After the Romance Novel by Susan Laine

Author:Susan Laine [Laine, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-63533-275-9
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2017-02-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

EVAN WAS sure he’d misheard. “What?”

Adam stuttered like a child who hadn’t yet learned how to speak properly. He laid the rose on the table where it languished like an abandoned gift. Evan didn’t even dare look at it, let alone touch it.

“Well, I… I didn’t want you to…. That is, I thought it’d be better if…. I mean, I couldn’t find anyone….” Finally he fell silent, slumping dejectedly, his gaze focused on the scratched wooden surface of the table as if it were the most intriguing thing in the world.

Evan did his best to follow Adam’s train of thought.

“You didn’t want me to—what? Go out on a date with your friend—or with any guy, period? You couldn’t find a single gay guy among your circle of friends, or… you didn’t want me to hook up with anyone?” Evan couldn’t believe all the possibilities running through his head. “Are you… jealous?”

Adam flinched like he’d been hit. Oh my God, I’m right, Evan thought in shock. Adam was jealous of Evan going out on a date with a guy. Any guy. Anyone who wasn’t Adam.

No, that made zero sense. Adam wasn’t gay. Was he just being a possessive best friend? Evan would never have thought that possible. Adam was cool about everything. He was a great guy in that respect. The highest caliber of friends. He had always been there for Evan, and Evan trusted Adam implicitly.

No, there had to be some other explanation. Evan wracked his brains trying to figure out the puzzle.

Unfortunately, the only answer that came to Evan’s mind would make Adam the villain of the tale. Surely he couldn’t be that? Adam would not be so cruel. Not to anyone, and certainly not to his best friend.

“Was this just a joke to you?” Evan accused. He didn’t raise his voice or make a public scene because he could barely push the words out of his mouth. “Are you making fun of me? Did you arrange this so you could have a laugh at my expense? The poor pathetic little fag in need of getting laid.”

Adam’s eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. The shock he displayed couldn’t be faked, could it? Evan didn’t know anymore. Everything was a complicated mess.

“You never did accept or approve of me being gay, did you?” Evan went on, pain and sorrow twisting his insides into a knot. “You told me you understood, but was that a lie? And when I asked you to find me a date, you did this, making me look like an idiot.”

Adam shook his head furiously then. “No. No. No. No.”

But Evan was too far gone, drowned under his fears and doubts, unable to resurface.

Instead of listening to more lies, Evan stood quickly. For a second he considered throwing the Coke in Adam’s face, but that kind of stupid melodrama wasn’t in his character.

“See? This is exactly why I didn’t tell you about my books or about me being bi or gay or whatever. I knew you’d judge me.

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