’m sure we’re overreacting.”
Ridley frowned. “Fine. Go grab some things for tonight, and we’ll go.”
Ridley glanced into the rearview mirror to make sure Cole was still behind him as he held up his phone to one ear. Cole had insisted on driving his own car, and actually that might be a good idea. If Travis returned to the apartment building, he’d see Cole’s car wasn’t there and hopefully fuck off.
“Yo,” Ronnie answered.
“Stop trying to be cool.”
“What up, dog! Me and my home skillet are waiting on you. We might miss the best movie if you don’t hurry, G.”
Jace’s voice came over the line. “And that’s enough of that. What’s up, Riddle?”
“Hey, man. Can we just stream something? I can’t go to a movie.”
Jace flipped into his paramedic voice. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“It’s not like you to bail on plans.”
“Cole is coming over,” Ridley said.
“You throwing me over?” he asked. “Cuz I thought we said bros before ... uh, bros. Huh. We need to work on that saying.”
“Very funny,” Ridley said, glancing up to check the street behind him as he made a turn. Cole’s dusty Dodge followed a few yards behind. “You know he’s just a friend.”
“So you say.”
The lie tasted bitter in his mouth despite being partially true. They were friends who fucked, maybe, but they weren’t boyfriends. He told himself Jace didn’t need to know about the fucking because he’d probably make everyone uncomfortable with inappropriate jokes. Cole didn’t need that tonight.
Ridley didn’t need it either. He almost didn’t care if Jace found out … almost. His original hopes for the makeover project were flickering out day by day as Jace continued to treat him like his old friend and Ridley’s feelings continued to strengthen for Cole.
“Just be cool, okay? Cole had a situation, and I asked him to crash with us.”
“What kind of situation?” Jace asked.
“A private one.”
There was some murmuring as Jace answered Ronnie’s increasingly insistent questions.
“Okay, your twin demands attention. We can watch a flick here. No worries.”
“Thanks, Jace.”
“What’s going on for real?” Ronnie demanded the second she was on the phone. She already suspected he was sleeping with Cole. She’d be an idiot if she didn’t because Ridley had been spending a lot of time with him. And Ronnie was a lot of things, but dumb wasn’t one of them.
“Cole’s ex is harassin
g him. I walked in on the guy shaking him around like a rag doll.”
“Shit. Did you call the police?”
“He didn’t want to.” Ridley was hoping he could persuade Cole to get a restraining order at least, but he knew it wouldn’t help if Cole didn’t want to involve the authorities. “He insisted that Travis was upset about his wife, and that he’s not violent.”
“But he was violent tonight, obviously.”
“Yeah.” Ridley sighed. “I mean, it could have been worse, I guess. He punched the hallway wall on his way out. If that had been Cole’s face ...”
“Jesus.”
“Is Jace listening to all this?”
“No, he went to the kitchen. He knew you didn’t want to tell him, and he’s not the type to eavesdrop.”
“Yeah, he’s cool like that.”
“He has his good qualities,” she admitted.
23
Ridley waited as Cole parked his car behind him, a sensible car that didn’t really fit his image, before walking in with him. Cole had joked once that reliability was more important in a car than his own fashion sense. Ridley had found Cole to be much more practical than he would have expected when he first saw the gorgeous, fashionable guy at the hair salon. He just wished he’d be more practical about how to deal with his skeezy ex.
When they got inside, there was an awkward moment where everyone stood in a semicircle in the living room. Then Ronnie smiled big in a slightly scary way.
“Thanks for hanging out!” she said brightly, making the elephant in the room seem enormous. “I haven’t seen you since the night before you took Ridley dancing.”
She glanced at Jace, biting her lip uncertainly. “I think you were working,” she added lamely.
“You have fun holding up the table, Ridley?”
“Actually, Ridley danced,” Cole said, a steely note in his voice.
“No way,” Jace said.
“It’s true,” Ridley said.
“We had a lot of fun that night,” Cole added, casting a look at Ridley that went right to his dick as he remembered just what kind of fun they’d had.
Ridley cleared his throat, thinking a subject change might be in order. “Yeah, so. What movie should we watch?”
“Actually, could I take a shower first?” Cole asked.
“Sure,” Ridley said. “You know where everything is.”
Cole attempted a smile that was a pale shadow of his usual bright expression. “Thanks.”
Once he’d walked away, Jace raised an eyebrow. “He knows where everything is?”
Ridley rolled his eyes. “He crashed here once. What’s the big deal? You know where everything is too.”
“Mm-hmm,” Jace said. “But you don’t dance with me.”
Ridley pinned him with a look. “Maybe that’s because you never asked.”
Jace looked chagrinned. “Really?”
“Yeah, really.”
“Well, shit, man. It wasn’t because I didn’t want you to have fun,” Jace said. “I just figured dancing wasn’t your thing.”
“I know,” Ridley said, nudging him with a shoulder. “It was definitely out of my comfort zone. Cole just has a way of getting me to try new things.”
“Huh.” Jace looked disconcerted. “I guess that’s good.”
“Of course it’s good,” Ronnie interjected. “Ridley needs to do more with his life than work and play with Legos.”
“Hey,” Ridley objected, “I still play with Legos.”
Jace smirked. “What’s your dance partner think of that?”
“He thought it was cool,” Ridley said. “And he told me it was good to have hobbies.”
As he ventured back to the living room, to sit down on the sofa, he heard Jace mumble, “Well, la-di-da. Cole is Mr. Perfect, apparently.”
Cole curled into the corner of the sofa, swimming in the T-shirt Ridley had given him to wear. He’d showered, and his hair — without any product — flopped into his eyes. Still damp, it was a darker brown than usual, making the blue color of his eyes more intense. They were already mesmerizing as it was, so that was saying something.
