He could still hear the sexy, lethal tone of Beau’s voice, the way he put Blake right in his place without ever laying hands on him.
And fuck yeah, Ethan knew he should be offended for Blake, but in truth, he honestly didn’t give a shit. Blake could pick his own battles, and if he wanted to provoke Beau then that was his business. Ethan had never claimed to be interested in Blake for his intelligence. As it was, their “relationship” was decidedly less serious than Blake believed it to be. And Ethan knew good and damn well that he wasn’t responsible for Blake’s misunderstanding of the situation.
“Hey, babe.”
Sighing, Ethan took a lengthy swallow of his beer, his eyes still locked with Beau’s from across the dimly lit room. Without turning to look at Blake, he said, “Don’t call me that.”
“What? You don’t usually have a problem with it.”
The hell he didn’t, but Blake had made a habit of not listening to Ethan when he spoke, so it wasn’t surprising that he acted as though this was the first time he had heard it.
Letting the silence grab him by the throat and threaten to strangle him, Ethan wished midnight would hurry the hell up. He knew he shouldn’t have invited Blake, should’ve just attended this shindig solo, but he had an ulterior motive: keeping Beau at a safe distance. Granted, that plan had backfired almost as bad as that piece of shit truck that his brother Sawyer had bought, souped-up and essentially ruined when he was a teenager.
“Want to find somewhere quiet?” Blake asked, taking a step closer.
Instinctively, Ethan visually searched the open area, checking to see who might be watching them, or worse, listening.
No one.
Hell, there wasn’t a single person in the whole damn place who cared what he was doing. They were busy. Very busy. And half of them were fucking naked, so he was the last thing on their minds, he was sure.
Well, tonight he’s mine. So why don’t you take a seat over there and watch the show.
No can do. I only like to watch when there’s satisfaction to be found by everyone involved. But, you go find him and don’t try to think about who Ethan’s really thinking about when he’s fucking you.
A chill ran down Ethan’s spine at the memory of Beau’s words. How the hell did the guy know what was going on in his head? And who the fuck was he to make a threat like that?
But no matter how pissed Ethan wanted to be at Beau’s imperious attitude, he was still strangely drawn to the resolute, commanding cadence he’d used and the take-no-bullshit way he had handled Blake.
Fuck, it turned him on.
But the truth was, Ethan was there with Blake, not Beau. And it didn’t matter how much Beau was baiting him, tempting him to want something he shouldn’t, he knew what he needed. Or, more accurately, what he didn’t need. A simple fuck buddy was working just fine. Or it had been before Beau started shouldering his way into Ethan’s life. Uninvited.
Ethan’s world was spinning quite nicely. No major hiccups, no drama to interfere with his work, and no jealous lovers to have to deal with. He didn’t need complications. As far as he was concerned, alone was the only way to go. The less people knew, the better off they were. His main focus was to ensure he didn’t draw attention to himself, easy as that. And Ethan was quite content with keeping his personal life on the down low. Up to this point, it had worked just fine for him.
Taking another swig of his beer, Ethan tried to break eye contact with Beau. Tried and failed. That electrical current that sparked between them was still there, still blinding with its intensity and he was hard pressed to look away. There was no denying the fact that he wanted Beau. And vice versa.
He just wasn’t going to act on that attraction.
“Come on,” Blake encouraged, grabbing his arm securely and urging him toward the other side of the room.
Falling into step with Blake, Ethan thought for a second that he was going to have to be the one to hold onto Blake. Blake was stumbling as he walked which meant he had already overindulged.
Not surprising.
Looking up, Ethan realized they were heading in the direction he was trying to avoid. Closer to Beau. Although his mind was resisting the action, Ethan let his feet carry him forward, his mouth a grim line as he focused on not looking at the sexy, blond cowboy casually watching them come toward him as though it didn’t bother him one bit. And maybe it didn’t.
Unable to help himself, Ethan looked at Beau, their eyes meeting, holding. They were at a stalemate, and he hoped Beau understood that. He wasn’t backing down. No matter what. And it would do Beau a world of good to realize that. Ethan didn’t want to be an asshole, but he wasn’t looking for complicated, and Beau, from what Ethan knew about him, was the epitome of complicated.