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“He’s told me you’re the man I need to talk to if I want to know why he’s been eating canned spray cheese,” I said. “But other than that, not really.”
“It’s stupid,” Archie said before anyone else could.
“Now you’re trying to show off,” Dalton interjected. “The nickname was your idea.”
“It was Grayson’s idea,” Archie corrected.
“Who is Grayson?” I asked.
“Rob’s boyfriend.”
“Who is Rob?” I asked, eyes flickering between the three of them as they bantered back and forth.
“The ringleader,” Archie said.
“That’s you and you know it.” Flynn laughed, then turned to me, expression forgiving. “Rob is another of our friends and his boyfriend called the group of us ‘trophy doms’ once. Archie thought it was hilarious because he’s a patronizing piece of shit who’s never been able to make fun of himself, so he ran with it and it stuck.”
“The trophy doms,” I repeated, smiling at Archie’s profile because he wouldn’t turn to face me.
“Trophy Doms Social Club, to be precise,” Flynn clarified. “And to your other point, he eats the cheese when he gets sad.”
Archie shook his head and stared down at his lap.
I wondered if he’d tried to keep them at bay not because he didn’t want them to meet me, but because he didn’t wantmeto meet them. I’d known these men for all of five minutes and they were ready to lay every secret they knew about him at my feet. It was a lot of power and in the wrong hands—in my hands—it could be dangerous for him.
“We go out every Thursday,” Dalton said, blinking slowly and pushing the bottle of gin away. “But we were out a little later than normal last night.”
“Where’s Barclay and Rob?” Archie asked.
“Rob is holed up with Grayson at his house, like always. And Barclay and Val were there too, last time I checked.”
“Grayson tied Val up in the back yard,” Flynn added. “Did this fancy thing with the rope around his balls, and—”
“Would you stop?” Archie interrupted, smacking Flynn on the back of his head.
“You asked!”
“I don’t mind,” I offered, again looking between the three of them. The casual easiness that existed between them, even when I knew Archie wanted to dig himself a hole and die in it, was enviable. I was glad that if he didn’t have me, he had them.
“They’re a lot,” Archie repeated his earlier worry.
“I know.” I gave him a reassuring nod, then gave Flynn a lopsided shrug. “But I met Val last time I was in town, and I’d love to hear what kind of trouble the lot of you got into last night.”
CHAPTER19
ARCHIE
All of itwas too easy.
The way Dalton and Flynn took Owen into the fold. The way the three of them laughed at inside jokes I already wasn’t a part of. The way I was an outsider in my own friend group, with my own…
My ownwhat?
I had no idea what Owen was to me besides the man that I’d loved one way or the other for my whole life. That felt like enough and a disservice at the same time, but he wasn’t my boyfriend. He wasn’t a fuck buddy. He wasn’t a one-night stand, and he definitely was more than a friend. Or…was he even a friend?
I glanced at the three of them, Owen in the front seat and Flynn and Dalton in the back. Owen turned around and laughing at something Flynn said, Dalton’s hand on Owen’s shoulder, pulling him toward them. The three of them had become fast friends, but I wasn’t sure that what existed between me and Owen would classify as friendship. If anything, it was a truce. A four-day holding pattern so we could fuck and be done with it.
As if I could ever be done with him.
