Island Heat (13 page)

In reality, Friday evening was no different from any other evening on an island where most of the residents didn't work regardless of the day of the week. That didn't stop Eli from feeling an extra pang at the prospect of spending his Friday evening alone.

Yesterday's lunch date had been wonderful, but Kevin had to head back to work far too soon and Eli was realizing that Kevin was going to be working from early evening to late night every single night this summer unless they hired someone – and possibly even then. It was going to be impossible to spend a slow, peaceful evening and night with him, and that was Eli's favorite time of day for a peaceful romantic moment. He could at least visit the bar on slower weeknights, but Friday evenings were likely to be the busiest at Sweet Nothings and he didn't want to be a distraction.

Instead of moping, however, he decided to channel his frustrations. Tom's reps had had a couple of weeks – even going by business days – to get in touch with him. As far as he knew, the news still wasn't out since he wasn't being bombarded with texts from their friends sympathizing with him or sharing support, and most of their friends were here on the island with them and clearly clueless anyway.

“Hello? Cam?”

“Ah, hello, Eli,” Cameron, Tom's manager, greeted Eli when he picked up. “Thank you for calling.”

Eli paced back and forth through his living room. Dean was out partying or something, which was just as well. He wasn't sure he wanted Dean to overhear the piece of his mind he wanted to give Cam or Dean – whoever he got through to. “What the fuck is the matter with him?”

“I'm afraid... I'm not sure what you mean,” Cam deflected.

“What's going on? Why haven't you announced the news yet?”

“Which news, exactly?”

“Don't make me fucking say it,” Eli scowled.

“The engagement announcement?”

“
Un
-engagement, yes.” Eli struggled to stay calm as he corrected him.

Cam cleared his throat. “It takes time to set up these announcements.”

“He can fucking tweet it in two seconds for all I care. I'm trying not to let people find out, including all of our mutual friends here on Ember Isle, and it's getting to be a pain in the ass. I shouldn't have to cover for him.”

“I appreciate your discretion and courtesy.”

It was a form response Cam gave to a journalist who had gotten an off-the-record answer or someone he didn't want talking.

Eli had cooked supper for this man, gone out to eat with him before shows... hell, he'd been over for Christmas before. Now, he was little better than a nosy journalist?

“Wow,” Eli breathed out. That stung more than he'd expected it to. It was like a punch to the gut. “Fine, then. Why is he here?”

“Here being...?”

“Ember Isle, you prick, don't tell me you don't know where I am,” Eli laughed sharply.

“I'm not privileged to share that information--”

“I saw his yacht. He's anchored right off shore. I can see it from here.” Eli seethed, struggling to keep his voice level. “This is bullshit. I was his fiancé, for god's sakes. Either we're over and you announce it so I can get all the pity stares over with, or we're not over and you tell me why he's here. Pick one.”

Cam was silent for a few long moments before he said, “If you need to talk about the nature of your relationship, I'd suggest calling Tom.”

Eli lowered his phone from his ear for a few moments, his thumb hovering over the red button. Then, he hissed out quietly and raised it to his ear again.
Don't lose it. It's not Cam's fault. Tom's given him instructions. And he's fucking good at his job.
“The locks have been changed on my house. I don't care about getting any money or shit back. I just want Tom away from me, and I want him away from
here
.”

“Perhaps meeting up with Tom where you are would be wise if you want him to avoid that area,” Cam suggested.

“Did you not hear what I said? I was here first; he wasn't planning to come here at all. Then,
after
I dump his sorry fucking
cheating
ass, he winds up here? Hiding from me and everyone? He can come here and fuck whoever he wants, and
I
can see whoever I want now that he opened
that
door, but he should be a man and do it to my face.”

“Perhaps it's best to discuss your relationship status directly with him before seeing other people.”

This time, Eli
did
hang up. He growled and threw his phone down so hard on the couch that it bounced back up a good foot into the air, then paced back and forth a few more times, his breathing heavy.

He hadn't expected that call to go
so
badly. Clearly, Cam wanted him to talk to Tom for whatever dumb reason, probably not wanting to be liable for anything, but there was no way he was letting that leech have another second of his time.

On the other hand, the way Cam had talked confirmed his suspicions that Tom was lurking around here now, and that Tom might have still been interested in a relationship if he still wanted to talk to Eli. Probably wanted to apologize and explain himself.

Just for that, Eli wanted to go out and have fun. Maybe Tom was partying downtown while he was staying at home, or maybe Tom was watching who came to his home.

It half-made him want to bring some random fucking man home to piss Tom off even more. He was sure that if Tom knew he was dating Kevin, he was already pissed and he didn't want Kevin to be in the line of fire, but the spiteful part of him did want Tom to suffer a little.

He headed upstairs to freshen up and go to his walk-in closet. Maybe it was time to go out and live a little. He wasn't interested in
dating
anyone else but Kevin, but while Kevin was at work, he could go out and dance... live while he was still relatively young. If he ran into Tom, he could give him a piece of his mind right there in public and end things.

He aggressively pulled on his suit, buttoning up shirt buttons quickly and shrugging on his suit jacket. By now, the party would be in full swing on Main Street and this time, he was going to join in. It worked for Dean, Tom, everyone but him; why couldn't it work for him?

***

When he got to the club, Eli felt a little overwhelmed by his surroundings. It had been years since he went to a club alone for the purpose of dancing with strangers and letting down his guard. Not that there were a lot of strangers amongst the other men he knew here – he saw Danny in the corner, Blake and Richard at the bar, Kyle and Johnson and what looked like Boris on the dance floor...

