Page 40 of Hell or High Water
Aidan made a frustrated noise deep in his throat. “Tell me what your deal is with him, because he’s not going anywhere. I want him around, even if you don’t.”
The last thing he wanted to do was tell Aidan Flynn about his sex life, but maybe he could . . .well, he could saysomething. “I met him before,” he said, hoping he could keep it nebulous.
“Oh yeah?” Aidan crossed his arms over his chest and just looked unamused.
“Yeah.” Nate still wanted to leave it there.
“So what? You hit on him and he turned you down and you’re bitter about it now?”
“Not even close,” Nate scoffed. Then realized a second too late that he should’ve worked a little harder to keep a poker face. But that was the problem with Ramsey—he blasted through any attempt Nate ever made at disinterest.
“Ah, so you slept with him and he ditched you.”
It had been so much more than that, but Nate supposed that if you had to boil it down to the basic series of events, that was it. He nodded.
“I worry about Levi if he ever has to keep a secret from you,” Nate added.
Aidan just laughed. “That’s the thing though—he doesn’t have any. That’s the beauty of a relationship.”
Nate’s heart ached. He’d pretended for so long that he didn’t want that, but he did. Hestilldid. But Ramsey had taken up residence in his blood, and no amount of exorcisms seemed to be able to evict him.
Maybe if he wasn’t around, Nate could start to get over it, could go back to his intention of finding a boyfriend. Of falling in love. But how could he even think about that, when the only person he could think about was Ramsey?
But he wasn’t going anywhere. Aidan had just confirmed that, and now he felt stuck between a rock and a hard place.
“Yeah, I know,” he said shortly. “You good now?”
“Wait,” Aidan commanded, catching his arm as he began to turn away. “We’re not done.”
Nate could shake his grip off. It was strong, but Nate was stronger. Nate was a captain, same as Aidan. He could tell him to fuck off.
But this wasAidan Flynn. When Nate had been in high school, Aidan had been tearing it up in the NFL, winning Super Bowls. If Deacon ever found out that he’d brushed Aidan off, he’d never hear the end of it.
Even if Deacon didn’t necessarilylikeAidan—too many years of healthy competition had made that a stretch—he would insist Aidan had earned respect. Especially in this scenario.
“What?” Nate asked testily.
“So you slept together and it was what, really good? And now you’re torn up about it?”
“No,” Nate retorted.
“He was shitty to you when he left?”
“You have a real future in interrogation after the football thing,” Nate grumbled.
“Thanks.” Aidan’s tone was dry. “So my brother keeps telling me.”
“Riley’s rarely wrong.”
Aidan’s blue eyes, burning brightly, bored into him. “Don’t change the subject.”
“I—”
“You were. Riley’s not aget out of jail freecard.”
Nate sighed. “Sure yeah. He told me the score. I thought I could accept that, even though it wasn’t really what I wanted. But then after, I thought it might go differently. Itwasgoing differently. Then he figured out who I was.”
Aidan grimaced. “Ouch.”
