“What?” Louisa glared atRafe.
What did Ido?
“They’veshagged?”
“Yes.” Rafe must’ve been missing something, because Louisa looked like she needed to face a punching bag. “You guys aren’ttogether.”
“We’re not. I’m just surprised. She doesn’t seem like his type.” Louisa went back to smiling, but it still creeped Rafe out. “Will you excuse me? I’m going to have a fagoutside.”
“I didn’t know yousmoked.”
“It’s a new Thanksgiving tradition.” She shoved open the kitchen door and the breeze it left in her wake nearly threw Rafe to the flooragain.
He returned to his guests. Eamonn stood over the table, waving hello to everyone. Rafe found his beloved wine glass and poured himself another session with his fermentedtherapist.
Eamonn came up to him before he could take a sip. He took the glass out of his hands and kissed him on the lips. “Rafe, I am so sorry about allthis.”
It was a damn good kiss, one that made Rafe forget about the drama and the wine. But he couldn’t shake the fact that before Eamonn gave him this earth-shattering kiss, he was with his ex-boyfriend.
“How’s Nathan?” Rafe asked. “And is that blood on yoursweater?”
“It’s not what you might presume. Nathan was in trouble.” Eamonn’s damn blue eyes were wearing him down and threatened to swallow himwhole.
“And you were theonlyperson who could helphim?”
“Yes.” Eamonn said it with a surprising amount of confidence. Rafe wished he would’ve lied. That would’ve hurt less. “Can we talk inprivate?”
Eamonn led them into his bedroom. Rafe wanted to lie down so badly, but he resisted the pull of Eamonn’s bed. He told Rafe about finding Nathan getting the shit kicked out of him outside a bar after having way too much to drink. Rafe thought of the fight Nathan picked outside the Bloc Party concert, and it sounded like more of the same.Nathan causes a scene to get attention, and Eamonn saves theday.
“Why was Nathan acting like that?” Rafeasked.
“He’s going through some personalstuff.”
“What kind of personalstuff?”
“I can’t say. It’s private. I’msorry.”
Rafe couldn’t get past that non-answer. He appreciated that Nathan had secrets he didn’t want known. We all did. He tried his best to trust Eamonn, but this was a brutal reminder that he and Nathan had a history and a past that Rafe wasn’t able to competewith.
“Great. Glad you could help him. He’s lucky to have an ex-boyfriend like you.” Rafe got up. The room spun again, but he pushed throughit.
“Rafe, please trust me. Nothing romantic or sexual happened betweenus.”
It was worse.There was a bond there that Rafe couldn’t supersede. All of his past Baxter experiences bubbled to the surface of his mind. No matter how well he thought it was going with a guy, there was always a curveball he didn’t see coming. There would come the sudden ghosting, the rejection. Rafe wondered if that ever stopped, if there was ever a point in a relationship when he could feelsecure.
“I’m going to enjoy the rest of my Thanksgiving,” Rafe said, feeling a flash of sobriety hithim.
Back in the hallway, the dinner table turned out to be just as tense as Eamonn’s room. Louisa had come back from her cigarette break with a guy Rafe recognized fromApothecary.
“Hi. Welcome.” Rafe shook hishand.
“This is Jeremy, my boyfriend,” Louisa said loud andproud.
Rafe glanced at Heath, who moved his fork around his plate but seemed to have zero interest in eating. Eamonn emerged from his room and took a seat at the far end of the table. The other guests, a smattering of classmates and flatmates, stared at their food in awkwardsilence.
“Welcome,” Rafe said to the new guy. He sat at his end of the table. He didn’t look atEamonn.
“This is a wicked spread you made here, mate,” Jeremy said. Louisa nestled into his chest, which made it difficult for him to spoon himself some cranberry sauce, but hemanaged.
