Put a Ring on It (11 page)

“He didn’t ask me to take him. His favorite artist was going to be there, so we went as a birthday present.” Theo had a lot more patience than Kieran. But that wasn’t news. Kieran would have told them all to fuck themselves about ten questions back.

That trip really had been all Theo’s idea. Kieran had been showing him the webcomic, and Theo had pointed out that the artist was going to be in Atlantic City at a convention. Kieran had looked at the price for tickets and turned the tablet off. When Theo surprised Kieran with tickets for his birthday, he was pretty sure that was the moment he’d fallen. Not the price, but that Theo had done that, just for him—had noticed how much Kieran had wanted to go without him saying a word.

His phone vibrated with a new text from Brett.

Sorry, got busy. They can’t see you. I couldn’t see you from where I was standing. Just hope they don’t go over to the trash.

What do they look like?
Kieran really wanted to know if there was any resemblance, if Theo was that hung up on one of his friends.

Kieran knew Theo spent time with them. But he hadn’t known they were this close, that they could summon Theo here and force him to defend his actions like Kieran’s family after three glasses of wine.

Three gay white guys in varying degrees of hotness. I wouldn’t kick any of them out of bed for eating crackers. Are they all as rich as Theo?

“At least promise me you’ll have him sign a prenup. I can tell you who to get to draft it,” Gideon said.

“Look, I know you mean well.” Theo’s patient voice had grown thin. “So I say this with a great deal of love. But fuck. Off.”

“Give us a reason to,” Dane suggested. “Convince us he’s your Prince Charming.”

“Let’s see,” the newscaster started off in a snide tone. “He loves music and is really down to earth but has a great sense of humor. He loves to take long walks on the beach and is a total—”

“You want to let Theo talk, Jax?” Gideon snapped.

Kieran liked Gideon. Okay, like was probably a strong word since Kieran thought Theo’s friends were kind of assholes, but if it came to it, he could probably stand having Gideon around.

Then Kieran realized he was about to hear his boyfriend describe him. To his friends. It was a little late to start believing in the power of prayer, but Kieran would take any kind of a disastrous distraction now to get him the hell out of there.

“Seriously? You’re going to play Oprah, Gideon?” Theo’s disgust was clear.

Maybe there were worse things than accidentally on purpose hearing your boyfriend describe you to his friends. Finding out that he didn’t want to.

There was silence from Theo’s table. Kieran hiked his scarf up around his face. It wouldn’t fool Theo, but maybe the other guys wouldn’t recognize him from the video.

Kieran didn’t know how long he waited, ears picking up the clatter of mugs and plates and fragments of other conversations until Theo said, “You know that eighties movie,
All I Need
?”

“Not everyone grew up with TV as a babysitter,” Dane said.

Theo had shown it to Kieran once. It was cute—or at least the actor in it was cute—despite the eighties hair and clothes. It had ended with the girl in the poufy wedding dress running off to get on Cute Guy’s bike.

“The girl in it believes that she’s destined to marry a guy who meets some special criteria because of a near-death thing that happened when she was a kid. She almost marries the wrong guy because of it.”

“Riveting. Is this how you get investors? Confuse them with random plot summaries until they write you a check to make you stop?”

Kieran wanted to be loyal, but he had to admit Gideon had a point. What the hell was Theo talking about?

“While she’s chasing Mr. Perfect, she falls for another guy.”

Kieran ran his hands through his hair in frustration. He imagined at least one of Theo’s friends was probably doing the same thing to keep from strangling Theo.

“So is Kieran Mr. Perfect or another guy?”

“He’s
the
guy. I had the idea that I had to be with someone in the biz, someone who got it, what opening night feels like, what that energy is like—”

“How much of your life it consumes?” Newscaster—Jax—was a bit more understanding now.

“Yeah,” Theo agreed. “But then I met Kieran, and he didn’t give a shit about any of that.”

“So the key to happiness is to have nothing in common? How the fuck does that work?”

Gideon’s words drilled right down to the core of Kieran’s doubts. He and Theo had a big fat nothing in common, except them both loving Theo’s mouth on Kieran’s dick. How long could that last? Yeah, things were comfortable. They didn’t fight. And maybe sometimes just hearing Theo moving around the apartment made Kieran so happy he caught himself smiling for no good reason. That didn’t sound like a reason to get married. To put your relationship out there with a label and all these expectations on it.