Ridley sat near him, fighting the urge to pull Cole into his arms and press his head to Ridley’s shoulder. He wasn’t used to restraining his urge to touch Cole anymore. But Jace sat on the other end of the sofa, so Ridley settled for keeping a close eye on Cole and finding excuses to touch him in small ways.
He poked the Pac-Man image on the shirt Cole wore. Ridley’s shirt, which he’d laid out for him in case he hadn’t brought comfy lounging clothes. It was a combination of a Pac-Man and a pie chart, making a joke about how many gamers got laid.
“Geeky gamer is a new look for you,” he teased.
Even after spending so many evenings with Cole, he wasn’t used to seeing him so casual. Cole was usually fully dressed or naked and doing distracting things to Ridley’s body.
“I like the shirt,” Cole said quietly. “It’s very you.”
Jace snorted. “Yeah, that Pac-Man chart might be exaggerating how often Ridley gets laid.”
“Hey!” Ridley said. “I can get laid when I want.”
“Sure you can,” Jace joked.
Cole leaned forward to look at Jace. “I think lots of guys would consider themselves lucky to be with Ridley.”
Jace smirked. “Guys like you?”
Ridley tensed, uncomfortable with where this was going. He didn’t really want to tell Jace he was sleeping with Cole. Not until he was surer of what he wanted long-term. He was pretty sure he wanted to be with Cole, but he’d yet to figure out if Cole wanted a serious, long-term relationship or just a fling.
But part of him also wanted to make out with Cole while flipping off Jace.
Cole didn’t answer Jace’s question, but said, “Maybe you haven’t noticed because you guys have been friends a long time, but Ridley is hot.”
Ridley laughed awkwardly. “Okay, let’s just stop. I’m not really into debating my looks.”
Jace scowled, even as his gaze moved to Ridley, giving him a thorough once-over. “I know Ridley’s cute. I didn’t mean he wasn’t. The reason he doesn’t get laid is that he never goes out.”
“That’s true,” Ridley said gamely, wanting to defuse the discussion. “So, how about that movie?”
“We need snacks,” Ronnie said, standing. “Cole, will you help me with the drinks?”
Ridley shifted. “I can do that.”
“No, it’s fine,” Cole said, pressing down on his shoulder when he would have stood up. “Pick a movie, and I’ll go.”
“No science fiction,” Jace declared as Cole followed Ronnie out of the room. “And no Ryan Reynolds!”
Cole followed Ronnie into the kitchen, feeling warm and content in the sweats and T-shirt Ridley had loaned him. The sweats were slightly short, and the T-shirt swallowed him, but knowing he wore Ridley’s clothes was ridiculously pleasing.
“How can I help?” Cole asked.
Ronnie turned, leaning back against the counter. “Oh, I don’t need help,” she said. “I just wanted to see if you were okay.”
“Well, thanks, but I’m only here because Ridley was worried, so …”
“Oh, I didn’t mean about what happened. I mean, I’m really glad you’re okay. Ridley mentioned an ugly moment with your ex. I was asking about all this, though,” she said, gesturing toward the living room.
Cole reflexively looked at the kitchen doorway, though there was nothing to see. He could hear Ridley and Jace laughing together, which caused a sharp ache in his chest.
“Uh, I’m not sure what you mean.”
Ronnie laughed, drawing his attention back to her. “You guys.” She rolled her eyes. “It must be weird being in the room with the guy you’re fucking and the guy he wants to fuck. That’s what I mean.”
Cole flinched back, the warm feeling of contentment long gone. “Wow. I ...” He swallowed, at a loss for words. He’d made peace with the idea that he wasn’t Ridley’s first
choice, but it hurt to have it thrown in his face. “Maybe I should go home. I’m sure it’s fine.”
“No, please don’t,” Ronnie said, stepping forward and laying a hand on his arm. “I didn’t mean to sound harsh. I think you’re really good for Ridley.”
“I’m just the consolation prize until he gets Jace, right?”
“I hope not,” she said sincerely. “Ridley thinks he wants Jace, but they’re all wrong for each other.”
Cole blinked. “But they’re best friends.”
“Yeah, but their friendship is unbalanced. It always has been. If they ever start a relationship, it’d be a mess.”
“Imbalanced?”
“Haven’t you noticed that Ridley defers to Jace?”
Cole frowned. He hadn’t really been around the two of them enough to pick up on that dynamic. “Really?”
“It’s not that Jace is an asshole or anything,” she continued. “They’ve been friends since high school. Jace was kind of Ridley’s hero. He was being bullied for a while, and then Jace took him under his wing, you see? Of course Ridley got a crush. And of course he happily agreed to do whatever made Jace happy. Jace is insensitive, maybe, not to realize that Ridley has always gone out of his way to please him, but he’s not intentionally selfish.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Cole said slowly. If Jace had been some sort of hero, saving Ridley from bullies, then it was no wonder Ridley wasn’t going to give him up for Cole. Not when Cole was the one who needed saving from harassment, apparently.
I was fine. I can handle Travis. Ridley didn’t need to swoop in all hero-like.
But Ridley had swooped, and Cole had been shaken enough to let him.
“I thought Ridley would move on after high school,” Ronnie was saying. “But his crush on Jace has held him back.”
Cole nodded. “He told me he hadn’t dated in three years.”
“Right!” She nodded enthusiastically. “Ridley couldn’t let go of the hope Jace would someday be interested. But now there’s you.”
Cole shook his head. “Ronnie, I can see you want what’s best for him, but Ridley hasn’t chosen me. I’m just ...”
Operation Makeover Page 18