Take This Man

Chapter Eleven



Adam jerked back as if he"d been struck.

Jason groaned again and gagged, holding his hand over his mouth while he ran to the bathroom and slammed the door behind him.

Adam and Elyse glanced at him simultaneously, then looked back at each other.

“Get real, Adam,” Elyse said. “You can see Jason and I are both fully dressed. Does it really look like we were doing the down and dirty?”

“Maybe I arrived a little too early. Before the main action started.” He gestured with his chin to the bottles by the bed. “Looks like you two were doing your best to get into a party mood.” Muffled sounds of gagging and heaving came from behind the bathroom door.

“Yeah, some party,” she muttered. “Look, something happened today. Something very upsetting.”

Adam took a step toward her, his features softening with concern. “Upsetting? To you? What happened?”

“Not to me, to Jason. He"s been hurt. He needed me. That"s why I"m here. I completely forgot ab—”

“He needed you,” Adam interrupted, his voice dull. “It"s always about Devereaux, isn"t it?”

“He"s my friend,” Elyse snapped. If her eyes had been lasers, he"d have been reduced to ash. “He"s the only reason I came back to this crappy town.” She was glad when Adam flinched at her words. Good.

She"d hurt him. She wanted to hurt him the way he"d hurt her—no, destroyed her—two years ago. “I 117

told you I"d be spending time with him, and you were okay with that.”

“We"d agreed you"d see him, yeah, but you also agreed you"d be in my bed at the end of the day. Not rolling around in his.”

“Oh, we"re back to that.” Elyse was so full of disgust she couldn"t even look at Adam. “You never answered my question before. Are you pissed that I"m here, or pissed you weren"t invited?”

“For f*ck"s sake, Elyse—”

“You hypocritical son of a bitch! You are so full of shit!” she screamed. Her face was on fire, and her eyes burned with tears of rage.

But she would not cry, hell no. She would not show him how he had devastated her.

“How the f*ck do you justify barging in here and acting like some goddamn caveman around Jason, when you couldn"t wait to throw me at him two years ago?”

Adam went still. The blood drained from his face. “I thought we weren"t going to bring up—”

“Well, I want to bring it up! I want to rub your f*cking face in it. You shared me with him. It was your idea. You suggested it. You pushed for it. And now you come in like you"re the injured party, you"re the one who"s being cheated on. How f*cking messed up is that?”

Adam"s lips barely moved when he spoke. If Elyse was fire, he was ice. “You didn"t say no.”



****

The two men returned to the table and Elyse"s pulse began to flutter. The man from the bar had looked good from a distance, but up close he was absolutely gorgeous. Dark hair, brilliant blue eyes, and when he smiled briefly, deep dimples on either side of his mouth.

Elyse smiled back at the man, who settled in the chair across the table. Adam took his own seat next to 118

her. She slid Adam a look that said what"s going on?

His large hand caressed the back of her neck.

“Babe, this is Jason Devereaux.”

“Yeah…hi,” Elyse murmured, her nervous gaze bouncing back to Adam.

He finished the introductions, addressing the man. “This is my lady, Elyse.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Jason told her, in a voice guaranteed to melt a woman"s panties.

Wow. The guy had it all, great looks, incredible voice, and impeccable manners. Again Elyse looked at Adam and nodded at the martini glass in his hand.

“That for me?” she asked, taking it from him and downing a healthy swallow. She needed alcohol, and quickly.

Elyse was too intent on getting her buzz back to pay much note to the next bit of conversation, but as it turned out, Adam and Jason Devereaux were not complete strangers. They"d been in high school together.

“Same class, even,” Adam said. “Not that we ran with the same crowd. Jase here was one of the popular guys—football team, student council, yearbook committee, all that.” Was there a tinge of jealousy in Adam"s voice?

If Jason objected to being referred to as “Jase”, he was polite enough not to show it. He shrugged the rest of it away, as though it didn"t matter. “Who remembers that far back?”

“What crowd did you run with?” Elyse asked Adam.

“Oh, I was so far out in Loserville I didn"t even have a crowd. School for me was just a place to mark time ?til the last bell rang. Jase, here, though—it was different for him. All the guys wanted to be his best bud, and all the girls wanted to date him.” Jason"s smile was thin. “Like I said, a million 119

years ago.”

“He was smart as hell, too, not a dumbass like me. He"s a lawyer now, you know. It"s pretty wild, running into you here, after all this time.”

“Yes. I work in Albany now. I happen to be back in town for a few days.”

To steer the conversation away from the past, which seemed to make Jason uncomfortable, Elyse questioned him about where he lived now and the kind of law he practiced. In turn, he asked about her life, what she was studying in college, and the conversation progressed from there. Adam was mostly silent, rubbing her back, and getting more drinks for them as the night wore on.

Time flew, and as she consumed more cranberry and vodka, Elyse felt smarter, funnier, and sexier.

Her initial nervousness disappeared, and she found herself loosening up and enjoying herself. She touched Adam, running her hand up and down his leg, snuggling against him, kissing his jaw.

At the same time she was flirting with Jason, smiling and laughing at his remarks, even growing bold enough to reach out and touch his hand from time to time.

Suddenly, Adam decided it was time to go.

“I don"t wanna go,” she complained. She was sexy and beautiful and funny, and Jason liked her, and she was having a good time. She waved her hand around the bar to the other customers who had suddenly gone blurry. “They"re not going.” Adam helped Elyse to her feet as she blinked, unable to focus. Her vision was fuzzy and everything seemed to tilt to one side. Laughing, she tilted her head the opposite way to straighten things out.