When Dane spoke, Kieran heard the genuine concern behind the social-work-style bullshit. “Theo, I know you’ve had some bad luck with actors, but is the answer someone who doesn’t give a shit about the most important part of your life?”

“That’s what Sunny thought about Jesse. In the movie,” Theo added.

Kieran pictured him, those dark eyes full of light from his focus, his interest, his energy. Saw his hands, solid and emphatic, the sprinkle of dark hair across the backs.

He had to stand up. Stop Theo from talking. Because it was wrong hearing him like this. Spying. Worse than a lie. But as soon as Kieran pictured the hurt in those eyes, the disappointment, he knew he didn’t have the balls to do it.

Theo went on, as passionate about this old cheesy movie as he was about anything that caught his interest. “But that’s the whole point. It’s because Jesse doesn’t believe in the fate Sunny is hung up on that he can make her happy. He doesn’t see destiny or fate. He just sees her.”

“So Kieran is Jesse?” Jax’s flat tone jarred in contrast to Theo’s impassioned declaration.

It would take most people a triple espresso to infuse Theo’s answering “Yes” with that much enthusiasm.

Theo was his own renewable energy source. Especially when he was swept up in his vision of a perfect production.

Acid soured the back of Kieran’s throat. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t only blame the coffee. Every other protest against the proposal Kieran had made—the embarrassment, the shock, the publicity—boiled away to nothing but the sticky bitter truth. None of this was real to Theo. It was just another one of his shows. This time he’d cast Kieran in the lead.

He knotted his fingers together and pulled hard, locking the feelings away. The hurt and the brief fun moment of hope that they could do it. Go on the way they had, just with rings and a piece of paper that said they belonged to each other. God, he was as romantic as Theo. Kieran fought the childish urge to stick his fingers in his ears.

Gideon’s bossy voice probably would have been audible anyway. “Christ, Theo, this is your life, not a musical comedy. If he’s that damned important, why the fuck haven’t any of us met him?”

“You want to know why?” Theo’s head popped over the partition, and Kieran slunk down in the booth, hitching up his scarf. “Because of this. Because I thought maybe for once my relationship would stand a chance if I didn’t expose him to all of your judgmental bullshit.”

Theo slammed his way through the tables away from Kieran and out the front door.

“Smooth one, G,” Jax said over the buzzing in Kieran’s ears.

“Shit.” Gideon sighed.

“Hey, you just said what we’re all thinking.” Dane’s reassurance had a note of humor in it. “You do always know how to get to the point.”

Jax yawned. “Gideon’s charms aside, I have been up since yesterday. It’s hard enough getting a call in to read when I don’t look so rode hard and put up wet.”

“You want to stay at my place?” Gideon offered.

“We’ve got tons of room,” Dane added.

“Um. Yeah. Thanks. But—I’ve been seeing someone here.”

“Perfect.” Gideon’s voice was full of disgust. “You and Theo can have a double wedding.”

“Don’t give him any ideas,” Dane warned.

“Don’t push that on me. I said I was seeing someone, not moving in. I’m still—”

“Under the delusion that not being publicly out protects your chances of rediscovered stardom?” Surprisingly, it was Dane who got that dig in.

“Jesus. I’m starting to see why a year between meeting up is a good thing.” Jax stood up, and Kieran snuck a look. Tall, broad shoulders, more-than-model handsome. “You know, if you assholes wanted to get rid of me so you could have one of your quickies in the bathroom, you could have just asked.” He wrapped a scarf around his face and stomped off toward the front door.

Yes, please, go do each other so I can get out of here.

No one else got up from the table. After a minute, Gideon said, “You know, the one I feel sorry for is the kid. Sucks to be him when Theo decides to stage a new show because this one can’t live up to his dream. But the sooner he gets over those romantic delusions the better, right?”

Kieran winced at that, though it wasn’t anything he hadn’t already told himself.

“I’m surprised you think he has any.” Dane’s voice was different now. Softer. “You saw the video. Did he look happy to be on the other side of that proposal?”

“No.”

“But he still grabbed the ring. We’ve got to make sure Theo gets a prenup.”

