Two-Man Advantage Read online

  Running his hand over his mouth, he turned, leaning against the beautiful doorway that was the size of three and led to the living room. “When we were in Cancun, someone took pictures of the two of us on the beach.”

  “What? How?”

  “I don’t know. He doesn’t either.”

  “It was a private beach!”

  “Apparently, not private enough, and so the dude is blackmailing Matty.”

  She made a face. “So, sue him.”

  “Can’t without the pictures surfacing. Matty wants his family to find out from him, and he wants to keep his life private.”

  “Okay, so this guy gets paid off, and now he’s gonna make it his life’s purpose to follow y’all and get pictures since he knows he’ll get paid.”

  Wells hadn’t thought of that, but it didn’t matter. This was an isolated incident, surely.

  “No,” Wells said, coming off the wall. “It won’t matter after Matty tells his family.”

  “Okay, so he doesn’t have time to tell them before the pictures are supposed to surface?”

  He paused. “I guess he does, but he doesn’t want it done that way.”

  “So then, he should be the one to get the money, not you.”

  Frustrated, Wells shrugged. “It’s my money, my boyfriend. Why does it matter?”

  She was getting upset too, standing up and holding out her hands. “Because he doesn’t want anyone to know. Don’t you get it, Wells? He’s still trying to hide you two. If he wanted to truly come out, this wouldn’t matter. You’re basically helping him keep this ruse going.”

  Making a face, he shook his head violently. “No, I’m not. He is coming out. He just wants to do it his way. He wants his family to know first, and then everything else will fall into place.”

  “And that could have happened with these pictures surfacing and suing the fuck out of this dude. Instead, he’s getting a payday, and you’re stuffed in the closet until Matty is ready to let you out.”

  “That’s not true!” he yelled, shaking his head. “We are good. Fine. Things are great.”

  “No, it’s a fucking lie,” she yelled, and soon he heard the footsteps of his friends. “He hid you in Cancun, Wells!”

  “What the fuck, Wren? I thought you liked him!”

  “I did until I found out that he’s still trying to fucking hide you. That’s bullshit! You don’t deserve that.”

  “It’s not like that,” he said just as Jensen stopped beside him, Vaughn on the other side.

  “What the hell is going on?” Jensen asked. “You guys shouldn’t be yelling like this. It’s not good for my kid or your blood pressure.”

  Jensen was fucking around, Wells knew that, but still, he spat off, “My fucking blood pressure is fine, and your wife is accusing my boyfriend of trying to hide me. Not really coming out.”

  “Why would you say that?” Vaughn asked Wren, and she blew out a breath as she looked over at him. “He was cool in Cancun. They were all in love and shit.”

  “Yes,” she said, pointing to Wells. “On the beach. I think there was only one time I saw him touch Wells in public, and now, he’s having Wells pay six million to some dick who has pictures of them together because he doesn’t want them coming out.”

  “What?” Jensen roared as Vaughn made a face.

  “What the hell? Six million? No dick is worth that. Hell, pussy isn’t even worth that.”

  “Mine is,” Brie said, appearing beside him with boxes of pizza. “Right?”

  Vaughn nodded very quickly. “Of course. I totally meant to add that.”

  Rolling his eyes, Wells let out an aggravated breath. “It’s not like that. The dude is blackmailing him, and he and his agent don’t think it’s smart to sue him when the pictures will surface anyway. Matty wants to tell his family first, not have them find out like this.”

  No one said anything, all of their faces twisted in confusion. Except Wren’s, hers was set in anger. Brie crossed the kitchen to the table, setting the pizza down, and Wells wanted to laugh when she opened the box and started eating. That girl was always eating at the wrong times.

  “Did he have a time frame? Usually, there’s a time frame with this kind of stuff,” Jensen asked, and Wells let out a breath.

  He didn’t want to answer, but he knew he had no choice. They’d bother him until he answered. “Yes, at the end of the week.”

  “Then why couldn’t he tell his family before that, and then sue the fuck out this guy?”

  “Because he’s private! He doesn’t want it coming out like this. You guys are forgetting who his dad is. This isn’t going to be some walk in the park. You said that yourself, Wren.”

  But before she could answer, Vaughn added, “But what’s going to stop this dude from doing this again?”

  “That’s what I said!” Wren exclaimed, holding her hands out to him. “I said Wells is basically funding staying in the closet with this guy.”

  Wells went to yell, but Jensen very calmly said, “I don’t think Matty is doing that. He’s different. I don’t know, he’s gotta control shit, right? This is the way he stays in control.”

  Wells nodded, sighing. “Exactly.”

  “But that doesn’t make it okay,” he added then, and Wells glared.

  “Thanks, no thanks.”

  Jensen shot him a look. “You need to tell him this is a one-time thing.”

  “He didn’t want to do it anyway.”

  “Well, that’s good,” Vaughn added, shaking his head. “But it still doesn’t make it okay. He should have come out—because, come on, it’s fucking time—and then tell that dude to suck it. You shouldn’t have offered. That would have been the push he needed.”

  “Yeah,” Wren and Jensen agreed, and there went Wells’s composure.

  Throwing his hands up, he yelled, “You guys are the biggest fucking hypocrites! Instead of making Wren own up to her mistakes when she got knocked up by someone else, you were quick to jump in to help her. How is this not just like that?”

  “Because it’s six million dollars,” Vaughn laughed. “That’s a lot of money.”

  “And that was marriage!”

  Jensen shrugged as Wren shook with anger. “But I loved her, so it was fine.”

  “And I love him!” Wells yelled, and Jensen shook his head.

  “That’s fine, and we support that. We just want you to be mindful of what you’re doing, what you’re getting into. The same way you went after Wren when we decided to get married and I claimed this baby as mine,” Jensen reminded him.

  That made Wells snap his mouth shut. He had been a dick when he’d found out Wren had asked Jensen to marry her and pose as her baby’s father after the shittastic baby daddy didn’t want anything to do with Wren or her baby. Wells was awful to her and not that great to Jensen. Mostly because he was afraid that one of them, or both of them, would get hurt

  Just like they were probably worried he would get hurt.

  He looked down at the ground. “I know what I’m doing. I appreciate everyone worrying about me, but I promise, the moment I feel I’m being kept in the closet, I’m out.”

  He saw Wren’s feet in his gaze before he felt her hands on his face, tipping his head back. Her eyes were dark, full of worry, as she gazed into his. “That’s all I want because I love you, just like you love me. I refuse to let you hurt like you did before when he wouldn’t come out.”

  Wells nodded as he swallowed. “I know.”

  “Okay.”

  “Okay.”

  Kissing his jaw, she slapped her hands together. “Let’s eat. I’m starving.”

  Everyone agreed, smacking Wells on the back as they passed, going to the boxes Brie had opened since she was already eating.

  “It’s really good,” Brie commented as she went for a third piece, not that Wells was counting.

  He was too busy feeling like he may have made a huge mistake.

  Twenty-One

  Matty should have felt better. He had