“How are you getting home?” she heard Jason ask. “We took a taxi here,” Adam answered. “But I"m not sure I"ll be able to pour this one into a cab.” 120

Elyse snickered. Pour her? Like she was a vodka and cranberry? Adam was so funny. How come she never noticed how funny he was before? “It"s not my fault,” she explained, starting to hiccup.

“No, it"s my fault,” he answered, his tone dry. “I forced you to have six drinks.” She frowned, wobbling on her feet. Six drinks?

No. It was only three, wasn"t it? Or maybe four. “They were too strong,” she insisted. “You should have told them not to make them so strong.”


“Okay,” Adam agreed in the mild tone one used to placate a drunk. That made Elyse mad. She wasn"t drunk. She was happy and sexy and beautiful. She was with two hot guys.

“Let"s go. Can you walk?” Adam asked.

“Of course,” she replied, pulling herself up with dignity. What a silly question. Certainly she could walk—she had two legs, didn"t she? She looked down to check they were still there. Yep. Of course she could walk.

She took two wobbling steps and tumbled into Jason, who caught her before she fell to the floor.

“Whoops,” she snorted, snickering to herself.

Adam and Jason assisted Elyse across the room, one man on either side, maneuvering her through the tangle of customers to the front door. She leaned her head against Adam"s arm, and then Jason"s. It was nice, between them, feeling their warmth and strength.

The cool air outside caressed her face and sobered her up a bit. Adam was saying something.

“Let"s get a room. We can go home in the morning.”



****

Adam and Elyse stared at each other without speaking. Water splashed in the bathroom.

“You"re right. I didn"t say no.” They stared at each other in a silent stand-off. “But it was just a 121

game, wasn"t it? Why don"t we play a game right now? Truth or dare.”

“This is not a f*cking game,” Adam said.

“But you like games. Come on, Truth or Dare.” The answer came immediately. “Dare.”

“Yeah.” Elyse gave a short laugh. “How I"d know. Truth"s a little too scary, isn"t it? Okay, whatever. I dare you to tell me why you proposed the threesome two years ago.”

Adam was silent for a long time before he finally spoke. “What do you want me to say?”

“I want you to tell me how you really felt about me. I thought we loved each other. But maybe I was wrong. Maybe you figured I was some freaky bitch who was up for anything. Just another piece of ass.” His throat worked. “No. I never thought that.” He took a breath. “It was a mistake. I hated when he touched you. I wanted to stop it.” Elyse"s heart fluttered. “Why didn"t you?”

“Why didn"t you?” he asked in return.

“Pardon the interruption.” Jason stood in the open doorway to the bathroom, hollow-eyed and pale. He addressed himself to Adam. “Far be it from me to barge in on a private discussion, but since I am an interested party, you might say, there is something I don"t think Elyse has shared with you.

I"m a flaming queer.”

Adam"s face went blank. He looked from Jason to Elyse, and back again. Elyse waved her arm in a defeated gesture and sank onto the edge of the bed.

“When did you decide this?” Adam asked at last, his voice low and rusty.

“It wasn"t a matter of deciding,” Jason answered. “It"s something I"ve known since I was a boy.” Adam"s gaze sliced toward Elyse, who looked away. “But you dated girls in high school. Hell, they all wanted to be with you.”

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“I dated them, and I even f*cked some of them, but I was only going through the motions. I wasn"t about to out myself, and be subjected to gay-bashing by the local cretins. I didn"t come out until I was well away from Summit.”

Adam directed another accusing look at Elyse—

why didn"t you tell me? A look of discomfort crossed his face as he further considered Jason"s revelation.

He moved his hand vaguely to encompass the three of them. “So even when we were all…”

“You"re referring to our little ménage?” In spite of his indisposition, Jason managed a smile. “I wasn"t lusting after you, don"t worry. Or you.” He looked at Elyse. “No offense.”

She lifted a shoulder. “None taken.”

“For somebody who claims he wasn"t into it, you put on a pretty good act,” Adam said, his tone gruff with anger.

“Look, all three of us were there for our own reasons. I had just been informed by my lover—my male lover—that he was getting married, but he saw no reason not to continue our relationship in secret.

I said f*ck that. We had a huge blow-up, and I went off to drown my sorrows. That"s why I was at Baby Jane"s that night, and I let you two pick me up. I wanted to get my cheating ex off my mind, and give him a great big f*ck you at the same time. That"s my story. You two are going to have to hash out your own.”

Adam glared at Elyse when Jason retreated back to the bathroom. “I guess you knew all about this from the jump.”

“Pretty much, yeah. He told me.”

“Aw, man.” He shook his head in disgust. “I"m out of here.”

“What"s the matter?” Elyse taunted him. “It scares you, thinking how you shared a bed with a gay guy?”

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He turned on her. “I don"t give a shit about that.

I"m pissed off how you kept saying you were just friends but you never came out and told me he"s gay.

You were having a fine old time, laughing your ass off, and keeping me in the dark.”

“Yeah, laughing my ass off,” Elyse snapped.

“You might consider that it wasn"t my secret to tell.” In her heart, though, Elyse knew there was more to it. She"d wanted Adam to wonder about her and Jason, wanted that worm of doubt to eat at him until it tore a hole in him.

Jesus. Wasn"t she a vindictive bitch.

And wasn"t he was a bossy, overbearing a*shole.

She"d been crazy to ever think they stood a chance.

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