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I gave him a look that I hoped told him keep your mouth shut. “It’s open,” I called out.
The door opened and Dean poked his head in. “Hey, Zach,” he said. His eyes darted from Jake to me and back again.
Yes, Dean, I “know” this guy. “What do you need, Dean?” I asked, keeping my voice calm and even.
“The, um,” he paused. “The projector in the middle auditorium is causing problems again.”
I groaned. “Fuck, again?”
He nodded. “The next showing isn’t until five, but Dylan’s trying to fix it before then.”
“Oh, God.” I rolled my eyes. “Tell him I’ll be there in a minute. But don’t let him fuck with it.”
“Will do.” The door closed and Dean was gone.
Jake rose, squaring his shoulders and setting his jaw. “I guess I should go,” he said. “Apparently you have more important things to deal with.”
“I have a business to run,” I said as I stood. “And it seems to me that we’ve settled this anyway, so the timing couldn’t be better.”
His jaw dropped, then tightened again. “So that’s it, then? You and Nathan?”
“Yes,” I said. “That’s exactly it. Sorry, I guess that doesn’t leave much room for you.”
“Evidently not,” he said.
“This was your choice, Jake,” I said as I came around the desk. Opening the door, I made the same after you gesture he’d made at the entrance to the bar the night I met Nathan. “If you don’t like the consequences, there isn’t much I can do about it.”
He glared at me again and, for a moment, I was certain he was going to launch into a tirade or one last plea to take him back. Then he lowered his gaze, nodded and followed my gesture out the door.
We walked in silence down the short hall to the lobby. Following him like this, knowing that he was on his way out, that I’d stood my ground, was strangely liberating. We’d been apart for a while now, but something deep down still doubted my ability to walk away from him. Or let him walk away from me.
But there he was, regardless of my doubts, walking away while I resisted the urge to tell him to hurry the hell up.
He paused at the exit with his hand on the bar across the door. Our eyes met, and he looked away first. Without a word, he pushed the door open and left. It banged shut behind him with a satisfying echo.
I smiled as he disappeared into the crowd. I’ll be sure to tell Nathan you said hello.
Then I turned on my heel and headed into the projector room to see if Dylan had managed to destroy anything.
Chapter Eighteen
By the time the day finally wound down and there was enough of a lull in the chaos for me to make my escape, I had just enough time to get halfway across town and be on time to meet Nathan. He wasn’t there yet, so I grabbed a table and waited for him.
It had been about a week since we’d seen each other. We’d both been swamped with work and just hadn’t been able to cross paths. By the third day, I was going out of my mind. By the fifth, I could think of nothing but tonight, when I’d finally get to relieve some of this tension. And this had nothing to do with stress from work or anything of the sort. When Jake and I went a few days like this, it was usually both sexual tension and work-related stress that snowballed until I was on the brink of the kind of madness that could only be relieved by a night of relentless sex.
Tonight, I was on that brink, but my job had nothing to do with it. Nathan was the cause and the cure, and I needed him now.
Out of nowhere, he was there, materializing on the bench across from me just like he did the night we met, and my heart almost stopped. Oh, God, you’re really here. I smiled at him and we made small talk, but all the while I wondered how I was going to get through di
I kept myself calm and collected, though. He didn’t need to know just how much I needed him right then. He knew I wanted him, but I didn’t want him to think I was desperate. Which, of course, I was.
If you only knew what you did to me, Nathan.
After we’d ordered, I steered the conversation toward something I knew would keep my arousal at bay for a little while. “You’ll never guess who came by the theatre today,” I said.
His eyebrows jumped. “I’m going to assume it wasn’t Colin Farrell, since you’d have brought him with you tonight if you knew what was good for you.”
“You really think I’d share him if I got my hands on him?”
“Well, I’d certainly hope so,” he said, lifting his glass.
“If he ever shows up, we’ll talk.” I winked. Oh, God, what I wouldn’t do for a chance at that particular threesome-no, no, stay focused. On something other than getting Nathan naked and-fuck. I cleared my throat. “Anyway, no, not him.”
“Okay, so it wasn’t Colin Farrell,” he said. “I’m going to have to guess He Whose Name I’d Rather Not Think Of.”
I laughed and nodded, raising my glass in a mock toast. “The one and only.”
Nathan gave a quick sniff of laughter, then eyed me as he picked up his own drink. “So, what did he want?”
“To get back together.”
He put his glass down so hard we both jumped. Staring at me incredulously, he said, “Are you fucking kidding me?”
I shook my head. “Nope. He was pretty ballsy about it, too.”
“Seems a bit strange.” He furrowed his brow and absently ran his finger around the rim of his glass. “I mean, why now? After, what, almost a month?”
“Something like that,” I said with a shrug. “I don’t know what made him decide to do it now. Hell, I don’t know what made him think he had a chance at all, whether it was last week, this week, or next year.”
Nathan nodded, staring into his drink. “No kidding. But then, he is a persistent son of a bitch.” He looked at me. “Did you tell him about us?”
I smirked. “Absolutely.”
His eyes widened, looking more horrified than amused. “Are you serious?”
My smile fell. I shrugged. “You’re damn right I told him about us. Why should we hide it from him?”
He pursed his lips, then nodded. “Point taken. So, what did he say?”
“He was not happy about it,” I said.
At that, Nathan gri
“He couldn’t believe we had the nerve to see each other,” I said. “Christ, as if he’s justified in being pissed about anything we do, let alone together.”
Nathan snorted and shook his head. “He’s a piece of work, isn’t he?”
“He really is.”
“So when did he come by?”
I shrugged. “This afternoon. Maybe around two or so.”
Nathan ran a hand through his hair and nodded. “Explains a lot.”
“Oh?”
“Saw his number on my caller ID earlier,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “I’d deleted his name from my phone list, but recognized the number.”
“Did he leave a message?”
“No. He never was one to-” He paused. “I guess you know how he is, don’t you?”
I nodded. Jake hated voicemail. Always had. He didn’t even like sending text messages, which could be a
I sipped my drink, then laughed. “I can only imagine what he’ll say if he gets a hold of you.”
Nathan chuckled. “Probably ask me the same thing he asked you. How dare I find something in common with you besides him?”
“Just tell him you and he have similar taste in men,” I said with a flippant shrug. “That’s what I told him.”
With a cough of startled laughter, Nathan sat up. “You didn’t.”
“I did.” I gri