“Both of you.” Henry changed lanes, settled to a reasonable 70 mph, and Sam braced himself for the onslaught of questions. Sneaky bastard that he was, Henry waited until Sam was a captive audience before attacking him.
“If the guy wanted, he would’ve left me his number. It’s no big deal; why are you blowing out of proportion what was only a weekend hook-up? Nothing more, nothing less.”
Henry grunted. “Bullshit. I’ve known you almost your whole life and haven’t seen you that caught up in a guy in years.”
“Not true.”
“Liar. And I’m going to prove it.”
The struggle to keep quiet was real. Several miles flashed by on the parkway with only Britney singing “Hit Me Baby One More Time,” before Sam gave in.
“All right. Prove it.” Sam shot Henry, who had a shit-eating grin on his face, a dirty look. “I’m gonna regret this, aren’t I?”
“Nah,” said Henry cheerfully. “Once I saw how much you liked him, I did a little research—”
“Snooping,” corrected Sam.
Henry remained quiet. “Okay, sorry. Go ahead,” prodded Sam.
“My research brought up a story in a small indie computer magazine that did a profile on Zach Cohen when he sold his app and began to really make a name for himself. It talked about not only his rise in the industry but also about his personal life. How one of his best friends owns a club in Tribeca called Sparks, and they, along with the fashion designer Julian Cornell, their other friend, meet for breakfast every week or so to keep in touch and stay close. Nice, huh?”
“Yeah, so? We meet and play ball on the weekends. Same thing.”
Henry sped up to pass a slow-moving SUV, glaring at the driver through the window. “Well, I was telling you this because they gave the name of the restaurants they go to. One’s in downtown Brooklyn near you, and the other’s in SoHo. Maybe you want to check it out.”
“You’re suggesting I stalk the guy to find him? That’s fucked up, even for you.” Still…there was a quality about Zach, sweet but with an edge of steel, that appealed to Sam. A past of hidden heartbreaks Zach was quick to hide, revealed in the moments of quiet vulnerability they’d shared on the beach the other night and sitting together the next afternoon. But Sam had glimpsed it, albeit for a brief moment. It was enough, however, to make Zach unforgettable.
Sam stared out the window, watching as the landscape changed from rural to suburban, then back to the ugly grittiness of the warehouses, steel and cement buildings along the Turnpike. The traffic built as they approached New York City. Henry’s incessant tapping on the steering wheel and frustrated sighs proved too much for Sam to ignore.
“What already? You’ve been dying to talk for the past hour.”
They sailed through the EZ Pass lane and entered the Holland Tunnel before Henry chose to speak.
“I only want to see you happy again.”
And damn if that didn’t hit Sam harder than anything Henry could have said to him right then. He struggled for composure, unwilling to give into the emotions battering him from the inside. Always an expert at hiding his own feelings, it was the reason Sam thought he recognized a kindred soul in Zach.
Henry pulled up in front of Sam’s house and killed the engine. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out the way you wanted it to this weekend, but you shouldn’t let it keep you in the house and hiding away from people. Just because it didn’t work with Zach, doesn’t mean—”
“Henry?”
“Yeah?”
“Shut up and give me the info.”
Chapter Nine
Sincehisappearance last month at the awards ceremony, Zach had been inundated with requests from the media for interviews and from technology companies for help in development. He’d spoken to some of the lesser known publications, in an effort to help out the small, independent tech magazines and websites trying to make it, and had recently agreed to do beta-testing for some software companies. If all it took was a healthy bank account to be content, he’d be the most satisfied man in the world.
Instead, Zach was lonely beyond belief.
Even more so than before, he kept to the house, hiding from his friends, ignoring their attempts to lure him out. When he wasn’t working, Zach spent his time staring at his screen, seeing nothing but the image of Sam. With the passage of days and then weeks, even that had blurred around his memory’s edges, erasing the aching of want, leaving him with nothing but the sting of his own cowardice.
“Yep, you are one stupid coward.”
The door at the top of the stairs opened, and light spilled into the room.
“Zach, sweetheart, isn’t it a little early for you to be on the computer already? You spent the whole night down here as well.” His mother, dressed in one of her usual, colorful outfits, held on tight to the banister, the steep steps forcing her to move slowly. He watched as her small frame came into view.
