Nik continued in a hushed voice, “Shut up.Ian didn’t stay?”
Sam sat up.“How did you know about Ian?”
“Iknewsomething happened last night!Tell.”
Great.Sam flopped back on his pillow.“No.Mind your own business.”
“Come on.I tell you about me and Jurgen,” Nik whined.
“No, you actually don’t.”He ran a hand through his hair, wincing when it got stuck on something and pulled on his scalp.Oh yeah.He’d been so depressed last night he’d gone to bed without washing the cum out.Yuck.
“That’s because it’s ...different.”Nik’s voice was weird.Soft.He usually spoke in sharp tones.
“How’s that?”Sam asked, honestly curious.He threw back the blankets and pulled himself out of bed, heading for the shower.
There was a silence—another unusual feature when talking with Nik.Sam stopped moving and held his breath.“He’s special.To me,” Nik finally said, sounding like he was confessing a sin.
“Oh, Nik,” Sam breathed.“That’s sweet.”See?That’s what Sam wanted: someone special.Not Ian.
“Shut up,” Nik said.“So, is that why you won’t tell me about Ian?Because it’s special?”
“Ha.It was demeaning.”Okay, that might have been a bit harsh.“It was just a hookup,” he amended.“Nothing important.”Nothing romantic.Just really, really hot.
“So you can tell me.”
Sam huffed out a breath.“He gave me a ride home, I blew him in the entryway, he left.He didn’t even kiss me.”
“No kiss?”Nik sounded disappointed.He may be annoying, but he really was a good friend.“That’snotspecial.And you don’t really have an entryway.You just have a linoleum square.”
But Nik was mostly just annoying.“That’smy entryway,” Sam reminded him.
“Why won’t you get a bigger place with a roommate again?”
“I’m tired of having a roommate.I like living by myself.Besides, if I had a roommate, I couldn’t give blowjobs in my entryway.”
They began the familiar argument.Nik never passed up the opportunity to urge Sam to move, though why he cared was a mystery.Finally, they argued themselves to a standstill.Before hanging up, Sam asked Nik not to tell Jurgen about Ian.
“I don’t have to tell him, he’s been listening to my side of the conversation.”
Sam pinched the bridge of his nose.“Okay, can you just ask him not to say anything to Ian?”
“I’ll try,” Nik said.Sam was not reassured.It didn’t matter anyway, because he was never going to see Ian again.
On Thursday morning, Ian went to work and found himself staring at his desk for fifteen minutes before Andrea knocked on his door and walked in, carrying a mug.He grabbed a pen and a notepad, trying to seem like he’d actually been doing something.
Andy carefully set the coffee-filled mug on his desk and readjusted a couple of paper clips, his stapler, and a pen.She straightened up, inspecting her redecoration attempts and smoothing her skirt.
Ian wasn’t the best with body language, but he got the feeling she was nervous.
“How’s your coffee?”she said.
That was forhim?In spite of being her boss, she’d never brought him coffee before.Huh.“I haven’t tried it yet.”Obviously.“Thank you for bringing me some.”
Andy clasped her hands and straightened her shoulders.“Ian, um, I have something to talk to you about.”
“Okay, have a seat.”
She sat in the chair across from him.
