“Yes?”
“Nate, there’s a man here who’s insisting on seeing you, but he doesn’t have an appointment.”
“He’ll see me,” I heard a tinny voice buzz through the intercom. “Tell that sanctimonious bastard I need to talk to him.”
Intrigued, I left my seat and crossed my office to open the door, and came face-to-outraged-face with Presley’s best friend, Frisco.
“What are you doing here? And did you just call me a sanctimonious bastard?”
His blue eyes blazed fiery sparks at me, and though the man was ridiculously good-looking, I felt nothing. I wanted soulful dark eyes staring back at me and silky straight hair between my fingers.
“Yeah. And I’m here to set you straight about a few things.” Without waiting for my answer, he stormed by me into my office, where he threw himself into a chair and waited, a very elegant shoe tapping on the floor.
“Do you want us to get security, Nate?” Marlene, my secretary, asked. “I can have them up here in two secs.”
“No, it’s fine. I know him. Just hold my calls until he leaves.”
“Okay.” She cast me a doubtful look. “Is everything all right? Ethan’s walking around quiet and sad-looking, and you’ve got a face full of thunder like before…” She blinked behind her wire-framed glasses. “I’d hate to think you boys were fighting.”
Marlene had been my father’s secretary, and I’d inherited her when he died. She had been as upset and betrayed as the rest of us by my father’s actions.
“We’re not. Everything is fine. Really.” I left her shaking her head and closed the door behind me.
“So, Frisco, to what do I owe this honor? Did Presley ask you to come plead his case with me?”
“Shut up. You’re going to listen to what I have to say.” He unbuttoned his coat.
Startled, I struck back. “Don’t come blasting into my place of business and tell me to shut up. I can have you thrown out.”
“Go ahead and try. You don’t mean shit to me aside from how Press feels about you, which, God knows why, he loves you. And I know all about what happened. I’ve spent the last two hours picking up the pieces of my best friend from the floor because he’s so broken.”
“Then you know what he did.”
“Of course I know what happened. I was there from the start. But you didn’t know Press then. He was a kid, practically a virgin in his twenties when he met Jared, and call it lust at first sight or whatever, but Press became obsessed with the man. He swore it was love even when I knew better and told him so. Presley might look sweet, but he’s stubborn as hell. And Jared might’ve made a few halfhearted attempts to tell Press no, but in the end, he was Presley’s first lover. He used Presley.”
“I know it was terrible for him. Presley’s sweetness is the thing that attracts people, but it makes him easier to be taken advantage of.”
“Yeah.” Frisco leaned forward. “Exactly. He’s not tough or jaded. He believes in all that happily-ever-after bullshit. When he gives you his heart, he’s all in. One hundred and ten percent. Was Press wrong to take him back after he knew he was married? Fuck, yeah. I was pissed. I told him—don’t fuck with married men. But Jared played on his being the first man Press had sex with, and being in love, and all that bullshit, and Press wanted to believe him. I was in Europe and his parents had just died—”
“What happened to his parents? I know they died together, but he never said. Was it some kind of accident?”
“You never talked about it? It was a very black time for us.” For the first time, I saw Frisco become emotional. He blinked several times, and it took a moment before he could speak again. “They were on a trip in Switzerland when their tour bus skidded off the road and crashed. They died, and Presley had to leave college, come home, and deal not only with being an orphan, but taking over running his father’s business and still going to school at night.” Pain dimmed Frisco’s anger. “It nearly killed him and me. They were like my own parents. Better, in fact.”
No matter how angry I was at him, my heart broke for Presley. “That’s awful,” I whispered. “My God.”
“Yeah. So there he was, alone, destroyed by the loss of his parents, completely vulnerable…really lost. I’d lived with him and his family since I was sixteen, and I can tell you his parents loved him to pieces. He was their life. Having them ripped away so suddenly nearly killed him, and I think when Jared paid him attention, Press latched on to it. I don’t think Presley ever was in love with Jared. He was in love with the idea of being in love. He’s never been a player like you.”
That got my back up. “What do you know about me?”
His feral smile was anything but friendly. “Enough to know you’re no saint. Take a look at yourself in the mirror, big shot. You’re no virgin, and you’ve been with plenty of men. Do you check their marital status before they get on their knees?”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“It means you better make sure none of the guys you’ve ever been with have been married. I make it my business to ask my sexual partners before we get down to it.” He arched a sleek, dark brow. “Do you? You can’t imagine how many ‘curious’ straight men are out there, leaving the wifey at home while they get their itch scratched.” A superior smile tugged his lips upward. “Or sucked.”
Heat rose to my face. I hated to admit Frisco was right, but I’d heard about it happening to other men. Could I, unwittingly, have gotten off with a married guy? The possibility existed. I scrubbed my face with my hands and blew out a shaky breath. “I-I don’t know what to say to all this.”
“I’m not here to listen to you, so I don’t care about your opinion.” Frisco rose. “I’ve said what I came to say, except you’ll never find another man like Press, so before you throw him away, think about what you’re giving up. Oh, and one more thing.” He poked a finger in my chest, his eyes like blue laser beams. “If youevercall him just an easy fuck again, I will make sureyouwon’t be able to fuck anyone for a very long time.Capisce?”
