Page 7 of A Cold Hard Truth

Sebastian swallowed and nodded.

“Are you nodding?” Callahan asked.

“Yes,” he admitted.

“Both or one?”

“Either,” he said honestly.

“How much have you had to drink?”

“Enough.”

“And eat?” Callahan pressed on like a diligent teacher working his way down a checklist of fuck-ups he knew to have occurred.

“Not…” Sebastian frowned, trying to remember the last time he’d eaten. “I don’t know.”

“We’ll be there in a bit,” Callahan said, and the call disconnected.

Sebastian tossed his phone onto the table and it clattered against the glass, settling after a few seconds and leaving him washed in the heavy weight of being alone.

“You’re being petulant,” he mumbled to himself, but he didn’t stop.

Sebastian was a product of his upbringing, and nothing if not a shrewd businessman. He knew what risks were calculated and which were careless. There wasn’t a decision he made, sans marrying Daniella, that he didn’t think to death before making it. Answering that question on his phone, though… there were two—only two—possible outcomes, and he didn’t know which was the one to aim for.

If he answered no, he’d be a liar, but his life would go on.

If he answered yes, everything would change.

His phone screen remained still and black. he stared at it until Callahan and Jace arrived, their arms laden with bags of takeout. He stood, following his nose into the kitchen where Callahan had already unloaded white paper boxes onto his counter. He sniffed, stomach growling eagerly.

“Mediterranean?” he asked.

“Nothing like some chickpeas and meat to suck up all that vodka you’ve been drinking,” Callahan answered, looping his arm around Sebastian’s shoulders and pulling him into a side hug. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah,” Sebastian answered, giving Callahan a lopsided shrug. “Life is just shit, you know.”

“I know,” he agreed. “But it doesn’t need to be.”

Sebastian scrubbed his hands down the front of his face and let Callahan steer him toward the dining room table. He collapsed into the chair and waited while Jace served him, which was…

He sighed. “I’m sorry to bother you.”

Jace gave him a confused look, scrunched eyes and a tangled brow.“You’re not a bother,” he said. “This is what friends do.”

Jace dumped some rice onto his plate and walked off, returning with Sebastian’s phone. He set it on the table beside Sebastian’s hand, screen up.

“It was vibrating over there,” Jace explained. “Thought you might want it.”

Callahan and Jace chatted while they made plates of food, taking seats beside him and making themselves at home around his table. Sebastian studied the way Jace’s eyes tracked Callahan’s movements, the way he watched and smiled, the way his entire body telegraphed the way he loved Callahan McMillian.

Sebastian looked away, his phone lighting up. He swiped the screen and that godforsaken dating app filled his screen with another message.

If not, that’s alright. Just wanted to check before taking things further.

Sebastian answered before he could talk himself out of it, hoping this risk paid off.

Yes,he wrote.Yes, I want to be with a man.