Page 106 of A Real Good Lie

“You didn’t answer me,” Callahan said softly.

Jace pulled his shirt over his head and spun around, hands thrown up in frustration.

“What do you think, Callahan?” he asked, tone dripping with accusation. “Do I strike you as the type who’s surrounded by people who like to spend their hard earned money on me?”

Callahan shrank back, looking appropriately chastised, and that only served to make Jace feel like shit for saying anything in the first place. He knew in his heart that Callahan was only trying to do something nice for him, and that dropping a couple hundred dollars on a new suit could have been a weekly thing for someone like Callahan, but not for Jace.

“How bad is your phone?” Callahan asked.

“Ruined. And don’t even think about suggesting you pay to replace that, either.”

“I won’t,” Callahan said quietly, shoving his hands into his pockets. “We don’t need to get the suit.”

“You’re right. You don’t.”

“Can I at least buy you a new tie?” Callahan asked.

Jace sighed, knowing he needed to give an inch if not the mile. He swallowed and forced himself to smile. “A tie is fine.”

“I’ll wait for you outside.” Callahan let himself out of the dressing room, holding the door shut behind him until Jace secured it closed again.

Once he was alone, he threw the smallest and quietest temper tantrum, flailing his arms and stomping his socked feet against the floor. He tangled his fingers into his hair and pulled at the roots, then collapsed into the wingback. He took his phone out of his pocket and tapped the screen. The cracks were sharp against his finger, but the phone still worked. He dialed a quick call to Remington.

“Hello?”

“Do you still have your old phone?” he asked.

“I’m good, thank you for asking.” Remington laughed in his ear.

“How are you, Remington?”

“It’s in a drawer somewhere, yes,” Remington said. “Why?”

“I broke mine.”

“It’s been broken for almost a year.”

“No, like…broke it, broke it. The screen is ruined,” he said.

“Why don’t you have your boyfriend buy you a new one?”

“I don’t want his money,” Jace hissed, squeezing his eyes closed, annoyed with the expectation that he should all of a sudden have the best of everything based only on the fact the man he was sleeping with had it all for himself.

“Does he want to give it to you?”

“It doesn’t matter what he wants.”

“Doesn’t it?”

Jace could see Remington’s face in his mind. His smug expression, and the way his glasses would slip down his nose because his smile made it scrunch up. He loved Remington, but hated him for being so reasonable and right all the time.

“You’re in a relationship, Jace. It’s not just you,” Remington reminded.

“It’s always just me.”

“Not anymore.”

He hung his head down, resting his elbows on his knees. “What am I doing?”