“Sounds like a personal thing.”
Wolf’s amber gaze grew cold and distant. “I don’t talk about my personal reasons for accepting cases, not even with people close to me. I have the resources that allow me to choose who I want to give my time to.”
“I wasn’t prying. I just find it interesting. I haven’t ever sat with you and Spencer to simply chat, and I thought it would be nice to get a little closer, especially now that Chess and I are going to be married. It’s odd, but I know as much about Chess’s past as I do about his best friends’.”
Wolf didn’t answer right away. Instead, he finished half his bagel, wiped his lips with the napkin, and set it on the table next to his plate.
“And? You’d like to know…what? What is it I can tell you, that you feel you can’t go to Chess and talk about? After all the years you two have been together, you haven’t once thought to ask him?”
Years of negotiations in the business world weren’t enough to prepare him for this type of soul-searching. “That’s my point,” he said almost helplessly. “I love him more than anything, you know that. But I’ve always felt he’s holding back on me.”
“Holding what back?” Piercing him with that direct stare, Wolf abandoned interest in his meal and put him on the menu.
“I don’t know, exactly. It frustrates the hell out of me because he’s such a giving person about everything except himself. He obviously went out in college, but he never spoke about boyfriends.” Hating that he was letting his mother’s suspicions get to him, André still couldn’t help but ask the questions swirling through his mind.
“Isn’t that something you cover while you’re dating? Past history? Are you telling me you never shared that information?”
“When I did ask, Chess would brush it off or change the topic. He said he hadn’t had any serious relationships ever—which, knowing him, seems odd—but I accepted it. Over the years it came to mean less and less, since we were obviously committed to each other.”
“And yet here you are, asking his friend about his relationship history instead of Chess himself. Didn’t you just have a conversation about those pictures Chess received?”
“Damn. You know everything. Jesus. Is there anything you four don’t share?”
A surprisingly bleak look flashed across Wolf’s face before it smoothed out to his usual unperturbed state. “I’m sure there’s plenty,” he murmured. “But Chess was upset because he’d discovered actual proof of you keeping things from him. I heard all about it after he spoke to Elliot and Spencer. We do share a lot because we’re close. Like family. And I’m glad you’ve talked to him and cleared it all up. That’s what you need to do. If you have questions about Chess, talk to him. Directly. Don’t try to pick up bits and pieces from various sources. I can assure you that doesn’t bode well for gathering the truth, as I learned from my disaster last year with Elliot and Win. Always go to the source.”
“I know you’re right. I’m more concerned with thewhys. Why doesn’t he want to talk about his childhood? Was there trauma, or something that he feels might impact the way I’d feel about him?”
“Would it?”
Wolf’s quietly worded question stopped the mess of all the terrible things he imagined from spinning in his head. “Would it what?”
“What if something had happened to him? I don’t know anything, so I’m throwing out a made-up scenario, but hear me out. If Chess came to you with a story of something terrible that happened to him, what would be your first thought? Be honest now. Would it be for his welfare, or would you start planning for damage control as to the negative effect it would have on Webster Properties?”
“My first thoughts are always for Chess’s well-being. I have more money than I’ll ever be able to spend, and while I don’t want my family’s business to suffer, my one and only concern is him.”
Wolf smiled. “Good.”
“Good? That’s all you have to say to me? And you’re smiling?”
“Of course I am. Because it means that nothing can hurt you. If you go to Chess tomorrow and ask him, and he comes out with the most devastating news imaginable, you’ll still be there for him.”
“You believe there is something.”
Wolf blinked and dipped his head, shielding his eyes. “It’s impossible to live in the world without holding secrets. Some are more personal or important to ourselves than others, but we cling to them until they become part of us, like a second skin. But to answer your question”—Wolf raised his eyes, and André wondered what secrets he held and chose not to reveal to his friends—“I don’t know. That’s the truth. But I’m assuming there might be something Chess is choosing not to talk about. None of us come from the most stable home environments—Elliot had that incredible story of his birth, Spencer’s mother is gone and his father is a raging homophobe, and as for my own parents…” He shrugged and took a sip of coffee. “I have no idea what’s going on with Chess.”
When it was obvious Wolf didn’t plan on elaborating further, André rubbed his face in his hands. “So the point you’re making is that I should talk to Chess and let him know what I’m feeling. Which of course is always the best advice.” At Wolf’s wry smile, André tipped his head. “I know, I know. I’m stupid to be sitting here questioning you when it’s Chess I need to talk to. I didn’t want to give my mother the satisfaction of letting her know she’d stirred up my curiosity. Once I get home tomorrow, I’ll make sure to sit and talk with him.”
“Good.” Wolf checked his watch. “I’m sorry, but I have to get to Boca by ten o’clock for a deposition. I’d hoped to do it in the courthouse downtown here, but they said no.”
“Go ahead. Breakfast on the house.” He winked, and Wolf laughed as he rose.
“I should’ve ordered the steak and eggs.”
André stood and gave him a hug. “Thank you for your advice and your time. Both are appreciated. I’ll see you in New York at the party.”
“I’ll be there. And you don’t have to thank me. You and Chess will work it out. I have no doubts.”
André watched his tall, lean figure stride away, and he wondered again what Wolf didn’t say about his own personal life. He shook his head. There was enough on his plate already without dragging anyone else’s issues into the mix.
