Not seeing an elevator, I took the stairs and stood at the top of the landing. This building looked nothing like where I’d pictured Fallon living—the hallways were dingy and the carpeting old, with dark spots reminiscent of decades-old stains. A musty odor filled the air. I found his apartment and rang the bell. Several times. When he still didn’t answer, I knocked on the door.
“I’m not going anywhere, Fallon, so open the door. Otherwise your neighbors are gonna get very angry with you.”
I heard the stomping of feet, and then the door was flung open, revealing a shirtless Fallon, hair loose and still damp from a shower. A pair of sweats hung on his hips, revealing he wasn’t wearing underwear.
“I thought I told you to leave and that I didn’t want to see you.”
Fucking hell, he was gorgeous. Those big blue eyes spit fire, and color rose high on his cheeks. A hazy cloud of blond hair waved around his face, and I itched to grab a hank of it, haul him to me, and kiss that angry mouth.
“I don’t always do what I’m told. Can I please come in, or are we going to have this conversation out in the hall?”
He narrowed his eyes, straightened his shoulders, and stepped aside. I passed by him and entered a room that was about three hundred square feet. In one corner was a small, narrow refrigerator, and next to it, a stovetop and a sink. Above them, old cabinets with the doors slightly off-kilter. Tucked in behind the kitchen was a door I presumed led to a bathroom. A couch that at the moment was pulled out to a full-sized bed, a mounted television, and there was a desk by a wall, with a desktop as well as a laptop computer. And that was fucking it.
“Welcome to my palace.” The sarcasm dripped from his words, and he folded his arms. “Happy now that you’ve seen my crappy little apartment?”
“This wasn’t about seeing where you lived. I’m concerned about you. You’ve been acting strangely all night.”
“I’ve been running around the city trying to get things perfect for your family and have your apartment ready. I’m tired. That’s it.” He turned his back to me and walked away.
“I don’t think so.” I followed him to the opposite side of the tiny room, where he stood looking out the grimy window, which most likely hadn’t been cleaned since the middle of the twentieth century. “It started when you told us about your brother.” He stiffened. “I didn’t know about him. I’m really sorry. That must’ve been rough.”
He shrugged but didn’t turn around. “It was years ago.”
“So what? You’re hurting now. Still.” As hard as he tried to push me away, I held on. God knew why, but I needed him to tell me everything. “Is that why you and your family aren’t close? Do they think you’re responsible somehow?” He shook his head, and I put a tentative hand on his shoulder. “So what is it, then?”
He knocked my hand away. “Why is it so important for you to know? I’m your employee. I work for you. That doesn’t give you a free pass to know about my life.”
That hurt.
“I thought we were getting to be friends.”
“I don’t have friends,” he answered with a bitter laugh. “I have business associates.”
I kept pressing him. “Dev’s your friend.”
“That—he’s different.” His lashes lowered, sweeping against his cheeks. “I’ve known him forever. If it wasn’t for Dev…” A shake of his head sent a chill through me.
“Fallon.” This time he allowed me to lead him to the sofa bed and pull him down to sit next to me. He still refused to meet my eyes, and his head hung low, that fabulous hair like a curtain, shielding his face. “If we’re not friends now, I hope we will be soon enough. It hasn’t been that long, but I can’t imagine being in this city and not having you with me. I trust you with everything important in my life. Dev and Brody have been helpful, but you’re closer to me than anyone else.”
It was the truth. The guys I’d come up with in college all had their own lives—kids, wives. We barely kept in touch aside from Christmas cards. And maybe subconsciously I’d held myself back from forming deep, lasting friendships because of my bisexuality.
Fallon tucked a swath of shining hair behind his ear. “From when he was a teenager, Rory had his life planned out. He wanted to go to law school, join the family firm…and of course, my father loved every moment of it. I was the son who never measured up, the one in the background, good but not great in school. The one who hadn’t figured anything out yet.”
“You were a kid, Fallon. Who knew what they wanted when they were that age?”
“You and Dev. Rory. I wasn’t the smart one they could be proud of and brag about. I was just…Fallon. The second son. The gay son. And as it turned out, the one they didn’t want.”
Dread crept through me. “What’re you talking about, didn’t want you?”
He lifted a shoulder. “For lack of a better word, after I came out, they disowned me. Told me I’d have to make it on my own. About a month before I was supposed to start college, they cut me off financially and said I’d have to find another way to pay my way.”
“Son of a bitch.” As someone who’d only known love all his life, hearing Fallon’s story sounded almost unbelievable, except I knew he wasn’t exaggerating. Fallon was a straight shooter, no bullshit. “What the hell did you do?”
For the first time since I walked in, his lips twitched. “That’s where Dev came in, like a white knight. When he heard what my parents had done and that I was going to have to drop out of school, he paid all my tuition and living expenses, without asking for any repayment. He’d come out to me, and I kept his secret for years. And after I graduated, he gave me the job as his personal assistant.”
I was stunned, my jaw hanging open. “Whoa. That’s…wow. I don’t even know what to say to that.”
Fallon wiped at his eyes. “I owe Dev everything.”
