AT THE TOP OF THE FERRIS WHEEL

After I found out my childhood best friend was straight, I learned to hide how I felt about him.

Then he fell for my new roommate.

Suddenly, every excuse he found to spend time with me was really an excuse to get closer to Theo.

Until he started asking, over and over, how he should tell a guy he liked him.

Eventually, I snapped.

“Just kiss him. That'll get the point across.”

He watched me with the beginnings of a smile. “You sure?”

Before I could take it back, he had me pressed against the wall.

He tipped my chin up and smiled like he had all the time in the world.

“If you'd told me that was what you wanted, I could've stopped being a gentleman a long time ago.”

1

Every person in the private karaoke room was staring at me.

The chanting kept getting louder.

I looked down at the bunny-eared maid costume in my hands and felt a headache coming on.

It was Mason's birthday, and naturally, he was leading the charge.

“Come on, Finn. Don't be a sore loser. We agreed whoever lost at dice had to wear it.”

For fuck's sake.

I closed my eyes, accepted that this was apparently my life now, and went into the room's adjoining bathroom to change into the pink-and-white minidress.

The moment I put on the bunny ears and saw myself in the mirror, I had to fight the urge to punch my reflection.

It took five solid minutes of mentally preparing myself before I opened the door.

“Holy shit.” Mason recovered first. “You're gorgeous.”

At the same time, the door behind me opened.

Footsteps stopped.

“What are you doing?”

I turned.

Julian Hayes stood in the doorway, frowning, his gaze traveling slowly down my body and back up.

My roommate, Theo Parker, was beside him.

If I had to guess, those two were one good date away from making things official.

Mason, already well past tipsy, came over to explain.

“He lost five rounds in a row. This is his punishment.”

Then he slipped an arm around my waist.

“Seriously, Finn. How is your waist this small?”

Julian knocked his hand away.

“Can you talk without grabbing him?”

Mason laughed, unbothered.

“We're all guys. What's the big deal?” He turned to me. “Right, Finn?”

I was busy discreetly tugging the hem of the skirt down. I hadn't really been listening.

Hearing my name, I gave him an absent “Yeah.”

Mason raised his eyebrows at Julian in triumph.

“See? He doesn't care. You're being a little overprotective, man.”

The temperature beside me seemed to drop ten degrees.

I looked up without thinking.

Julian was watching me with something that almost passed for a smile.

His eyes were ice-cold.

2

That was when I noticed Julian and Theo were wearing the same color.

They looked like one of those couples who coordinated their outfits.

I looked away.

Suddenly, I really wanted a cigarette.

I grabbed my pack and left the room.

Just my luck: the only other occupied room on the floor was next door, and a man was coming out of it at exactly the same time.

He was drunk enough to slur as he looked me over.

“Didn't know this place had bunny girls.”

His eyes grew unfocused.

“What's your name, sweetheart? Come have a drink with us. I'll make it worth your while.”

I tapped out a cigarette and put it between my lips.

Then I gave him a sideways look.

“Fuck off.”

Apparently, he had no survival instinct. He grabbed my arm.

“Come on, little bunny. You look good in that.”

I clicked my tongue, thoroughly sick of him, caught his wrist, and twisted his arm behind his back.

He cried out.

I put him on the floor.

With my foot planted on his shoulder, I said calmly, “Call me sweetheart again. See what happens.”

“Shit! Sorry! Sorry! I didn't know you were a guy!”

I let him go and headed for the window at the end of the hall, taking out another cigarette as I walked.

3

When I heard footsteps behind me, my patience ran out completely.

A hand landed on my shoulder.

I was already bracing to teach the idiot a second lesson when he caught my arm and turned me around.

Julian.

“What is wrong with you? Do you always swing before you look?”

He didn't let go.

Instead, his hand slid to my waist, and he pulled me against his chest.

“Let go.”

My nose brushed his chin. He was close enough to make my skin heat.

Julian looked down at me without moving.

His mouth curved, humorless.

“Interesting. Why should I? You let other guys put their hands all over your waist, but I touch you once and it's a problem?”

I had no idea what he was talking about.

I stared up at him and blinked.

With his free hand, Julian hooked a finger around one of my pink-and-white bunny ears.

“Don't let people touch you whenever they feel like it. Got that?”

I pushed against him. He didn't budge.

Irritation flared into outright defiance.

“And if I say I don't?”

Julian gave a short, disbelieving laugh. His hand moved slowly over my back.

“Are you trying to get yourself in trouble, Finn?”

His fingers slid up to the back of my neck and closed around it, firm but not painful.

His voice stayed quiet. The warning in it didn't.

“Would taking this ridiculous scrap of fabric off you improve your attitude?”

By then, I'd stopped trying to get out of his arms.

I tipped my face up at him, deliberately provocative.

“You wouldn't dare.”

I'd known Julian for more than ten years. Whatever else he was, he'd always been impeccably well-mannered in public.

Unless someone crossed a serious line, he rarely embarrassed them in front of other people.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, he released me.

He stepped back to a safer distance.

Then he smiled.

“I hope you're still this brave later.”

4

I ignored him and went straight back to the room.

Mason was laughing so hard his face had gone red.

“Finn! Julian! You playing cards with us?”

He waved the deck. It was our usual three-player shedding game: one person played solo against the other two, and a four-of-a-kind could beat anything.

“If the solo player wins, he gets to make the other two do whatever he wants.”

Mason doubled over again.

“If it's us three and I win, I'm making Finn sit in Julian's lap and call him his husband. Jesus. Imagine how much you'd both hate that.”

Idiot.

My expression didn't change. I started around him, with absolutely no intention of joining this stupid game.

Julian caught my arm.

He looked straight at Mason.

“Deal us in.”

“I don't want to,” I said, trying to pull away.

Julian gave me a dismissive glance.

“Just say you're scared.”

I'd been falling for that exact line since childhood.

“Fine. Let's play.”

I turned to get the cards.

As luck would have it, Mason drew the solo position.

I looked at the four twos in my hand and relaxed.

Julian was absurdly good at cards. With him on my side, there was no way we'd lose.

Mason tossed out his first card, almost bored.

“Three of clubs.”

Julian's turn.

He casually laid down four aces.

I stared.

Then I stared harder.

For a moment, words deserted me.

Mason's laugh filled the room.

“Julian, how drunk are you?”

I finally found my voice.

“Have you lost your fucking mind?”

Julian lifted his eyes, unhurried.

“What?” he drawled. “Am I not allowed to beat his card?”

Four aces.

On a single three of clubs.

I swallowed my anger and looked back at my hand.

Fine. It was fine. I could still win this on my own.

Except Julian spent the rest of the round playing as if he'd never seen a deck of cards before.

By the time Mason put down his last card and announced his victory, I felt nothing at all.

5

Mason sprang up, pointing at us and practically dancing.

“A bet's a bet! Come on, Finn. Straddle his lap. Call him your husband.”

I was seriously considering dropping out of college.

I turned.

Julian was sprawled against the booth's backrest. He tapped his thigh.

Instinctively, I looked toward Theo.

He was heading out to answer a call, his eyes red. It looked as though he was arguing with whoever was on the other end.

Julian's patience wore thin.

“If you can't take losing, just say so.”

I drew a deep breath.

Then I got up, walked over, and sat astride his lap with the expression of a man facing a firing squad.

“Hello. Husband.”

Flat. Mechanical. Dead behind the eyes.

Julian's expression didn't shift. He looked at me like a piece of furniture.

We had all the chemistry of two corpses.

Mason frowned.

“No. Absolutely not. You're phoning it in, Finn. Put some feeling into it.”