Rock Bay 2 - Letting Go (13 page)

Drew forced himself to finish his payroll rounds. He ended the day with five less clients than he’d had the week before. He still had six, though, and that was something.
Better start advertising down in Astoria
. He’d managed to talk himself out of more than the closet. And for nothing.
No, not nothing.
No matter what, Drew felt better about himself for finally telling the truth. So it didn’t work out with Mason. There had to be another guy, right? He hoped Lex and Tally weren’t it.

By the time Drew got home that afternoon, he couldn’t even bring himself to work on the half workload he had left. He was so exhausted and downtrodden by the day that all he did was stare at his computer. The light, tinkling bell of his phone made his pulse jump before he reminded himself that, no, it wasn’t going to be Mason. After that, he could only hope it wasn’t his father. Lex. Thank
God
.

“Hey, Lex. What’s up?”
“Hi, Drew. Listen, I hate to do this, and I know you’re busy, but I’ve been having a hell of a

time with my quarterlies, and I need to get them done by the end of the month. Would you mind taking on a new client? Paying, of course. I’d never ask you to do this as a friend.”

Would he mind?
Drew wanted to kiss Lex— and not because he was hot, which he was, but because he’d just made Drew’s night.

“No, of course I’ll do it. When do you want me?”

Lex hesitated. “I know it’s almost five, but I’ve been pulling my hair out for hours. Is there any way you can come over tonight? Tally’s making his enchiladas. They’re amazing. But we’ll pay you in real money too. Not just food.”

Drew chuckled. “Sure. I didn’t want to hang around my place alone all night anyway. I’ll be over in a half an hour, okay?”

“Thanks, Drew, you’re a lifesaver.”
No, you are.
“No problem. See you soon.”

Drew wondered, as he was walking over to Lex and Tally’s place, if Lex really was a lifesaver, like on purpose. If he knew what was going on with Drew and was trying to make his accounting problems seem bigger than they were to give Drew a hand. He had to know what was going on around town. Every other business owner seemed to have heard the rumor. Even from the clients that Drew didn’t lose, he’d gotten his share of sympathetic looks. Brock had probably talked to enough people that the news had gotten back to Lex.
Shit
. What if Lex
was
doing this just to be nice? Drew wasn’t sure if he was desperate enough to take charity. Of course, he really liked to eat, and the mortgage on his loft was cheap but it wasn’t free. Maybe there was a time to let his friends help him out. After all, he was losing business he’d got through another friend. He shouldn’t be too proud to take business from Lex.

“Hey, hon. How are you today? You look a little down.” Lex greeted Drew at the door with a latte and a scone.
Great. What does he know?

“Um, thanks, Lex, but I have to ask. Why are you being so nice?”
Lex made a face. “Aren’t I always nice?”

“Well, yeah, but did you hear anything about me today?”
“No. I was in my office all day going nuts. What was there to hear?”
Drew sighed in relief. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” He took the coffee and the scone from Lex. “Thanks for these. I guess there are perks when you’re working with a coffee shop, huh?”
Lex grinned at him. “C’mon, let’s head to my office. Tally told me dinner would be in about an hour.”
They settled into Lex’s desk chairs and worked on his quarterly returns for a while, only trading comments and questions about the work itself. Lex looked at Drew inquisitively, though, every so often.

“What?” Drew finally asked.
“Are you going to tell me what happened today?” Lex’s expression was concerned and kind. It made Drew feel even worse.
“You can probably guess. Brock started telling people that I came out and I’m a perv and

they shouldn’t have me as their accountant. The results are fairly obvious.”

“Asshole!” Lex exclaimed softly. He raked his fingers through his hair. “How many of them ditched you?”

“Five so far. That’s just my weekly payroll clients. I’ll see next week when I start working on quarterlies how many more of them have jumped ship.” He shook his head, still unable to believe how much of a douche Brock was.

“And the hospital work? Isn’t it enough?”

Drew shook his head. He wished. “No, it’s not enough. I’m making about half of the total of my other business at the hospital. It was a great bonus, but unless they throw double the work my way, I can’t cover my bills with it.”

