“I need to go,” I said to him, letting the anger win out.
“Oh, come on, Quentin. You’re not hurt, are you? I’m just looking out for you, babe.”
“I’m fine, but I need to get some things together for this conference. I’m going to need some things to wear and —”
His eyes lit up. “I’ll come with you.”
Matt would love nothing more than to keep a check on me and help me pick out my clothes, but he could go fuck himself. I wasn’t playing Barbie to his airhead Ken.
“That’s alright,” I said curtly. “I’ll call Charlie.”
I pulled out my purse, and Matt put a hand on my wrist.
“I’ll get it,” he said. “You know, I am proud of you.”
Empty words. He knew he should say it, and that’s why he had. Too little, too late.
“Thanks.” I leaned over and kissed his cheek, lips barely touching the skin. “I’ll see you later.”
I got up and left with no intention of calling Charlie. I wanted to be alone.
When I finally arrived home, I dropped the bags in the hallway and kicked off my boots. I’d picked up a few pieces and everything else could be found in my wardrobe.
The sound of music drifted from the living room. A familiar song that I hadn’t heard in years. Gray had stuck on one of Dad’s old vinyl records.
I wanted to be mad at him for touching things that belonged to my dad, for going through my belongings again. But Nat King Cole’s smooth voice flared through the room and when Gray saw me, he reached out a hand. It brought back a flood of memories that warmed my insides.
“Come and dance with me,” he said.
“Gray, I just got in,” I argued nervously. “It’s been a long day.”
“So?” he said, not seeing the issue. “Come dance with me, Scott. I didn’t get the chance at the gifting ball.” After a moment he added, “Please.”
The please was what broke me. He didn’t say it unless he really wanted something.
After the day I had, what would be the harm?
Walking over to Gray, he placed a hand on my waist, and I put one on his shoulder as the free ones clasped together.
I hadn’t played the records in years. My father loved Nat King Cole and Cass and I had fallen hard for his voice.
Gray moved us around the furniture in the living room, swaying us around the place until I laughed.
“Mum and Dad used to dance to this. It was the first dance at their wedding.”
“They had good taste.”
The music built and Gray moved gracefully, moving me around the space, and I followed his lead with ease, humming along to the song.
All the anger and sadness I’d felt when I was with Matt drained away, and I enjoyed the moment. And then I let it take over me — the urge to share the news with Gray.
“You know that presentation I’ve been working on?”
“The one that kept me up at night because you wouldn’t put it away in bed?”
Gray would mock that he couldn’t sleep, thanks to the bright light of my laptop, but he didn’t need the sleep, and even if he did, he could have pulled his aura around him. Instead, he’d lay next to me, reading a book from the glow of my screen and only finish when I got too tired to work anymore.
“Yes, that’s the one.”
