He cleared his throat. “You’re welcome. And my dick thanks you for letting him play along.”
My heart gave a squeeze, because those were not the words of love I craved. So I made a little joke, because that’s what I do when things get tense. “Do all guys refer to their dicks in the third person?”
Hartley stared up at the ceiling, his gorgeous face thoughtful. “Pretty much.”
We lay there quietly, our heart rates returning to normal. Hartley stroked my hair against his chest, and I tried not to worry about what would happen next.
“I need to ask you a question,” I said. Hearing my words, his face took on a wary expression, so I hurried on. “Hartley, what is your shit to shovel? Because you never say.”
He chuckled. “You noticed that, huh?”
“I did.”
He shifted then, turning carefully onto his stomach, folding his arms underneath his chin. We were no longer touching. “Thing is, Callahan, I don’t think I can talk about that tonight.”
“Really,” I said, flipping over onto my stomach too. “So all my shit is on the table, but not yours?” That didn’t seem fair. “You’re all up in my business…” Then I clapped a hand in front of my mouth. Even so, a bark of laughter escaped.
“What?”
I put both hands in front of my face. “I can’t believe I just said you were all up in my business.”
Hartley snorted. And then the two of us were shaking with laughter, side by side. And it was just like any other night’s joke, except naked.
Then, from the common room, I heard Dana open the outside door, arriving home. Hartley and I glanced at each other, clapping our hands in front of our mouths. As Dana moved about the common room, switching the television off, we shook with silent laughter. We didn’t stop until finally I heard the sound of water running in the bathroom. Even then, we were still gasping for air, and fighting off the rippled aftershocks of uncontrollable mirth.
Soon it became very quiet in my suite. Dana had gone to bed.
Hartley took a deep breath. “I think that’s my cue to sneak out,” he said. Slowly, he sat up, found his boxers and wiggled into them.
No! I wanted to shout. But I held my tongue, and found his T-shirt, passing it to him. I pulled my own over my head. I didn’t want him to watch me putting on my other clothes, because it was such an awkward, hopping process. So I pulled the blanket at the foot of my bed up over me instead.
“Before you go, could you, um, push my chair into my room? I’m kind of stranded here.”
His eyes opened wide. “Shit, I’m sorry.”
I smiled, and hopefully it was convincingly untroubled. “No biggie. I didn’t need to go anywhere for a little while there.”
He blew out a breath, and I could feel it — that was the moment things got weird.
Hartley hopped into the living room, retrieved his second crutch, and then shoved my chair at intervals into the bedroom. When he made it all the way back to me, he sat down on the edge of the bed. “Goodnight, Callahan,” he said, one hand dropping to my knee where it lay under the blanket.
I couldn’t feel his touch, but I wanted to.
“Goodnight, Hartley,” I whispered.
He leaned back then, giving me a quick kiss on the nose. His face was serious, almost sad. “See you at brunch tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” I said as he rose to go. Because that won’t be weird at all.
After the door closed again, I lay there for a long time, missing him.
Chapter Fourteen: Give Us a Kiss
— Corey
There was a polite knock on my door the next morning. Dana’s voice said, “Um, Corey? Can I come in?”
“Sure,” I said, yawning. It was getting late, but I couldn’t make myself face the day.
She walked into my room, looking around as if she expected to see something different. “So…what the hell happened?”
Uh oh.
“Happened?” I asked, my face twitching into an unavoidable guilty smile.
She rolled her eyes. “Spill it, you. Because you are so busted.” Dana flounced over to my bed and sat down at the foot of it. “When I came home last night, one of Hart-throb’s crutches was on the living room floor, and now it’s gone. Was he in here?”
I put my face in my hands. “For a little while.”
Dana grabbed my hands and pulled them down. “Seriously? His girlfriend blew him off, and so he came across the hall to fool around with you? And where is he now?”
I exhaled. It all sounded so wrong coming out of her mouth. “That’s one way to put it.”
“Is there another way? Is he breaking up with her, or does he expect you to be his fuck buddy?”
“Dana! It isn’t quite as bad as that. You like Hartley.”
She looked sad. “I do like him. And I think he…” she flopped back onto my bed. “I don’t know what to think. The way he looks at you sometimes…” she shook her head. “I just don’t trust him. It’s like there’s a good Hartley and an evil one, and they’re always at war. I don’t want you to get caught in the crossfire.”