Without Reservations

an asshole to everyone.”
    Bobby shot Keaton an apologetic glance and cleared his throat. “Uh, Chay? Remi?”
    “What?” They both answered. Neither of them moved an inch. They continued trying to stare each other into the floor.
    “We gonna play or what?” Bobby asked.
    Chay sighed and sat. “Yeah.”
    “Hey, I was playing. Chay’s the one who assaulted my shin.” Remi took his seat. He gave Keaton one last good glare and took a swig of his beer.
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    J.L. Langley
    Things calmed down for about three more hands after that, then Remi started in again. He upped the ante a dollar and looked from Chay to Keaton. “Where did you meet Chay?”
    Keaton glanced at Chay, and back to Remi. “At his clinic. I brought a wounded, uh, dog in to him.”
    Bobby shifted a little in his seat. “You’re the wo—dog…I mean you’re the one who brought the dog in? My brother mentioned it the other night. He heard from the game warden that someone shot a dog and Chay patched it up. Glad he made it. The authorities need to look into that, we can’t have people going around shooting dogs.”
    Keaton nodded. First, Joe Winston, now Bobby. Apparently, Chay’s pack liked to gossip like his did. “That was me.”
    “Have you met Jasmine yet?” Remi asked with a smile.
    “Jasmine?” Keaton raised a brow.
    Chay cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak, but Remi interrupted him. “Chay’s girlfriend.”
    What? Keaton tried not to react, but he wasn’t sure how successful he was because it felt like someone punched him in the stomach. He couldn’t get air into his lungs. Could a person pass out from sorrow? He didn’t look at Chay. He couldn’t. He shook his head and smiled at Remi.
    “No, I haven’t. Maybe after Chay introduces me, we can double-date sometime.” Okay, yeah it was petty, but he wasn’t happy with Chay at the moment. He could have told Keaton about a girlfriend.
    “No, we cannot, because Jasmine is not my girlfriend. We dated exactly twice. That hardly constitutes a relationship.”
    “But you fucked her.” Remi smiled so big his pretty white teeth gleamed, then he glanced back and forth between Chay and Keaton.
    Oh God. Keaton felt sick to his stomach. Logically, he knew Chay wasn’t a virgin. He even knew it had been with women, but why did it hurt so much hearing about it? He had no claim on Chay…not really.
    50 www.samhainpublishing.com

    Without Reservations
    Had Chay been getting serious about this woman before Keaton showed up on his exam table?
    Chay leaned back in his chair and took a drink of his beer, acting for all the world like the conversation wasn’t important. Even though Keaton could smell the underlying scent of unease coming off him. It was irritating. “Are you practically engaged to everyone you fuck?”
    Remi shrugged. “Okay, point taken.” He picked up his cards and looked at them again, his eyes twinkling over the top of his cards at Keaton.
    He had no idea what Remi’s problem was but the man obviously had it in for him. Which didn’t bother Keaton too much, until Remi and Chay started reminiscing—at Remi’s instigation of course—making it clear that the two had been friends for a long time.
    By the time they left, Keaton felt downright dejected and to make matters worse, the ride home was silent. Not good.
    Keaton knew Remi had purposely set out to upset him, and damn it, it had worked. The man had brought to light what he’d known from the beginning. He didn’t belong in Chay’s world.
    Somehow, after meeting Chay’s parents, he’d kidded himself into thinking everything would be smooth sailing assuming Chay could get over the whole “gay thing”. Which was stupid on several counts. Number one, he actually cared about Chay. Chay was a good person, no way was he willing to watch the man’s life go to shit because of him. Number two, Chay would be miserable being an outcast from his friends and family.
    Unlike Keaton, the man was a social being, he liked people. Number three, hell, number three didn’t really matter, because number one and number two made Keaton change his mind.
    “Bit, I’m sorry. I don’t know what got into Remi tonight. He’s not usually so…obnoxious.”
    Keaton sighed. Damn, he was going to miss Chay calling him Bit.
    How screwed up was that? “Don’t worry about it, Chay.”
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    J.L. Langley
    The truck stopped next to Keaton’s car. “How about tomorrow