“You’re not a fool.” Gideon drove them away from the apartment complex. “You’re a young man falling in love.”
“I don’t want to fall in love,” Derek mumbled. “I want to go back to having frivolous sex with friends and strangers… and lots of it. I don’t want anything that involves my heart—just my dick.”
Gideon reached over and patted his leg. “Love isn’t so bad. Sometimes it’s a little rough at the start, but ultimately, it’s worth it.”
Derek turned his head and looked out the passenger window. “What if the first number I called was the right number?” he whispered.
“What?”
Clearing his throat, Derek looked at him, tension pinching the skin around his eyes. “I keep coming back to that first call and why he asked who I was.”
Gideon looked ahead thoughtfully. “About how old do you think he was? Could he have been Patrick’s father? You said Patrick told you his parents were only okay with him being gay as long as he didn’t have sex with men?”
“Yeah.”
“Could it have been his father trying to deflect any male interaction with him?”
“Whoever answered was too young to be his dad. He sounded about Patrick’s age. And I doubt he told anyone about me except…” Derek fell silent, brow cinched.
Gideon glanced at him. “What? What is it?”
“Fuck.”
. . .
Brian—that fucking fuck.
“Are you going to clue me in?” Gideon asked.
Derek resisted the anger bubbling up and tried to see the situation from Brian’s perspective. He was Patrick’s friend, just trying to look out for him. The reasoning didn’t hold up as Derek’s anger boiled over. Notoneof Derek’s friends would have pulled that bullshit stunt because Derek—likePatrick—was a fucking grown-assadultcapable of making his own fucking choices and decisions.
“Derek?”
“Brian,” Derek hissed.
“What?”
“Brian,”Derek ground out. “Patrick’s friend. He knew about me. He didn’t want Patrick to go on our date—even made him promise that he wouldn’t. I’d bet my fuckingballsthat was him who answered the phone.Fucker.”
Gideon nodded. “What’re you going to do—call back later? Do you think he was just there visiting Patrick? They could be roommates. In that case, he might answer again.”
“The number we called was listed under Alan Weber. If it was the right number, then I’m thinking he’s probably Patrick’s dad.”
“How old would you say Patrick is?”
“I don’t know. Anywhere from nineteen and, maybe, twenty-one. He could still be living at home.”
“Entirely possible.”
Derek shook his head. “On our date, I was nice about Brian, about him being a good friend to Patrick because he was looking out for him.” He huffed. “Now, I want to punch him in the face.”
Gideon chuckled. “Don’t do that.”
“Yeah, we’ll see,” Derek mumbled. Despite his anger—a huge weight lifted from Derek’s shoulders and the tightness in his chest eased. There were no guarantees he had the right number, and if it were and he actually spoke to Patrick—there was no guarantee it would go the way Derek hoped. Regardless of the uncertainties, he felt relieved. If it all went down the shitter later… he would deal with it then.
“So…” Gideon smiled. “If you do speak to Patrick… what’re you going to say?”
“Fuck, I don’t know,” Derek admitted. “I’ve been so focused onmakingthe call, or finding the right number to call, I haven’t even really thought about what I wouldsay.”
