"So?" Frankie asks as I hold the door to the building open for him. "And you're being a fucking coward. Those sound like a whole hell of a lot of excuses to me."
"I heard through the grapevine you stayed the night with Evan after Pump. Want to talk about that?" I cock a brow at him.
"Sure. He was scared, upset, lonely, and angry. His ex is a dick. He has no real friends. He realizes he hurt someone else. He was manipulated. Oh, and he's naïve as fuck."
Okay … so that wasn't the response I expected.
"And you fucked him?" I ask.
"No. I listened to him," Frankie replies. "But I haven't talked to him since, and I'm not in love with him, so back to you."
My feet root to the floor. "I'm not in love with Derek." Am I?
"Never said you were."
"You said you weren't in love with Evan."
"Well, no shit. I don't know him. I didn't say that was in response to you and Derek."
But he meant it. I know he did.
"You know what they say about assuming … " Frankie adds.
"I don't have time for this," I reply because it's the easiest thing to do. We clock out and I tell him he's welcome to meet us at Flirt if he wants. From there, I make my way in rush-hour traffic to Cypress Grove to see Mom. She's sitting up in her bed when I get there.
She waves at me with her good hand. She has severe loss of movement in her left.
"Hi, Ma." I lean forward and kiss her cheek.
"Long. Time." She has to concentrate hard on each word to make them come out and my chest immediately tightens.
"I know, Ma. Things have been crazy at work. I'll get back on schedule so I'm seeing you a few times a week."
"Zane. Steph."
"When did they come?" I ask.
She holds up two fingers with her good hand.
"Two days ago?"
She nods.
"I was working. It's why I couldn't come." I was working then, but they would have staggered their visit around me, to give her more time with someone here. I know it.
"Miss. My. Boy." She gives me a lopsided smile, and damned if it doesn't feel like the weight of that smile and her stroke doesn't pile on top of me.
"I know. I miss you too. I'll be better," I tell her. She only has me, Zane, and Steph. She's locked up in this place without us. Jesus, I should be coming to see her more.
The thing is, I know Derek would come see her too. He would help and he also wouldn't be upset if I told him I needed to come here a little more often. That's not how he works. He'd get it because of Randy. Those things suddenly make me want to tell her about him. I'm so fucking tired of hiding it. "I … I have a friend. I'll try and bring him."
She frowns slightly, I'm sure because she's surprised that I would bring a man to see her who she doesn't know. It's on the tip of my tongue, the truth. It's not a truth I'm ashamed of. I'm bi. I'm attracted as hell to both men and women but it feels wrong to tell her about Derek before Zane knows.
It reaffirms the fact that I'm going to tell Zane about Derek. Then maybe we can all spend time together … would Derek want that? Would he want to hang out with my son and my ex-wife?
Mom and I finish talking. When we're done, I stop by the office and make a payment. When I get to the Jeep, I send a text to Zane.
I want to talk to you about something tomorrow.
Sure, he replies.
There's almost a giddy excitement in me as I drive home, shower, and get ready for the night. I'm going to tell Zane and then lock Derek in his condo until he realizes he's worthy and we should try to give this a real chance. Not a don't fuck anyone but each other chance, but a we're serious; let's see where this can go chance.
I drive over to Metropolis. It's closer to Flirt than my place. When I get to his condo, he opens the door and fuck if my pulse doesn't speed up. Looking at him nearly knocks me on my ass.
"What are you smiling at?" he asks.
"You. I'm smiling at you."
"I like that," he replies.
"I like it too." I nod toward the hallway. "Come on. I want to have fun with you tonight."
"Good thing I'm so much fun," he says.
"Yeah, good thing."
30
Derek
We head to Flirt and get cocktails at the bar.
I figure we're going to have plenty of time to catch up about our week, but we hardly have a minute to ourselves since we keep getting bugged by nosy friends and acquaintances who want to meet my hot daddy. Word has clearly gotten around that this is more than one of my usual hookups, and everyone's eager to meet the guy who's captured my interest.