Equals 04 - Husbands by Brigham Vaughn

Author:Brigham Vaughn
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2015-04-24T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

In the days that followed Russ’ proposal, Russ was unusually quiet; clearly hurting, but too stubborn to talk about it. They drove to and from work together, they had lunch together, and they slept side by side every night. They pretended as if everything was normal, but it wasn’t.

Stephen wanted to take the words back, knowing how deeply they’d cut Russ, but he couldn’t. Marriage was something he’d never believed he’d have a chance at, and the question had shocked him. Of course, he wanted to spend his life with Russ, there was no question of that, but he’d never considered a wedding ceremony. The thought that Russ wanted to make that kind of commitment to him touched him deeply, but it wasn’t something he wanted to rush into. If only they could talk, Russ would see that Stephen loved him as much as he ever had, but Russ was too hurt to hear it. To be fair, if their places were reversed, Stephen wasn’t sure he’d feel any better.

Stephen hoped giving Russ space would help, but the ring box sat on the dresser, a silent reminder of the rift between them.

Russ had proposed on Saturday, and when his Thursday night poker game rolled around, he was grateful for the excuse to get away.

As usual, they were playing Texas Hold ’em. They made small talk at first, catching up with each other’s lives as they played the first few hands. This hand, Andy and Marc were the blinds—compulsory to get the bets going—and Stephen checked his cards; he’d been dealt a pair of Queens, a strong hand.

“You seem quiet tonight,” Curtis commented with a glance at Stephen.

He nodded and raised the blind by 2,000. Phil had been dealt an Ace, King suited, and called. Curtis, Andy, and Marc folded, leaving Stephen and Phil to fight it out. It was the first time that evening two players had been dealt good hands.

“It’s been a long week,” Stephen said eventually.

“Everything okay?” Marc asked with a worried frown.

“Yeah, you usually don’t shut up about Russ, and you haven’t said a word about him today,” Phil joked. “What did you do, break up?”

Stephen scoffed, but the words hit a little closer to home than he’d like. “Just because you have a jaded view of relationships ...”

Phil was a former Vantage employee who had two ex-wives and a string of ex-girlfriends. More than fifteen years ago, he hadn’t blinked at joining a poker game consisting of three gay men though, and Stephen considered him a friend. A good friend, actually, but shitty at maintaining romantic relationships. Marc and Curtis had been together over twenty years so they might have some insight into his relationship. Andy had only been part of their poker group for the last five years, he rarely spoke about his relationships, and Stephen suspected they were few and far between. If the man didn’t want to talk about it, he wasn’t going to pry.

“OK, here’s the flop,” said Curtis, turning over two Aces and a King.

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