Page 25 of Devil's Kiss

“Hang on a second.”

“Sure.”

Jordan put the phone on the counter and then picked up the bag and placed it in the sink. He quickly cleaned up the milk and then went back to pick up the phone.

Deciding the rest of the groceries could wait, he took a seat on his couch in the living room and brought the phone back to his ear, curious even as he knew he shouldn’t be. “All right, I’m back.”

“Everything okay?” Derek asked.

Jordan gave an airy laugh before telling him, “Oh yes. There’s no use crying over spilled milk,dahling.”

There was a pause and then, “Huh?”

Letting out a put-upon sigh, Jordan was saddened no one was around to witness the brilliance of his joke. “Oh, nothing. Now, back to this little business of you stealing my phone number. That’s quite the offense, you know. I think they label it under the title ‘stalking.’”

Derek coughed, then asked, “You think I’m stalking you?”

“Are you?”

“Hell no.”

Jordan pursed his lips as he thought about that passionate reply, then asked, “Why? Am I not stalkable?”

Derek sputtered a little, and when he said, “You’re kind of crazy, aren’t you,” Jordan was quick to point out, “Yet you’re the one who went through my phone, stole my number, and called. Don’t be pointing fingers.”

“Fair enough.”

“I think so.” Jordan paused and waited to see if Derek would say anything else, and just when he thought he would have to flat-out ask what he wanted, Derek said softly, “Thank you for picking up.”

Jordan didn’t understand what was going on, but Derek having called at all had thrown him so far off course that he needed the guy to spell it out for him. “You’re welcome. But I haven’t done anything.”

“You answered,” Derek said, and Jordan instantly sobered when Derek’s voice cracked. “That’s everything to someone with nothing.”

Jordan froze at the sincerity behind those words, and then curled his legs under himself on the couch. By some lucky chance he had Fridays off this semester, and after a quick look at the clock he realized if Derek had class that morning, then he was likely running late. It seemed he really was in need of someone to listen to him.

“Well, I’m here, and I answered. So…do you want to tell me what’s wrong?”

Derek’s laugh was devoid of humor this time around. “Umm, how long you got?”

Jordan frowned. “It’s that bad?”

“It’s pretty fucking close to being that bad.”

“Okay, well, we could always meet up? Coffee?” he offered, even though his brain was sayingback away.

“Can’t. I’ve got to go to the library and then class.”

“What about after?” Jordan asked, paying no heed to his conscience, which was screaming,Stop now before this gets out of hand.

“I need to go back to the library after classes today, too. I missed a statistics paper last week because of…something.”

“Well,” Jordan said, “I can always meet you at the library. Just tell me what time.”

“Umm, how about…Fuck,” Derek said, and if Jordan didn’t know better, he would think that he was nervous. “It’ll be tonight, is that okay?”

“That’s fine. I’m sure it won’t betoofar past my bedtime.” Jordan’s tongue-in-cheek comment earned him a genuine chuckle from Derek.

“Right. And what time’s that?”