But the cute young men brought here as entertainment for them were strangers, and best of all, they probably didn't know him or that he was supposed to be engaged. He could dance with them a little, drink, make Tom jealous if there
was
anyone watching him and reporting back to his bastard ex, and keep his mind off Kevin being busy at work.

He just wanted to escape.

As he headed to the bar, Eli glanced at the cocktail menu and ordered the first thing on it. The drink turned out to have bright electric blue, green, and pink layers and a thin straw, so he leaned against the bar to drain the tall glass and scout out the surroundings.

The men here
were
hot. They weren't Kevin, but they were good-looking and clearly on the hunt.

By the time he finished his drink, several had already spotted him and seemed to be waiting for him to get to the dance floor and approach them. He didn't overly want to encourage any attention since he didn't intend to physically follow through on anything more than some close dancing, so he headed to a clear spot on the floor to start moving to the thumping music.

“Hey, Eli, how's it going?” That was Boris, his thick Russian accent charming as always.

Eli smiled and turned to nod at the oil millionaire. “Great, you?”

“Good. I heard you were here this summer. Without Tom?”

Boris, who funded a well-known producer, and Tom had gotten on like a house on fire at one of Tom's premiere parties last year. No wonder he wanted to see Tom.

Unless he'd fucked him, too.

No, you can't think that way. You'll be suspicious of everyone that way, and besides... it doesn't matter.
Eli nodded. “Yeah, he's busy, I guess.”

“Hm, that's a shame.”

Eli noticed that Boris's eyes were being drawn to a handsome blond who was watching him from the bar. He grinned to himself. “Go on, get that,” he encouraged Boris. “I'll see you sometime this summer for sure.”

“All right,” Boris cheerfully agreed. “See you around.”

Just moments after Boris walked away, Eli felt a hand on his hip and lips at the side of his neck... and a hard cock against his ass.

He drew in a sharp breath of surprise and twisted to look over his shoulder. The tall, gorgeous man in a t-shirt and jeans behind him was a model, no doubt about that, but Eli's stomach turned. This wasn't what he was here for.

“No,” he said simply when he met the man's eyes.

His new partner frowned, then pressed closer as if not understanding. “Why not?”

“I'm not interested,” Eli repeated more firmly, taking a step forward.

The man moved around him to cut him off, holding up his hands. “Hey, sorry, man. You're a top. I get it.” He looked like he was drunk already, and Eli had a bad feeling about him already that didn't get any better.

“That's not it,” Eli told him. Then, he found himself grabbed by the hips and pulled in against the younger man's front in one simple, aggressive move. He shoved back to get him off, his anger flaring up again. Maybe coming out had been a bad idea.

“Whoa, whoa,” he heard a familiar voice. It was Kyle, and with him was Johnson. They were quick to get between the younger man and Eli. “He's fuckin' taken, asshole.”

“Didn't they read you the rules?” Johnson shook his head at the stranger, patting Eli's shoulder.

“Hey, I didn't know. He was looking for someone.”

“I just wanted to dance,” Eli defended himself.

“He's engaged,” Kyle added, which made Eli's heart sink. “Get out of here. You're drunk.”

The younger man seemed to think better of arguing, aware that the bartenders' eyes were on him already and security was no doubt watching, too. He shook his head and stumbled off through the crowd in the direction of the door.

“You all right?” Kyle frowned. “That was fucked. I hadn't seen that yet this year.”

Eli nodded, brushing himself off a little and composing himself again. “Yeah. He's just an asshole. It happens.”

“Still, is this the first time you came out dancing? I haven't seen you around. Dean said you've been hiding at home... and then you run into this guy?”

Pretty much, yeah.
Eli grimaced and nodded. “I don't think I wanna dance tonight, actually.”

“Aw, man. Come on, we'll stay with you if you want--” Johnson started.

Eli clapped Johnson's shoulder. “It's all right. You guys have fun. I'm going to have a walk and maybe head home. I'll come out a bit later, when I'm up for it.”

“All right,” Kyle frowned. “Take care.”

Johnson was looking oddly at Eli's hand – his left hand.

Eli's heart lurched as he quickly slipped his hands into his pockets and nodded, casually strolling to the door to leave the club again.

Fucking Tom. I don't even know why I'm still covering for him. Tomorrow, I'll call him and tell him he's on his own
. Eli was relieved to find himself outside in the fresh air, his steps turning automatically in the direction of Sweet Nothings.

He wouldn't hang around and distract Kevin, but he could at least stop by and say hello... see Kevin and feel a little less dirty.

Fuck, going out had been a bad idea. He wouldn't have had fun while trying to spite a man who might not even be hanging around anyway. It was crazy to think that Tom was lurking around corners and watching him, and he probably wasn't even getting anyone else to watch him, either. If he had, people would have seen him around and so far, nobody seemed to have seen Tom at all.

As he pushed open the door to the dessert bar, Eli smiled to himself. Kevin was under the light behind the counter, dancing on the spot to the pop music that played in the background.

Kevin saw him right away and grinned, while Troy smiled as he glanced between Eli and Kevin. Troy looked like... he knew.

He knows,
Kevin mouthed, starting to walk around the counter to greet him.

Eli's shoulders dropped slightly with relief and he headed to the window, away from the counter where most people were clustered right now.

“Hey,” Kevin murmured, joining Eli by the window and glancing out at the street before looking at him. “What brings you here? Everything all right?”

“Fine,” Eli assured him with a smile, resisting the urge to pull Kevin in and kiss him hello. “I just wanted to see you.”

Kevin smiled. “Well, you've seen me. Yesterday was... fun.”