“Shit, Noah. That’s a lot of money. Do you have it?”
As usual the hairs on the back of his neck stood up when talking to people about money. Of course he had an accountant and financial advisor. Outside of that, Noah kept things like that to himself.
“I can find it,” he replied gruffly. “I might have to borrow from Malcolm’s trust fund in the short-term. I’ll pay it back in.”
Carmine frowned. Noah didn’t like the expression on his face.
“What’s the matter?”
“I don’t understand you,” Carmine replied. “One minute the only thing that’s important in your life is to secure Malcom’s future, the next you’re dipping into the pot.”
“I don’t feel comfortable talking about this,” Noah snapped.
He simply wanted to watch a movie and get to bed.
“Fine,” Carmine said. “It’s none of my business.”
“Not really.”
The silence that followed was painful.
“I’ve missed what’s going on now.”
“Answer me this,” Carmine replied. Evidently on a mission, he sat up to face Noah, who sighed and waited.
“Go on.”
“What am I to you?”
“What do you mean?”
He reluctantly stared at Carmine, who looked seriously upset.
“Am I a way of passing the time or do you see a future for us? I need to know because you’re encouraging me to change my whole relationship with my parents for this relationship.”
Noah went to take Carmine’s hand, but he snatched it away.
“I really care about you, Carmine. Don’t do this.”
“I’m being serious, Noah. Not everything is going on exciting dates or sex. We’re allowed to talk about grown-up stuff too.”
Noah got to his feet. “Here we go. Is this because you’re older?”
“What has my age got to do with it? You said that didn’t matter to you.”
Carmine stood. They were facing each other across the coffee table.
“It doesn’t matter to me in the slightest. Sometimes you treat me like a child.”
“No I fucking don’t.”
“Keep your voice down.”
The last thing Noah wanted was Jonas or Tito hearing this.
“I’m sorry, that’s out of line,” Carmine said. “I know it’s a trigger point for you because of the responsibility you’ve had to shoulder. I do understand that. I have never treated you like a child.”
Noah couldn’t disagree.
