The Best Friend Read online Raleigh Ruebins (Red’s Tavern #1)

Categories Genre: Gay, GLBT, M-M Romance, Romance Tags Authors: Series: Red's Tavern Series by Raleigh Ruebins
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Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 437(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
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“What’s that for?”

“You’re calling me awkward as hell, and yes, I definitely am,” Evan said, relaxing his posture again. “But you’re the one who said weird things tonight.”

“Fuck off,” I said, shoving him back.

“Sitting there asking me if I’ve ever had sex with Cal. Nobody ever said big hunky jocks can’t be awkward, too.”

“We’re thirty-two, don’t you think we’re past the whole jock-versus-nerd phase of our lives?”

“God, I hope so,” Evan said. Then he side-eyed me. “But you’re still a big ol’ jock.”

I was already laughing before he’d finished speaking. I leaned over and gave him a big squeeze of a hug. “Thanks for telling me I say sexy things, by the way. I appreciate it, even if I have no idea how to respond.”

“As long as it doesn’t make you uncomfortable, I can call you sexy anytime you need to hear it,” Evan said simply. He didn’t say it like he was just trying to make me feel better—he stated it like a fact.

My cock liked that. My cock liked that way, way too much.

Holy lord.

Tequila was bad for me, too, but only because it made me way too fucking horny. Now I was getting hard again from things my best friend said.

Luckily, a big group of people walked by and they were loud enough to distract both of us from the little world we were in on this bench. They were clearly lost, stopping every few seconds to look back in other directions.

“Trying to find something?” I called out.

“Oh! Hello there!” a blonde woman said in a British accent, trotting over toward us. “So sorry to bother you. Goodness, aren’t you two an adorable couple.”

Evan laughed loudly. “Oh, we… we aren’t—”

I leaned over toward Evan, putting my finger to his lips. “Ignore my husband, he’s drunk,” I said.

I don’t know what the fuck had come over me, but adrenaline raced through me as I said the words. I’d never so much as taken a single improv class before, but for some reason I’d had the urge to… pretend.

“Oh my God, you’re married!” the woman said. “That’s why we’re here in town. My best mate Caroline is being married nearby.”

“Congratulations to her,” I said. “Amberfield is a beautiful place to do it, even if it is in the middle of nowhere. Don’t you think so, honey?” I turned to Evan.

Evan was still looking at me like I had ten heads, but slowly, he seemed to start playing along.

“We love it here,” he finally said. “Is your group lost?”

The woman nodded. “We are very, very lost. We are trying to find the Golden Goose Inn, but our GPS doesn’t seem to work half the time in this place…”

“Yeah, Amberfield isn’t exactly the best at cell phone service in general,” Evan said. “You’re about a fifteen-minute walk away from the Golden Goose Inn.”

Evan gave her instructions, and she thanked us profusely. “Thank you so, so kindly. Everyone here in Kansas has been so sweet to us.”

“Have fun at the wedding,” Evan called out as she walked away and the group disappeared back down the street.

There were about thirty seconds of silence where Evan just looked at me, his expression somewhere between laughter and surprise.

“I know, I know,” I finally said. “I don’t know what the hell came over me. I’m not usually much of an actor.”

“No, no,” Evan said, shaking his head. “You did pretty well, hubby.”

Now I was the one blushing. “Blame the tequila. I was just having fun.”

“And now I’m having fun with you,” Evan said. “So what do you want to do tonight, baby? Netflix and chill on the couch? Plan our anniversary date? File our joint tax returns or fight over who is stealing most of the bed covers?”

I laughed, scrubbing my palms over my face.

“I think I just really need to get laid,” I said. “Maybe pretending to be married was just my way of coping with my not being married anymore.”

“Oh, so you think I’ve been a bad husband and not laying the pipe as much as I should be,” Evan said, nodding. Clearly I’d gotten him started, and now he was retaliating against me by not giving up on the joke.

I took a deep breath, deciding to go along with it again. What the hell did I have to lose?

“Yep. I just miss your dick, babe. When we first got married, you were giving it to me every night, and now look at us.”

My skin was burning hot and I couldn’t believe what was coming out of my mouth. I’d never joked like this, but I couldn’t stop.

I saw a flicker of something in Evan’s eyes, but he quickly recovered, sliding right back into the joke.

“Now it’s only every other day,” Evan said. “What a tragedy.”

“What have we become?”

“Well, maybe we just need to reignite the passion,” Evan said. “Do the things we used to do.”


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