Page 31 of Devil's Kiss

“And how often’s that?”

“Every hour or so.”

Derek thought he heard “fuck,” but he’d walked a little ways away before rounding back to head for Jordan.

“Okay. So what happened?”

Derek drew in a shaky breath and slid into the seat he’d previously vacated. “He kicked me out.”

To Jordan’s credit, he didn’t look shocked or horrified. This was actually the most serious Derek had ever seen the other man, and it was appreciated.

“Because you’re gay?”

“No. I mean, he always let me know how disgusting that was to him, but that wasn’t the reason he told me to go.”

“Then what was?”

“Money. The asshole wanted me to give him my paychecks. Man has some nerve asking me for anything after what he’s done to me. What he did to my mother…and family.” His voice cracked, and he swallowed the best he could around the lump caught in his throat.

Fuck, it all sounded so much worse when he said it out loud, and judging by the concerned expression on Jordan’s face, he agreed with that assessment one hundred percent.

JORDAN SWOREHE could hear every single sound in the coffee shop in stereo at that moment: the grinder of the beans, the steamer for the foam, and the two baristas gossiping behind the counter as the night slowly settled in.

Meanwhile, he was trying to decipher exactly what Derek was telling him.

Had he moved out? Was he living with his friend Daniel? Seemed like a possible solution, but just as Jordan was about to ask, Derek spoke.

“I’ve been staying at this piece-of-shit motel for the last week.” He paused and then scowled, clearly annoyed. “But last night there was an argument that got heated, and fuck…I don’t know. It’s a shithole. Who the hell knows what goes on there. When you’re paying by the night, no one asks any questions.”

Jordan tried to keep any judgment off his face, but he’d never been particularly good at subterfuge, and the outrage he was currently feeling knowing that Derek had been sleeping at some seedy motel was difficult to contain. The only thing that kept him from demandingwhywas the sheer frustration that was pouring off Derek in waves. The guy was struggling to keep a hold on his temper, and he looked one word away from detonation.

Jordan thought about his next words carefully as he wondered what it would take to ease Derek right now. To help him relax back to the cocky badass he’d walked into the café with.

“So…where are you planning to stay tonight?”

Derek shrugged and picked his coffee up to take another sip. “Same place, I guess, until I can figure out an apartment or something.”

“Derek,” Jordan said, then swallowed his immediate impulse to offer up one of his spare rooms. “What about Daniel? I know the two of you are close.”

Derek shook his head. “No. I won’t do that to his mom. Mrs. Finley, she’s been through enough raising two kids on her own. She doesn’t need a third. Not to mention the added worry of my father turning up and causing shit.”

“I’m sure she wouldn’t see it that way.”

“Yeah, but I would,” Derek said softly. “I can’t do that to her. I love that family like it’s my own. I wish it was.”

Jordan’s heart ached at the longing he heard in Derek’s voice, and he had a sudden thought of his own family. He really should give his mother a call. It’d been a few weeks, and he knew she’d love to hear from him.

As he fiddled with the sleeve of his coffee cup, Jordan knew what he was about to do next was unwise. It was likely the dumbest idea he’d had to date, and really, he didn’t do dumb. But there was no way he was going to let Derek leave this café to go back to some motel full of God only knew what.

“What if you come and stay with me?”

The words sounded odd, even to his own ears as they fell off his tongue. But Derek’s stunned look ofwhat the fuckmade them feel even more out of place.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Why can’t I?” Jordan shot back, even as the voice in his head was telling him this was a bad idea.But he was already in it now. If he backed out he’d look like he was worried, or worse, thinking this would be some kind of illicit setup where he moved a sexy student into his rich penthouse to fuck?—

“Well, for starters,” Derek said, breaking Jordan from his completely inappropriate thoughts, “I’m pretty positive you don’t like me too much.”