“I’ve never had Spanish food.”Will sounded like a kid confessing that he’d never had chocolate.
Carl huffed.“You’ll like it, pup.I’m good with Spanish.Theo?”
“Yup, fine with me too.Do we take the tram?”
Carl pulled his car keys out of his suit pocket.“Nope.Follow me.”
Chapter 4
Peterwasaboutreadyto chew the steering wheel to bits.He’d parked on a side street from which he had a partial view of the Boudoir, his eyes glued to the parking lot through which Theodore, accompanied by sweet Corvin, had entered.
“It’s probably something to do with the wedding.A surprise for Michael.Yes.They must want to get him a stripper.They wouldn’t be…they wouldn’t be sampling the strippers, surely?”
He looked at the phone in his left hand for about the hundredth time in the last minute.Theodore hadn’t called.Michael hadn’t called.Celeste hadn’t called.And no one had texted either.Peter considered what his best course of action was, whether to text Celeste to ask if she employed anyone with stripper credentials.
“Except then she’ll thinkIwant a stripper, and she’ll ask why I want a stripper when I have Theodore sharing my bed.The bother.”
Peter managed to hold off for another five seconds, then he texted Michael.
How are things at the office?Are you holding down the fort?
I guess?It’s just another Monday.It’s not the first time you’ve had emergency client business come up.We can manage.
Or do you need me to come out and help you with anything?
It was tempting.Michael would be able to use his song to figure out what was going on.Except he wouldn’t, not on Theodore, and certainly not on Corvin.Stupid fucking ethics and all that.
Peter texted back.
Of course not.I have everything under control.I just never got a chance to check in with you.Is Corvin doing well?The wedding preparations are going as you want them to?
Yup, all running smoothly.Heads-up, there’s going to be a bachelor party, and he’ll invite Theo.Don’t tell Theo, okay?I’m not supposed to tell you.
My lips are sealed.I’m sure the party will be spectacular.
Peter relaxed somewhat.So they are there for strippers.He frowned.It still leaves the issue of Theodore looking at other naked men.
Peter mulled that thought over, feeling stupider and stupider the more he thought about it.“We all used to go swimming naked together, back in the day, and it’s not like I ever minded being on a ship with other warriors, male or female.Freyr’s balls, I cannot believe the fucking patriarchy has succeeded in indoctrinating me into fearing other men’s balls.”
Peter contemplated how best to undo the damage society had done to the cultural values he’d been born to when his phone dinged.
Sorry, had to take a call.Yes, it’s going to be a blast.My mom is organizing it, and she’s going at it hard.Your Theo’s going to have a really good time.
His mother is doing the organizing, not Corvin?“May Thor’s hammer strike the balls of other men!”
Peter bared his teeth, digging his fingers into the steering wheel.He wanted to storm into the Boudoir, find Theodore, gather him in his arms and hold him until he told Peter what was wrong, what he needed, what Peter could do to make it better.
And there was something wrong—Peter was well aware of it.Theodore wasn’t a moper, but he had been so this morning.If only he’d caught the flu.I can manage his snot easily enough, but this… He enjoys his lectures, he’s studious.He puts more effort into his essays than I did into the bar exam.Why would he elect not to go to class?
Peter had no proof that Theodore was the one who’d chosen to forgo a day of higher education.There was an alternative scenario in which Corvin had asked for a favor, and obviously, without proof, Peter’s speculations were no more than, well, speculations.
“It’s that he didn’t talk to me.Yes.There is something wrong, and he didn’t talk to me.Or Corvin needed help.But then, Theodore should’ve called me right away.He must know I’d keep anything confidential if he just asked me.”
The problem with it all was that Peter had nothing more to go on than what he could glean from following Theo and Corvin at a distance.True, it wasn’t much of a distance, which was worrying.Then again, he’s not a warrior and has never been trained to stab anyone following him before they can do it first.He’s never been trained in stabbing, period, and that’s a bother.Ah, he’s such a soft child of this age.At least he’s wearing the sweater.
Peter continued to do exactly nothing except glancing at his phone and holding his steering wheel in a death grip.His tension eased with the soft stirrings of hope when he saw a familiar and unkempt figure flip-flopping his way to the Boudoir, the pup in tow.Sage wore board shorts in spite of the possibility of the day turning cold.
Peter snorted.“Well, he’s not getting near Theodore during germ season, that veritable health hazard of an unshaven witch.”
