Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 55627 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55627 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
“Sorry I missed dinner,” he said as he walked away from the table. “I'm getting a drink at the bar.”
When Gray had met Jack Storm in San Francisco two decades earlier, the lanky blond had had a boyfriend, so Gray had done the honorable thing and kept things friendly. At the time, he was sure the thing between Jack Storm and Jaime Snow wouldn’t last long because to Gray, it was clear that Jack deserved way better than what Jaime gave him. Unfortunately, he had been wrong in that assessment and the two had petered along for a decade. After following Jack from San Francisco to Seattle and spending years on the sidelines, ten of those trying to help Jack heal from what he had always viewed as a toxic relationship, he was damned if he’d miss his shot. If Jack was finally ready for a relationship, Gray would prove that he was the best man for the job.
***
“You are so controlling!”
If he weren’t thoroughly emotionally exhausted, Jack would have looked around to see if he knew anyone within earshot. The tantrum taking place in front of him would have been embarrassing when he was first old enough to buy a drink. Being part of this scene when he was over twice that age made him question his decision to wade back into the dating pool.
“Are you even listening to me?”
He pushed away his unfinished scotch—alcohol on an empty stomach wasn’t a good mixer with the already unpleasant evening—and scooted to the side to face Devon. “I heard every word you said.” With the unnecessarily loud volume of his date’s ravings, there was no way for Jack to avoid hearing him. Thankfully, the stools on both sides of them were empty. He could only hope the ambient noise in the room and the high ceilings meant the sound wasn’t traveling farther than that.
“I wasn’t going to do anything with that guy. It was an innocent conversation.”
Maybe Devon hadn’t been trying to pick up the man he was chatting up when Jack arrived, but that didn't change how close they were standing or the way Devon was looking at him. To Jack, that was how you interacted with your boyfriend, not a stranger. He had a great career and incredible friends, and he had learned to be comfortable living alone. If he was going to open his heart and his life to someone, it would be a guy who added value, not insecurity and a sense of worthlessness. Not again.
“Aren’t you going to say something?”
Asking how much longer the conversation would take would have been rude. Jack kept his mouth shut.
“We were meeting here for dinner, Jack. I’m not an idiot. Why would I try to get with somebody else knowing you’d catch me?”
That could be true or it could be a lie. It didn’t matter either way, because Jack wasn’t interested in being with a man who wanted to sleep or flirt with other men while he was with him. He wanted someone who would treat him and their relationship like something valuable, and it was clear that Devon wasn’t that person.
“Okay, fine, maybe I was flirting with him a little bit.”
On Jack’s gauge, it was more than a little, but again, he didn’t say anything because it no longer mattered. This was the last time he would see Devon.
“But we’ve never talked about being exclusive and you haven’t been taking us seriously.” He waved his hand back and forth between them.
“I guess that makes two of us.”
“I’ve been trying, Jack! You’re never available, you’re cold, and you refused to spend any time with me last weekend.”
“I work a lot and I had plans last weekend.” When he wasn’t working or with Gray, he had been at a New Year’s Eve party with his friends. He could have brought Devon to the party, but he hadn’t wanted to spend that much time with him. Or really any time. Maybe he had a point about Jack being cold, though he thought a better description of himself was broken.
“That’s why I had to flirt with that guy. I was doing it for you.”
That was surprising enough to get Jack’s attention. He furrowed his brow.
“You know the old trick. Make a guy jealous, show him you have other options, and then he’ll realize he can lose you.”
Was the next part of that trick watching the guy go home alone, change into his sweatpants, and curl up in bed with a book and a bag of potato chips? Because that was exactly what Jack planned to do. His friend Gray had brought him a bag of Lay’s Lime chips a few days earlier and Jack planned to dip them in crushed avocado. Needing to expedite that inevitability, he said, “Devon, this isn’t going to work out.”