“Hey, now. Be gentle. Just because you’ve been acting like a grade-A prick doesn’t mean you can be mean to my things.”
“It’s a phone.”
Callahan regretted giving the phone up, because he’d barely paid any attention to the pictures Jace had chosen to show, and he found himself…interested. There had been one picture, a hint of the skin on a man’s hip and the light, the shadow, it had been utterly enticing.
He squeezed his eyes closed, playing the day back through his mind, grimacing and kicking himself for every instance when he’d shown rudeness to his guest, to his pretend boyfriend, to Jace…who was a person with a heart and feelings and…
“I’ve been really horrible,” he admitted.
“I have no doubt.”
“Come on now.” He gave Sebastian a disapproving look.
“Listen, I don’t know him well, but Jace seems like a good guy or I wouldn’t have suggested this whole thing. And to be honest, I thought he’d be good for you in real life too.”
“You had ulterior motives,” Callahan accused.
Sebastian shrugged, then his eyes narrowed on something or someone over Callahan’s shoulder.
“What?” Callahan asked, looking in the direction of Sebastian’s stare. His eyes landed on Rhys and Ashley, arm in arm, talking animatedly with a friend near the host stand.
He turned back to Sebastian and closed his eyes, letting out a breath. Rhys had always had the most horrible timing and it seemed to Callahan it wasn’t something he’d outgrown. He didn’t have the mental acuity to deal with Rhys while his mind raced with new and not necessarily welcome ideas about Jace.
“Oh, shit,” Sebastian said, his mouth twisting into a mischievous grin.
“What?” Callahan moved to turn, but Sebastian made a sharp tsking noise with his tongue.
“Jace is back.”
Callahan jerked, looking back and finding Jace wandering into the bar, past Rhys without a second glance. But Rhys noticed him, shaking free of Ashley and following after Jace.
“Shit.” He tried to stand, but Sebastian reached out and hauled him back down into his seat.
“Just wait,” Sebastian said.
Rhys approached Jace at the bar just as Jace’s stare locked with Callahan’s. Callahan couldn’t decipher his expression, maybe a little removed and cold compared to the man who’d gotten onto the plane with him hours before. He knew that was his fault, his own doing. He was scared about the weekend, unbearably nervous about being around Rhys after so many years, and he’d taken it out on Jace.
Jace’s stare flickered to the side as Rhys said something to him, and then he rolled his eyes, gesturing with his camera.
“You want him,” Sebastian said softly. “I can see it in the way you look at him.”
Callahan swallowed thickly and ignored his best friend because he was right. Callahan did want Jace, but he’d been treating him like shit. Honestly, it wouldn’t have mattered if he’d treated Jace like he hung the moon, because this weekend wasn’t a test run of a relationship or even an extended first date. It was a game, a farce, a charade that had been orchestrated by Sebastian for the sheer purpose of helping Callahan save face around Rhys.
It was just pretend.
Rhys said something that had the tips of Jace’s ears turning red, and if Callahan had been a betting man, he would have put it all on anger not arousal. He shoved his chair back and it skittered across the marble floor. Callahan stood and smoothed his hands down his pants then stalked toward the bar, closing the space between the three of them in a handful of strides.
“There you are,” Jace said, looking away from Rhys. His expression was otherwise indecipherable, but Callahan guessed he was trying to appear unflappable. Even so, there was a tightness around his mouth that gave him away, and Callahan hated Jace had gotten roped into this whole thing.
“Did you take good pictures?” he asked, ignoring Rhys even though he could feel the weight of Rhys’s appraisal.
“I did.” Jace fumbled with the camera again. “But I missed you.”
This was it.
This was his chance to seal this game for the whole weekend, and he knew it. He only needed to be brave enough to take it. Jace wasn’t going to hurt him because Jace wasn’t his boyfriend. Jace didn’t want his money because Jace already had this free trip. Jace didn’t want his name or handouts from his family because he didn’t even know who Callahan was. Jace was only doing a favor for a friend.
Jace was probably the safest person in Callahan’s life, and he needed to trust that.
