I pushed my chair away from the table and stalled. Jay grinned while picking up a piece of dragon roll with his chopsticks and dunking it in soy sauce. The bastard. He’d caused a situation in my pants, and if I stood up, Dean and the rest of the restaurant would see it. Why did I wear skinny jeans?

I adjusted myself and considered how fast I could sprint to the bathroom.

“Here goes nothing.”

Dean frowned, not understanding what I meant.

I leaped out of my chair and dove behind the partition before making a mad dash toward the bathroom while shielding my erection with my hands. Based on the abhorrent glares from the other diners, I must have looked like an eight-year-old holding in his pee because it was two seconds from coming out.

Whatever.

In the bathroom, I splashed cold water on my face, urging my erection to deflate. When I was in a semi-better state, I tugged my phone from my pocket, typing a text to Asher without thought.

Atticus: SOS. I fucked up. You can say I told you so all you want later, but you need to save me. I’m at the Japanese restaurant Imperial Moon with Jay and his freak of a husband, Dean. I legit think this guy lets his husband lure in quiet, unsuspecting twinks (which I’m not, we can fight about this later) so he can murder them. I don’t want to die. Help me.

I hit send and caught my pale reflection in the mirror. Two things happened next. The bathroom door swung open, and my phone buzzed.

Jay waltzed in with a smirk on his face, and he engaged the lock when the door slammed shut behind him. “You’re panicking.”

“I’m not.” My voice gave me away. “I was peeing. I had to pee. Badly.”

My phone buzzed again.

“Oh! And I was checking in with Ash.”

“Calling in the cavalry to save you?”

“Pff.” I waved a hand. “No. Ash was never good at horseback riding. Allergies. His sneezing scared them. A horse bucked him off when we took riding lessons when we were nine. Daisy. She was a sweet thing. Bad startle reflex. Ash never rode a horse again. I’m sorry. Why are we talking about horses?”

Jay stalked forward, backing me into the wall, amusement on his face. His heat and the delicious scent of his cologne surrounded me. “You’re funny. I like you, Atti. Don’t let Dean scare you off. I want this. You.”

He slipped his hand under my shirt and brushed his knuckles over my abs, making me suck in a breath. That hand moved around to the small of my back where he tugged my lower half against his, and oh fuck, was he hard? That was an erection.