“Why what?”
“Why did you bring him to my event? You obviously meant to send a message.”
“Message? I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” Irritated, he flung off the sheets and got out of the bed. Of course, the annoying man wouldn’t stay put, following him into the living room. Wolf flicked on the television to the news and sat on the couch, staring unseeing at the screen.
“Oh hell no, you don’t.” Spencer, who had zero idea about personal space, squeezed in next to him.
“There’s plenty of room. No need to attach yourself to me like a barnacle.”
“Shut up. You’re going to talk to me and tell me once and for all why you’re such a huge pain in the ass.”
“I don’t think I am.”
Spencer poked him in the chest. “Yes.” Poke. “You.” Poke. “Are.” Poke, poke. “From the first when we all roomed together, you looked at us like we were crazy when we’d come home drunk off our asses, even though that’s what college was all about.”
“Maybe for you, but not for me.”
Ignoring him, Spencer continued. “That’s not even mentioning what you thought about me.”
“You?” he repeated. “I never said a word.”
“You didn’t have to. I could see it. The condemnation in your eyes when I’d come home early in the morning after spending the night with a guy. Or on those rare occasions when we managed to pry you out of the library to come to a party, you’d stand to the side, nursing one beer all night and looking down on me because I was having fun.”
If only you knew. I wished it were me.
“I wasn’t.” But his words sounded as weak as his voice, and Spencer’s face filled with scorn.
“For someone who’s as good as you are at questioning witnesses and tripping them up, you’re an awfully bad liar.”
His face flamed. “You don’t know.”
“Of course I don’t.” Spencer threw his hands in the air. “I don’t know anything. How can I? You don’t talk to anyone. You run away and hide behind your work.”
“No I don’t,” he snapped. “I’m busy. I have very im—”
“Important cases. We know, Wolf. We know you’re very important, and your cases are very important. Much more important than our friendship. What I can’t figure out is why you even bothered to stay friends with us. Or me, really. You never had a problem with Elliot or Chess. It’s me. I’m everything you hate.”
“That’s not true.”
“Yes it is.”
“It’s not, you idiot. I wasn’t looking down on you. I was jealous as all hell.”
Spencer sat with his mouth hanging open, and Wolf, tired and on edge from the entire evening, snapped.
“Happy now? You finally got what you wanted—to humiliate me. Too bad you didn’t have more of an audience for it, right? That’s what you love. Make sure the door locks when you leave.” He rose and walked to the bedroom, thinking Spencer would ignore what he said like he usually did and come after him, but when the door slammed with a resoundingbang, Wolf knew he’d fucked up, and this time it might not be so easy to make things right.
Chapter Fifteen
“For the last time: I don’t know what’s going on with Wolf.”
Spencer sat on Elliot’s deck, wishing he could get roaring drunk. If there was any justice in the world, he’d be rewarded for his admirable restraint. He’d escaped his office and Roberto, a designer’s assistant who’d been giving him puppy-dog eyes about looking at a new line of clothes and “getting together.” If there was anything he hated, it was someone who didn’t understand that a few drunk kisses didn’t mean they were a couple. Eventually he’d get the idea.
With the workday done, he’d hoped to come and relax with his friends, but for the past hour, Elliot and Chess had been mercilessly hounding him about Wolf, all because he’d let slip that he’d gotten the skinny on Gary. That had turned into a fucking game of Jeopardy with his answer to everything:“I’ll take ‘Why the fuck would Wolf tell Spencer anything” for four hundred, please.
He knew enough and would never reveal anything he and Wolf had talked about or done. He still hadn’t been able to process Wolf’s outburst before he’d run away and hid in his bedroom.
“I was jealous as all hell.”
