At Any Price(59)
He stepped forward to land a chaste kiss on my cheek. “Good night.” Then he turned down the hallway and disappeared into his quarters.
It hurt to breathe. And exhausted, I dropped onto my bed, curled into a ball and slept.
***
The next morning, when I woke, we were safely docked at the slip on Bay Island, nestled against Adam’s house. We had a brief, understated breakfast sitting in his kitchen, snacking on fresh fruit and warm crepes prepared by Chef.
He glanced at me several times but I remained mostly quiet, still feeling awkward and completely in the dark about what had happened between us the night before.
“Do you have plans for later?” he finally said.
I shrugged. “Apparently I’m at your disposal.”
“No, I mean for dinner. Just dinner.”
“Tonight?”
I thought for a moment. I didn’t have to be back at work until tomorrow’s late shift. I hadn’t had a chance to call Heath back, but I could take care of that this afternoon.
“I have to work on my blog posts for the week.”
“It’s just for a few hours.”
I sighed. “Not if I have to spend an hour or two getting ready.”
“Oh, no, it’s not that kind of dinner. It’s a family thing at my uncle’s house. Barbecue.” I shot a glance at him out of the corners of my eyes. A family thing? Had I heard that right? Suddenly that old beast, curiosity, seized me by the throat and wouldn’t let go.
“Okay.”
He drove me home and, as always, walked me to the door, carrying my bag. I entered and noticed a sudden movement near my couch. Startled, I screamed.
Adam darted inside past me, pushing me behind him.
“What the—” Heath jerked up from the couch to a standing position. “Fuck. Way to scare the shit out of me.”
I breathed a huge sigh of relief and then started laughing. “Heath, what are you doing here?”
“You vanished. I came over here to try to track you down.”
Heath and Adam exchanged manly nods of greeting. “Drake.”
“Bowman.”
Heath turned back to me with the strangest look on his face. “You been gone all weekend?”
I glanced at Adam, “More or less.”
“Ah. Okay.”
Adam shifted, obviously sensing the awkward moment. “I’ll get going, then.” He turned and landed a kiss on my cheek, handing me my bag. “See you at six.”
Heath stared at the door with narrowed eyes and an open mouth for almost a minute after Adam shut the door.
I began. “I’m sorry I didn’t answer your message. When I got in on Friday night it was too late to call and then I totally forgot on Saturday morning because I woke up late and was busy running around getting ready.”
Heath, still staring at the door, shook his head and blinked. “Mind telling me what the hell is going on?”
I dropped my bag on a nearby chair and moved over to the fridge in the corner of the studio that served as a teeny tiny kitchen. “Want some water? I think I have a Dr. Pepper.”
“I’m fine. I bought a coffee on the way over here. I know better than to come over here and expect anything to be in the fridge.”
“Why are you here?”
Heath’s face fell. “Because I was fucking worried. Your mom keeps calling me because she can’t get a hold of you and it’s driving me bananas and what the fuck is going on between you and Drake?”
My head spun—all of that had shot out of his mouth in less than ten seconds and I was still trying to process it. “I have a cell phone. I don’t have any numbers punched into it.” I pulled it out and handed it to him. “Can you put your number in there? And I’ll call you so you’ll have—”
“Where’d you get this? This is the brand new Galaxy. People are on waiting lists for these.”
“Adam gave it to me.”
Heath shot me a pointed look, then focused on putting his number into the phone. Then he dialed the number, letting it ring his cell once and hanging up.
“So are you two banging yet or what?”
I took the phone back from him, pressing my lips together. “Or what.”
“What’s his deal? Can’t he get it up? You spent the entire weekend with him and he didn’t get busy?”
I took a deep breath. “Friday we couldn’t. The boat wasn’t there. So we went on an overnight trip last night and…”
“And?”
“And nothing.”
“Shit. I knew he was gay.”
“What? No…no, he’s not gay.”
“How do you know?”
“I’m not going to go into details. I just know.”
“Then what?”