Drew’s eyes widened. Oh, the last thing they needed right now was proximity. There wasnoperspective in proximity. “Uh, no. Ican’t.”
“Fine,” Bas conceded with a sigh. “We can stay at your house then. But the commute is gonnabe…”
“I’m not living with you, Sebastian.” He turned to Cort. “I’mnotliving withhim.”
“You’re joking!” Bas spluttered. “That’s ridiculous! You’ve slept at my house a hundred times. More! Christ. We’ve shared tents and fucking sleeping bags, McMann. We can share this house if it means keeping yousafe!”
Cort frowned. “Bas is right. If youcould…”
“I can’t.” His voice was loud and unequivocal, and maybe a tiny bitdesperate.
“Uh. Okay, then,” Cort agreed, clearly surprised at Drew’s vehemence. Drew’s control-freak reputation was suffering hit after hit this week. “It’s less than ideal, but if that’s what you think you need todo…”
“It is,” Drew insisted. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Bas. He could feel surprised anger and hurt radiating off the man, and nearly wavered in hisresolve.
“Fine. Sebastian, you can come and stay with your brother and me—?” Cortoffered.
“No. It’s notmeI’m fucking worried about!” The tension in Bas’s voice suggested he was two seconds away from meltdown, and Cam clearly recognizedthis.
“New Year’s Eve is tomorrow. I’m not sure what everyone has lined up, but maybe we need to cancel those plans,” he suggested. “You guys can come to our place and hang out, or everyone can stayhome.”
“Great idea,” Cortsaid.
“We had no plans anyway,” Cainagreed.
“Speak for yourself,” Damon informed him, waggling his eyebrows. “I had lots of plans foryou.”
Cain turned beet red and slapped a hand over his boyfriend’s mouth, but somehow reserved Damon had managed to cut the tension around the table, and everyonelaughed.
Everyone exceptBas.
“Stay with Cam and Cort tonight, then,” he told Drew, unable to let the subject drop. “Or Damon andCain.”
Drew shook his head. “It’s not that I don’t want to stay with you in particular, Sebastian.” It was. It totally was. “I have…athing.”
“A thing.” Sebastian’s voice was as icy-cold as the air outside, heavy aslead.
“Adatething. With Mark.” He looked at the others. “A guy I met a couple of monthsago.”
Damon looked at Bas and winced, and Cam whispered, “Oh, Jesus,” under hisbreath.
“Not a big deal. I do date from time to time,” Drew said hotly. Though not recently, for damnsure.
Bas sucked in a breath through his nose. “You really think that’swise?”
Drew’s neck muscles clenched as his temper soared. No, itwasn’ta fucking wise idea. It was an exercise in futility. Worst-case scenario, he was leading on a guy who already seemed way more interested in him than he would ever be in return. But he was scared. So damn scared that he would fuck up their friendship further if hestayed.
“It’s not up for discussion,” Drew said, still without looking at Bas. The tension between them was a thick cord, frayed andstraining.
“Really? Because youjust saidnot five minutes ago, that we were all going to sticktogether.”
Drew looked at Bas, shocked. “But I was talking aboutyougoing off doing…” He swallowed, and Bas noddedgrimly.
“Doing stupid shit? Yeah. That’s exactly what this is about.” He ground his teeth together. “You’re like the one idiot in every horror movie who insists on going off on their own. People are covering their eyes and peeking through their fingers saying, ‘No, Drew! Don’t be a fucking idiot!’” Bas’s voice was high, mocking, then turned to a growl as he spat, “They should save their breath. Andrew McMann doesn’t need anyone’s advice! Christ, why would he when he already knows everything? He doesn’t need anyone to worry or give even that firstshitabout his welfare. He can run his lifeandyours. Hell, he even knows what you’refeelingbetter than youdo.”
Drew’s stomach dropped. No, that wasn’t what he was doing! That wasridiculous!
Wasn’tit?
