Chapter Six
Rusty jerked awake, his mind racing as he tried to work out why his bed seemed different before remembering where he was. Right, Blake. He was in Blake’s house, in his room, in his bed.
He breathed a sigh of relief, taking in the warmth of Blake’s body beside him. This was okay. Not the worst place he’d ever woken up.
Rusty sat up, glancing over at Blake’s alarm clock to see that it was two minutes past six.
Jet lag. Great.
At least he wasn’t wide awake at four in the morning. That would have been a lot less convenient.
His gaze fell on Blake as he started to really wake up, eyes roaming over the lines of his shoulders, a smile tugging at his lips as he spotted a handful of freckles on his back. The urge to reach out and touch them made him move his hand, fingers hovering over Blake’s warm skin…
A buzzing sound surprised him into moving his hand away. It took Rusty a handful of seconds to realize that it was his phone, vibrating on the nightstand beside the bed.
He reached over to grab it, wincing at the brightness as he unlocked the screen.
“It’s six a.m., piss off,” he murmured to himself, fumbling to turn the brightness down so he could look at who was calling.
Shit.
His dad.
He had to answer it, six a.m. or not.
“Dad?” he asked, holding the phone up to his ear. He climbed out of the bed as carefully as he could, not wanting to disturb Blake this early in the morning.
“Where the hell are you?” he asked. “You’ve been missing for three days.”
Rusty frowned. His dad knew where he was… didn’t he? He’d sent him here.
“I’m in the states,” he said softly. “Your lawyer ordered me to go.”
“To sort out this marriage thing,” his dad said, apparently putting the pieces together for himself. “I didn’t know you’d left yet. You could’ve come to see your old man while you were in town.”
Rusty sighed. “Yeah, well… Larry made it sound urgent.”
“Fuck Larry,” his father said. “Meddling bastard.”
He didn’t mean that. They were friends, and Larry was looking out for his best interests.
He just hated to be left out of the loop, and he had been.
“He’s trying to help you out,” Rusty said, not that he needed to defend anyone in this situation. It was what it was.
“I need you here,” his father hissed. “I’m about to put in my notice to run. I want you and your mother there.”
“So you can get a nice family portrait in the paper,” Rusty said. He knew what was going on.
“Because it would be nice to have some support,” his father responded.
Rusty wasn’t about to fall for that. He’d had enough guilt trips for one lifetime.
All the same, he wasn’t about to argue.
“I’m handling it,” Rusty said. “Just gimme a few more days. It’s complicated.”
“How is it complicated? He signs the papers, you hand him the money, everyone’s happy.”
