There was no taking it back once I said it. The truest part of myself was laid bare, right there next to my half-eaten Crunchwrap Supreme. And, as I always should have known, there was no need to take it back. In fact, there wasn’t any need to be scared about coming out to Eric and Tristan either. Not when Eric spoke up and came out himself that same night, Tristan joining the rainbow mafia a month later.

Turned out that I’d been the first bedazzled domino to fall, but I wasn’t the last.

“Want to go for some Cuban?” Jake asked, drawing my attention up to his inhumanely blue eyes. Seriously, there should have been some law against having eyes that beautiful. Especially when you were straight. It was way too much power for one person to yield. Pretty privilege and straight privilege? It made me sick to my stomach.

Not sick enough to say no to a medianoche, though.

“Sure,” I answered, locking my computer and reaching for my wallet, still under the stacks of papers I had left it under. My office wasn’t exactly the picture of cleanliness and organization, but it worked for me. I’d only been in this position—accounts payable manager for a large construction company here in Atlanta—for about a month now, and in that time, I’d been way more focused on getting myself settled than on organizing my office.

Jake arched a skeptical bushy brow as I dug in a chaotic cabinet for my keys.

“What?” I asked. “I’ve got a system.”

He chuckled, which slightly annoyed me. Was he laughing at me? And why did his chuckle sound so damn cute? “Yeah? What system is that? Windows 95?”

That got a genuine and surprised laugh out of me. “Alright, let’s go,” I said, grabbing the keys from underneath a tangle of multicolored rubber bands and jingling them in the air. “Before I end up having to reboot you in the ass.”

Jake turned and gave himself a slap on the ass.

Damn him.

Damn him to gay-baiting hell, and damn me, too. Send me on my merry gay way right down there with him, because damn I wanted to bury my face in that juicy a—

His phone started to ring, startling us both and knocking me right out of my horned-up daydream. He dug in the pocket of his khakis and pulled out his phone, a flash of concern crossing his blue eyes as he read the name on the screen. When he answered it, I could hear a woman’s voice on the other end, but her words were muffled.

“Okay, okay. Don’t worry. Just stay where you are. Yes, yes, I’ll be right there. Okay, bye, love you.”

He hung up, the concern staying in that aquamarine gaze of his.