At least someone had a chance at a little happiness tonight.
Oz twirled the drink he was still nursing. Should he text Seth?
What would he even say? I miss you? I wish you were here? Wanna have phone sex?
None of those seemed like good options.
The thing was, no matter how interested in Seth he was, Seth just… wasn’t interested in him. He’d made that pretty clear. He hadn’t been cruel about it, but he obviously didn’t want anything more than casual sex.
And that was fine. The right thing to do was respect his wishes.
Oz took out his phone anyway and stared at Seth’s number in his contacts list. What if he just said hello? That might make him feel less lonely, less like he’d just lost someone important.
But then Seth would know what he was thinking. He’d know Oz was being clingy, and then the next time they ran into each other—which was bound to happen eventually—it’d be awkward as hell.
With a heavy sigh, he tucked the phone back into his pocket and finished the rest of his drink as he stood, leaving the bartender what would have to be the tip of the night. If he had to be miserable, he didn’t want to spread it around.
Some things just weren’t meant to be.
Chapter Fourteen
“Seth! Come in, come in! Just the man I wanted to see.”
Seth winced at his father’s salesman smile and closed the door to his office behind him. “I know. You summoned me.”
Normally, when he said he’d been summoned, he was being sarcastic. This time, though, it really felt like that. Whatever his father wanted, it was obviously important to him.
“Sit down, son,” his father continued as though he hadn’t said anything, waving at the chair on the other side of his enormous desk.
This was how it had always been between them. Some people kept their children at arm’s length, Seth’s father kept his children—or his son, at least—at desk-width away. Even when he’d been little, his father had only ever really talked to him in the study or from across the dinner table when he could be bothered showing up for dinner.
Not that Seth was bitter. He’d gotten along just fine without his dad interfering in his life so far.
He sat, but only because arguing would have been a wasted effort.
“How’s things? We haven’t had a chance to talk in a long time. Even at your sister’s wedding!” He said, still smiling.
It was unsettling, and Seth was already looking for an escape route. Nothing good ever came of his father suddenly taking an interest in him.
“If this is just a catch-up, can we reschedule? I have a lot to get done today,” Seth lied.
He never had much to get done. He had a guaranteed position at the company and a very nice office, but rarely any actualjob. He was there to be the boss’ son. That was his whole purpose in life.
Decoration. Seth had always been an accessory to his father’s life, and he knew it.
“Okay, okay.” Seth’s father held his hands up in submission. “I’ll cut to the chase. I need to send you to Stephanie Bishop’s wedding, as the family representative. You remember Stephanie, right?”
Seth remembered Stephanie. He remembered her putting glue in his hair when they were children and having to have it all cut off. He hadn’t left the house for a week after.
She’d probably matured into a lovely young woman, but he still hated her for that.
“I remember,” he confirmed, seething quietly. His father probably thought of them as childhood friends.
“I really thought you two might end up together when you were kids,” he said. “Before you turned out to be, uh…”
“It’s okay to say gay, dad,” Seth said, barely refraining from rolling his eyes.
