Page 38 of Bro Code

Riley scoffed in disbelief. Seriously? They said they weren’t doing that here. That whole thing in Alaska was “desperate times call for desperate measures.” It was Louis who said that.

He sent back, I thought we weren’t doing that

A very long time with nothing. Then: the shrug emoji.

Riley rolled his eyes. What are you doing?

Sitting in my car outside a pizza place. What are you doing?

Sitting in my hotel room

Sounds lonely.

Sighing, Riley lowered the phone. It was. He’d spent the afternoon alone. Eaten dinner alone. He didn’t have to do that: he could’ve hopped into the team thread to see if anything was happening. He hadn’t.

He sent back, Yeah. It is.

It was more honest than he’d meant to be, and he was seized with the sudden panic of wanting to take that back. Hopefully Louis would just take it as playful, like a flirty wink – not a bearing of his actual soul.

Louis sent, Would you like some company?

Drumming his fingers on the back of the phone, Riley looked out the window, a massive floor-to-ceiling pane revealing the lights of the city. Buildings and buildings full of people he didn’t know. How many people in this city had seen him in that Calvin Klein ad? How many people in the world had seen that?

Shuddering, he put that out of his head and went back to the phone.

Are we sure that’s a good idea? he replied.

It’s way less risky than doing it right under everyone’s nose or out in the woods.

Riley sucked in a breath. He’d been successfully not thinking about how hot that was for the last three days.

Dammit. Now he was thinking about it.

He went back to the phone. Fine, come over here, he wrote, and sent the address to the hotel.

Louis knocked on the door twenty minutes later, and Riley opened it to find him holding what looked like a bakery box. He held it up with a slightly sheepish smile.

“I was craving dessert. How do you feel about key lime pie?”

“Strongly against,” said Riley, stepping back to let him in.

“Ah, okay, no worries, I got a cookie too. Thoughts on those?”

“Depends.” Riley shut the door as Louis set the box on the table. “Chocolate chip? Acceptable. Anything else? Hard pass.”

Louis smiled as he shrugged off his coat and hung it on a chair. He was wearing a slim fit black turtleneck underneath, like Steve Jobs or something. What a nerd. It was working for him though, annoyingly.

Riley went to the mini fridge and squatted to open it. “You want a drink?”

“Sure. White wine?”

White wine? Just the worst. Riley peered into the fridge. “I have beer and liquor.”

“Beer.”

He pulled out two bottles and cracked them open. Louis said, “Merci,” and clinked them together after Riley handed him one. They both sipped, and Louis sauntered over to the window. “Nice view. How long are you here?”

“Another few weeks. Then I have to find a place.”