"Mmmm... Yep." Or they bangedhim, more often than not. And there hadn't been banging of any kind going on for at least six months, since Alan had moved to Munich. He was pretty sure D'Andre could handle that level of TMI, though, no matter how alcohol-impaired hewas.
"Oooooh!"D's expression cleared. He slapped his palms together and grinned. "You know what? I'm gonna hook youup!"
Okay, Logan definitely hadn't seen this reaction coming. "Oh! Wow. Uh,no. Totally not necessary. I'm only in town for two daysand..."
"Nah, nah, nah! You already know this dude! It's so totally perfect!" D'Andre crowed. "Where did the dude go offto?"
He turned around in a circle, as though the person he was seeking might behiding.
Jesus, let it not be the stripped-down Cupidimpersonator.
"Seriously, D. That's nice, man, but I'm allset."
D'Andre didn't hear him. Grabbing onto the counter, like all the turning had maybe made him a little dizzy, he yelled into the dining room. "Galen! G-man!"
Galen Pollett's red head peered around the doorframe that separated the rooms. "Yo."
"What happened to the little dude?" He put his hand up to his chest, as though miming someone who was maybe 5-foot-9.
Amazingly, Galen seemed to know who he meant. He scowled. "I dunno. He got all pissy for no reason and ran off. He was holding asock."
The only one-sockeddudeLogan had encountered tonight was, indeed, the asshole pretending to be Cupid, who was lucky Logan had been too stunned to knock him upside the head as he so richly deserved after he'd punched Logan in thechest.
"Definitely don't need an introduction, pal," Logan told D'Andre. "I'm good righthere."
D cocked his head to the side and smiled again. "Think you're lyin', Ollie." Logan smirked at the old nickname. "You look lonely tome."
Logan shook his head. "Lonely and alone aren't the same thing,bud."
"F'you say so." D shrugged. "But listen, if you see Li'l Petey, you tell him I saidno disrespect,okay?"
If he saw Petey?Logan sat up straighter. "Peter," he corrected. "His name's Peter, notPetey."
"Yeah, I know, I know," D said waving his hand in the air. "Whatever. S'just a nickname, brother. Sign ofaffection."
But Logan knew better. To Peter, it had symbolized everything he'd tried so hard to be, but couldn't. Which, ironically, was what had made Logan fall for the guy in the firstplace.
"Wait!" Logan held up a hand as he processed D's words. "You mean Peter ishere?Heretonight?"
Dnodded.
An oddsomethinggripped Logan's chest - some love-child of anticipation and dread. The unlikely possibility of seeing Peter was what had made him sayyeswhen he'd been invited to cover the retrospective at the Film Archive in Cambridge. It was what had caused him to cancel his plans to grab a drink with some other critics, when he'dhappenedto log onto Facebook and see that he'd been invited, along with the rest of the old team and maybe half of Brookville, as well, to the Kelleys'house.
But now that it might actually happen, Logan's mouth wentdry.
How the hell did you apologize to someone for breaking someone's heart and walking away? He didn't have words forthat.
But then again, maybe the words didn'tmatter.
After all, Logan didn't fool himself into thinking that Peter needed his apology. Even at eighteen, Peter had been the strongest, fiercest, most intelligent guy Logan had ever known, and considering Logan had already been twenty-one at the time, that was saying something. Apologizing was something Logan needed to do for his own benefit - to right a karmic wrong that had dogged him foryears.
It might help him sleep better at night. And it might make him stop looking for Peter's face in every guy hedated.
"Where is he?" Logan asked, as D'Andre leaned heavily against the countertop and contemplated the beer in hiscup.
"Dunno, dude. Where's anyone?" D shook his head sadly at this profound, philosophical question. "Maybe askJare?"
Logan fought for patience. Was there anything worse than being the sole sober person in a sea of drunk people? "And where'sJare?"
