“Is it possible he overheard what you and Valerie talked about and got upset?”
Tash recalled the conversation with his sister, and a coldness swept through him. He remembered how he’d almost allowed Val to persuade him that Brandon was merely experimenting with him. Even worse, that they didn’t really love each other, but each was using the other in their own way.
“Shit. I didn’t even think of that. I mean Valerie even had me agreeing at one point that maybe I didn’t really love him.” Now it was Tash’s turn to get out of his chair and pace the room.
“But you two straightened it out; she understands now how much you and Brandon care for each other, right?”
Gage’s words barely penetrated. “What, yeah, but what if he heard me saying she was right, that he was too young? I thought he’d fight back, but he ran instead.” Once again, Tash’s lover had left him, but for an entirely different reason. This time was purely Tash’s fault. He should’ve stood up to Valerie from the start and told her he loved Brandon and to leave him alone about it.
“I can’t blame him for being insecure. His whole life is collapsing around him. He’s worried about going to jail, and the one person he thought would be with him, me, he thinks is wavering and having second thoughts.” Panic rose in his chest. “Do you have any idea where he could’ve gone? I called Ash, and he’s waiting for me to tell him something.”
Gage unlocked the door. “Let’s go to the office and see if he left any information with the secretary.”
They walked through the silent halls. “Don’t you have a class to teach now?” Tash didn’t want Gage to get in trouble.
“Not until nine thirty.” He checked his watch. “I still have half an hour, so I’m good.” They reached a door marked OFFICE, and Gage entered first and headed to the desk. “Hi, Pearl.”
“Hello, Gage, what can I do for you? Is this gentleman with you?” Pearl was one of the throwbacks to the 1980s. She was a robust elderly lady with gray hair set in waves around her lined face, and glasses on a pince-nez that Tash hadn’t seen since the last time he visited his parents down in Florida at the senior citizen community.
“He is. I’m trying to find out if Brandon Gilbert left any information when he called in this morning.”
“He didn’t. I spoke with him personally. Poor young man sounded sad, so I assumed it was a personal issue he was dealing with.”
Damn. Tash’s hopes crashed. “Do you know how many days he said he needed to take?”
Pearl checked her calendar. “Definitely the rest of the week. That’s all he told me. He has the time.” She glared at him over her glasses. “You aren’t from the Special Investigator’s Office are you? Because he has a right to use his personal time. We didn’t do anything wrong in giving him the week off, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Gage chuckled. “No, Pearl. Dr. Weber is a personal friend of mine and Brandon’s, and we’re both a little worried about him.” He turned to Tash. “Pearl’s like everyone’s mother here and is very protective of us.”
Somewhat mollified, she took off her glasses and polished them. “Well, he’s so young and sweet. I hate to see a teacher like that with so much potential become beaten down and cynical because of the system.”
They thanked her and left the office. He and Gage walked silently through the hall when a thought hit him. “Wait a second. How did you know what Valerie and I spoke about last night?” He stopped and grabbed Gage’s arm. “I never said what it was about, yet you knew already.”
The slight smile Gage wore faded, and he couldn’t hold Tash’s gaze. “Uh, I gotta go to class.”
“Oh no, you don’t.” Like a dousing of ice-cold water, Tash woke up as if from a fog. “Holy shit. It was you.” A grin broke across his face as he continued to grasp Gage’s arm. “You were the guy Val was on a date with last night. You’re dating my sister?”
He watched the emotions play across Gage’s face and waited for him to speak.
“Yeah. Val and I, we’ve been seeing each other for a while now.” The look on Gage’s face as he peered up at Tash through his lashes spoke of guilt and hesitancy. “We were going to tell you, but…” His voice trailed away, and he shifted on his feet.
“But what?” Tash pressed, a little hurt that his sister and friend had been keeping this from him.
“You were in such a deep, black place, Val didn’t want to upset you and have you think she was going to abandon you. Now that you and Brandon are together, I told her the time had come to tell you. We have nothing to hide.” Gage’s frankness was one of the things Tash loved about the guy.
Val and Gage. Why not? A sense of delight spread through Tash. “I’m happy for you guys. I couldn’t think of a better man for my sister.”
His phone buzzed in his pocket, and all other thoughts fled when he saw it was from Ash. “Yeah, what is it? I’m at his school, but they don’t know anything.”
“Come to my office. Together we’ll try to figure out where he went.” Ash’s grim voice shook Tash. “I won’t let him run out of our lives.”
Chapter Twenty-One
After all these years, Brandon couldn’t believe he was going home. He’d opted to take the bus to Pennsylvania from the Port Authority, since it was cheapest and it would leave him in the center of Reading. From there he could take a cab.
He gave the driver his ticket and settled into his window seat, staring out of the glass as they began the two-and-a-half-hour ride back to where he’d sworn he’d never return. Soon the traffic of midtown Manhattan was behind him, and they lumbered onto the NJ Turnpike. His thoughts turned inward.
Was Valerie right? Going over his relationship with Tash from the first kiss in the kitchen to the night of ice cream and the incredible lovemaking that had succeeded it, Brandon didn’t think so. From his very first glimpse of Tash, before he knew who he was, Brandon’s body had a visceral reaction to him—an indefinable tug to discover who he was. Brandon shivered in his seat, the memory of Tash’s strong arms holding him down, his cock pushing inside Brandon, forever marking him, making Brandon one with Tash.
