Page 3 of Finley
“He better not. He called my ass back here, so he better fucking live past the first five minutes he sees me,” Daniel said as he hauled himself up into the seat.
Derek shut the door and rested up against the open window. He took a quick survey of Daniel from head to toe, and then gave him a pearly grin.
“Okay, so he might not die, but let’s just say this. If I didn’t know about your decade-old hard-on for the guy, the ride to your mother’s house right now would be a lot more difficult. You looking fucking hot. And what’s more, this time around, you know it. Those fancy pants that are glued to your ass like a second skin don’t hurt, either. The whole package screams confidence… And yeah, he has no idea what he’s in for.”
“Shut up. You don’t go for blonds, remember? We had this conversation over one too many Crown and Cokes—or have you forgotten?”
Derek rounded the hood of his car and climbed into the driver’s seat. “Nah. But with your hair short like that, it looks darker than it used to. Even I could go for that.”
Daniel rolled his eyes and looked out the window as they started to wind their way down the parking lot ramp, much more comfortable with the bullshit and flirting than analyzing his real emotions. Derek he could handle, but as they flew down the freeway toward Sunset Cove, he wasn’t sure he was equipped for what was about to happen next—and with whom. So he decided that his best course of action was to distract himself.
“So, why’d your sorry ass volunteer to come get me?”
“I’m here for the entertainment…and the gossip.”
“How kind of you.”
“Well, you gotta admit, this has been a long time coming. I want a front-row seat.”
“This?” Daniel asked. “I don’t even know what this is. And just how many people know about it?”
His friend shifted in his seat and gave a sideways glance in his direction. When he saw Daniel pinning him with awell?look, he refocused on the road.
“Just a few of us.”
“A few of…who? How would anyone even know, other than me and—” Daniel stiffened in the seat. “He told people? He toldyou?”
“No,” Derek said. “Well, not really.”
“Not really? What the fuck, Derek. He either did or didn’t. And since when have you two moved in the same circles?”
“We don’t,” Derek said. “But for years, he’s been?—”
“Stop right there. I don’t want to hear about who he’s been fucking.”
After exiting the freeway, they pulled up to a red light and Derek looked over at Daniel with a shit-eating grin.
“Yes, you do. So you can track them down and tell ’em to take a hike.”
Daniel played that off with a shrug. “What do I care? He sent me away. Not like it’s any of my fucking business.” He then aimed a glare in Derek’s direction.
“Geez.Someone’s a little testy. No need, though. All I was gonna say is, for years, he’s been the elusive one. That guy on the scene but not really in it. No one can pin him down. No one dates him. And you know why?”
“No. But I have a feeling you’re dying to tell me.” Then he gestured to the green light. “Are you going to sit at the light for the rest of the night or drive me home?”
“Stop acting like what I just said didn’t make your heartandyour dick happy as fuck. You can act like the player who doesn’t care with everyone else, but I know how much he means to you.”
A car blasted its horn behind them, and Derek held up a middle finger as he put his foot to the gas.
“And I’m pretty sure the feeling’s mutual. You know why I don’t think he dates, Danny? Because he’s had a hard-on for you all this time too.”
Derek grabbed the pack of smokes off the dashboard and brought it up to his mouth. Then he took one between his lips, and as the car veered to the left, Daniel reached for the packet and pulled the lighter out. He held it out for his friend, and as he inhaled, the cigarette flared to life.
“We’ll soon see, won’t we?” he answered, dropping the lighter into the packet and throwing it in the center console.
“Nothing to see. He totally fucking has. And you know what? He’s had plenty of offers. Now, I’m not saying the guy is a monk. He’s a fucking catch. Of course he’s gonna dip his dick in something. But he sure as hell hasn’t been flaunting a relationship around town.”
As the wind whipped around them and Derek floored it down the main strip, Daniel shut his eyes and thought about the man he was there to see. The man he’d believed he would spend the rest of his life with. The same man who’d sent him away.