Page 252 of A Matter of Time

I groaned, grabbed my leather jacket, and stood up. “This was a mistake, Aaron. It’s too new. Maybe we can hang out down the road, but not right now.”

“I haven’t seen you in a month.”

“Maybe it needs to be months, or a year.” I sighed, pulling out my wallet, looking for the bill I needed.

“What are you—wait.” He put up his hand as I tossed a twenty on the table. “Just wait. I’ll drive you, just give me a⁠—”

“Aaron!”

I used to hate the way his friends always just showed up and interrupted us, but at that moment they were a godsend.

“Jory.” His friend Todd reached for my arm. “I thought you were history, man. I thought Aaron finally tossed the trash out.”

Oh! That was so my cue to walk out. “He did, Todd.” I slapped his arm hard, turned and strode out of the lounge.

Jacket on, I stood outside for a second and breathed in deeply. What a weird, fragmented night. I needed to go home and go to bed and start fresh the next morning. Everything tilted for a second, and then my head cleared. I felt the hand on my shoulder before Aaron stepped around in front of me.

“What?” I sighed, rolling my shoulder so his hand fell off.

“Jory”—he grabbed hold of my arm—“I want to take you home with me. Let me.”

“After all that? After what you said?”

“What did I say?”

And I realized he hadn’t said much of anything; it was just a record that played over and over in my head. He thought of me one way, and it was all he saw and all I heard.

“You don’t want me, Aaron.” I sighed deeply. “You don’t even see me.”

“Jory,” he said, leaning in to kiss me.

I pushed him back and stepped away. “Let’s just take a break, all right? You need to find yourself a nice boy that needs a home. I’ve already got one.”

“Jory, I just want to take care of you.”

“That’s not what I need.”

“You don’t know what you need!” he shouted at me. “You’re so hung up on me having money that you can’t see what I’m really offering you.”

I stared directly into his eyes. “Oh, I know exactly what your offer is.”

“Fuck you, Jory,” he snapped, then he spun around and left without another word. I watched him walk back inside.

“Nice mouth on the rich boy.”

I looked up the street, and there, parked three cars down, was Sam Kage. I jogged over to him before I even thought about it.

“You bring that kind of language out in everybody you know, huh, J?”

I smiled at him and shrugged. “What can I tell you? People go all poetic when I’m around.”

He sighed deeply before he grabbed hold of my jacket and yanked me up against him. I let my head fall back on my shoulders as I stared up into his beautiful eyes.

“He thinks I drink too much.”

“’Cause ya do,” he agreed, his hand warm on my skin, his thumb stroking my cheek. “But that ain’t the way to get you to stop, taking you to a fuckin’ bar. I’d keep you home in bed.”

I let out a snort of laughter as my eyes drifted closed and I leaned into his hand.