“I don’t disagree with the prenup, but I think that kid loves him.”

Fuck you and your perception, Gideon.

“And you base that on what, exactly?” Dane’s voice mirrored the arch Kieran pictured on his brow.

“His face. I expected him to deck Theo. He said yes, but he wasn’t happy about it. So he did it for Theo.”

Kieran covered his burning face with his hands.

“Oh, babe. You’re still a marshmallow on the inside, aren’t you?”

“Fuck off.”

“You know where to find me.” Dane’s deep-voiced invitation vibrated over to Kieran’s booth.

A finger snap. “Focus. Doesn’t mean I think Theo should go through with it.”

“I’m sure your devious mind will come up with something. I’m in.” Dane stood, pulling the knit hat over his dark blond curls, then leaned back down, murmuring something Kieran couldn’t hear before heading toward the door.

Kieran looked down at the ring Theo had given him. No matter how much he wanted to, no matter what Theo promised, they couldn’t get back inside that bubble where it was just the two of them, and Kieran couldn’t live like this, feeling like his skin was off, everyone digging deep into his life. Couldn’t live waiting for the end when Theo saw that reality could never live up to his dreams.

If Gideon was going to come up with a devious plan to fix it, maybe Kieran should be on his side.

Feeling as old as Bubbe, Kieran pushed away from the booth and stepped over to where Gideon sat, a Trenta cup in front of him.

“Do you know who I am?”

Gideon looked up, swept Kieran with a stare that was appraising and amused at the same time. “Yup.”

“Okay.” Kieran sat down again opposite. “You’re right. Theo and I can’t get married.”

GIDEON LEANED
back and studied Kieran. “Well, that’s surprisingly helpful. But you know what would be more helpful? If you nutted up and told Theo that.”

Kieran stared back. “I see how well that worked for you.”

“I’m not his boyfriend.”

“But you were once.”

“He told you that?” Gideon didn’t reveal a lot through body language, but Kieran noticed a shift in intensity in his eyes.

“No. I just knew.”

It was the jealousy at that realization that surprised Kieran. Not from some kind of possessiveness, but over Gideon knowing Theo back then. When everything was possibility, without the complications of career and families. Kieran would have liked a chance with younger Theo. Maybe if they’d been the same age when they met, this whole lifetime commitment thing would have come on them together, gradually. It wouldn’t feel like being shoved off the Brooklyn Bridge.

“I wouldn’t exactly call it dating.” Gideon’s voice was dry.

“Either way, you have to know how impossible it is to say no to him.”

“The puppy eyes.”

“The complete ability to shift the circumstances so that yes seems like the only logical choice.”

That earned Kieran a nod, almost approving.

“You’ve been paying attention.”

“For all the good it does me.” Kieran twisted his fingers under the table.

“But you’ve gone along with it so far. Why the change of heart?”

“You know Theo. Do you actually think there’s any way this works? That a year of sex while managing to not get on each other’s nerves equals a ride off into the sunset?”

“Maybe I need more background.”

Kieran would prefer to keep it that way. “There’s not much to know.”

“I can summarize the details.” Gideon relaxed his posture. “You were adopted by Niall and Marilyn Delaney-Schwartz at the age of fifteen months. You have three adopted siblings, two of whom have advanced degrees and the third attending Julliard. Your grades and SAT scores were good enough to get you into MIT, where you maintained a 3.82 GPA on a computer engineering track for four semesters before you dropped out for an as-yet-undetermined reason. After a few menial service jobs, you began working in IT and currently do unremarkable work in that department for the Aura Group International on Seventh Avenue.”

Fucking Internet. Nothing was safe. Kieran couldn’t do anything about the tops of his ears glowing like neon, but he could control his voice. “If the file said my favorite color is blue, that’s wrong. I gave in to peer pressure. It’s actually green.”

“I’ll make a note of it. To answer your question, no. I don’t see it working. Not with your history.”

“My history?” Kieran didn’t have a history.

“You seem fairly commitment averse.”

Hating a bunch of jobs, hating the endless expectations and benchmarks of the plan his parents had for him, didn’t mean he couldn’t stick to something if he liked it. He liked—loved—Theo. If all this hadn’t happened, Kieran would be perfectly happy to have everything stay the way it was. “What about Theo? You said—”