“Is he gay?”
“No,” I snap. “But why would it matter if he was?”
“I’m not saying that like an insult. I’m saying that like a mother who, knowing so, would not worry that he wanted to see you naked.”
I press my hand to my forehead. She didn’t just say that, and yet she did. “Just send him up.” I don’t give her time to argue. I hurry toward the stairs, climbing to the top, to my room. Once I’m there, I hit the bathroom floor, hugging the toilet to heave again.
The next thing I know Jack is kneeling next to me. “Oh Jesus.” He hands me a towel. “I take it that wine bottle by the bed didn’t mix well with your mother visiting?”
“Something like that,” I say, flushing the toilet and then leaning against the door.
He sits down, one leg up, the bad leg, I’m sure, which I haven’t even asked him about yet. “Talk to me. You don’t drink alone, not that much. That bottle is mostly gone. Why the wine?”
Words want to spill from my mouth, so many words, but I bite back the ones that really matter. “Bad date. And then that Ben guy downstairs scared me.”
His brow furrows. “The one that cleans and blasts his music all the time?”
“Yes. I went to the bookstore to pick a book—the owners let me do that. It was midnight and he was there. He scared me. He’s creepy.”
“Why was he there?”
“He said to clean, but he didn’t have his supplies. And he never played loud music, which he always does when cleaning. It was weird.”
“That’s it,” he says firmly. “I’m bringing you my gun. I’ll give you a quick rundown, but you need to take lessons.”
An idea that sounded good last night. Now I feel like I might shoot somebody and end up in jail. Like I might shoot Adam. Or worse, accidentally shoot myself. “Lessons first. Gun later. Thank you. Why are you even here? What is up with your knee?”
“It feels better. You know that’s how it does me. It attacks. It recedes.”
“Did you get your MRI results?”
“Yep,” he confirms. “The docs want me to have surgery, but I feel better, so screw that.”
“You know—”
“Eventually I will have to give in,” he says, holding up his hands. “All surgeons want to operate. And now that we’ve had this conversation, we can move on.”
“Okay. I won’t lecture.” I study him. “Why else are you here?”
“Jess stopped by my place, bribing me with muffins to do that whole dating-site gig for her. What the hell was that? She never stops by to see me, at least not alone. She uses you as an intermediary.”
“She told me she was going to go by your place, but I honestly didn’t believe her.”
“And you didn’t warn me?”
“I didn’t believe her,” I repeat. “It’s weird, but I guess her boss is pressuring her to finish the article, and after the Kevin thing, she didn’t want me involved.” Just saying Kevin’s name curdles my stomach again.
“Hmm,” he murmurs. “You know what I think?”
“Probably more than I’m capable of thinking right now.”
“I think she wants to marry me off and turn this threesome of ours into a twosome. She likes it being just you and her.”
“She and I are like sisters,” I say, “but we both have lives outside each other. Especially Jess.”
“Well then, test her. Tell her we’re dating.”
I snort. “Are you serious?”
