Page 32 of Canned & Coated

“Two… I turned down an orgy at Coachella.”

I scoff before I can stop myself. Of course that’s even a sentence he gets to say.

Then Tanner pauses.

It’s brief, barely a second, but it’s enough for me to catch the shift. The decision. It tightens across his mouth, flickers in his eyes. Whatever’s about to come out of his mouth next? He’s choosing this.

“Three…” he says, slower now, still holding my gaze.

My stomach drops before he even finishes.

“…Nate watched me jerk off in the bathhouse last night.”

Milo’s jaw drops. Heat detonates across my face.

Tanner sits there, wearing a smug grin. It’s unchanged from when we were sixteen and he’d drop a bomb at the worst possible moment and enjoy the fallout.

We’re definitely back in it now.

Tanner stirring the pot.

Milo watching it boil.

Me, dead center, with nowhere to go.

The fire feels too bright. Too close.

“Is he serious?” Milo asks.

My gaze ping-pongs between them. I open my mouth, close it, open it again.

“I… I went to apologize and he was already… “ My hands flutter uselessly. “I didn’t go there to… it’s not like I stood there watching on purpose…“

“Your cock was hard,” Tanner interjects.

“Your cock was hard?!” Milo shrieks.

I throw my hands up. “Oh yours would be too! It’s biology!”

“When were you gonna tell me,” Milo asks, voice dropping.

“God, I don’t know.” I rake my fingers through my hair. “Probably never? It happened and then it was over, and... We’ve been friends forever. I figured this was one more weird thing we’d never talk about.”

Milo’s eyes narrow. “I’m sick of being your emotional safety net while he gets all the interesting parts of you. Why am I always on the sidelines?”

“Sidelines? There was no game happening!” My voice cracks. “He was… and I was frozen. Standing there like an idiot. Trust me, it wasn’t some sexy moment. I couldn’t breathe.”

“It was pretty sexy.” Tanner says before turning to Milo. “And you’re complaining about missing the interesting parts? That’s wild coming from the guy who was giving Nate a handie while I was three feet away yesterday morning.”

Milo gasps. “You were supposed to be sleeping!”

“Even if I was… you think that makes it okay? You’re worried about being left out? How do you think I felt knowing you two were…“ He cuts himself off, exhales hard. “Why do you think I needed alone time in that bathhouse in the first place?”

Milo scoffs, voice dripping with disbelief. “So what, you’ve been sitting in some van traveling all over the country just pining away for him? For us? This whole damn time?”

“If I was?” Tanner snaps back, color rising in his cheeks. “What exactly would you have me do about it? I knew you looked at him the way he used to look at me. I knew you’d been half in love with him since we were sixteen.”

Milo’s voice goes low and possessive. “He chose me, though, didn’t he?”