“That really sucks. I hate Brock.”
“Yeah, me too.”
More than I ever thought possible.
“He’s so spiteful. I mean, yeah, I guess I could’ve not called him a loser, but that’s after he called me one and strangled Tally. It wasn’t

anybody’s finest moment. He didn’t have to go around and ruin my reputation with all my clients.”

“Not
all
of them,” Lex said pointedly. “True.” But of course all of Drew’s most lucrative accounts were with people who would call themselves Brock’s friend. He could pretty much count on all of those disappearing.
“So you really didn’t know about this?” Drew had to know. Honestly, he probably would take the pity, but his pride wouldn’t let him not know.
“What, you mean about Brock telling people that you’re gay and to fire you?” Lex snorted.

“First of all, I told you I was in my office all day and didn’t hear a damn thing. Second, if Brock and I were the last two people in town, he probably still wouldn’t tell me anything. You know that.”

Drew sighed. “I do. It’s just you know how word gets around, and I didn’t want this to be some pity thing.”

“It
is
a pity thing. You’re taking pity on me because I’m made a total fuck-up of my accounts, and I need your help.”

Drew laughed. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I know, but it’s the truth. Hey, let’s get this section busted out, and we’ll go bug Tally until he gets dinner done and do the rest on another day. I want to hear about your date.”

Drew snorted. “The good news keeps rolling in tonight. My date sucked.”

 

“What? But you guys are so sweet together. And Mason’s such a good guy.”

Drew didn’t want to tell Lex everything, didn’t want to go off on how big of an asshole his friend had been, when Drew had been so hopeful. “It’s a mystery.” Drew shrugged. “I thought we liked each other too. C’mon. Let’s get this done. Enchiladas sound really damn good right about now.”
Lex smiled and handed Drew the first page of the report.

M
ASON
felt like the world’s biggest asshole. He’d meant to call Drew on Sunday and apologize for acting like a jerk. He’d been thinking of it all day too. He just couldn’t seem to work up the nerve to fix things. It all seemed to stem from that dumb run-in with Todd. Why that man couldn’t mind his own business, Mason would never be able to figure out. Then Drew had done one little thing that was actually really sweet but reminded him too much of Todd, and there he went. Insta-asshole. Of
course
Drew had reacted by being a jerk himself. Who wouldn’t? At least until those flowers.
Fuck. The flowers.
They still sat on his little bistro table in a glass, mocking him. He couldn’t bring himself to throw them away, not when he still really,
really
liked Drew. Not when the tulips, sweet and pretty but not the most ostentatious bouquet available, reminded him so much of Drew.

Mason wanted to see him again, if that made a damn bit of sense after the way he’d acted. But he did. He wanted to see if all that raging chemistry he’d felt between them was for real. He felt stupid calling Drew, though. Even worse, he was afraid that Drew would turn him down or not even answer his call. And that was the part that sucked. Mason hated the insecurity of dating almost as much as he loved the fun stomach flip of attraction. It was why he’d stayed with Todd as long as he’d had. At least one of the reasons. The few guys he’d dated since had been a disaster. No wonder, after Saturday night. That, of course, was the biggest disaster yet. And all because he took his anger and bad feelings out on Drew. He supposed it was partially because of how much Todd had disapproved of him, but he was constantly waiting for everyone else to do the same. He’d been so busy acting disapproving of Drew that there hadn’t been a chance for anything else to happen.

I should call him. If for no other reason than to apologize. Hi, Drew, I’m sorry I’m an asshole with a whole lotta past you don’t want to deal with. I’m sorry I made you act like an asshole too. It wasn’t your fault. He guessed that was one way to put it.

Mason unlocked his phone and made it all the way to having Drew’s name on the screen before he shut it off.
Nope. Not yet.

“
W
HAT
do you mean, the date sucked? You guys were hitting it off so well.”

“I know.” Drew picked at his enchilada, which really was awesome; he just wasn’t in the mood. “I mean, we were so great on the phone, talking, flirting, all that innuendo. Then in person, he was kinda weird at first, and after a little bit he totally shut down and turned into an asshole. I have no idea what I did wrong. It sucks.”

“Do you think you should call him and try again? I mean, I know he likes you. He told me like a million times how much he liked you. One bad date doesn’t mean the end of the world.”

Drew coughed out a sarcastic laugh. “Yeah? Sure felt like the end of the world when I dropped him off.”
Worse. It hurt. Really bad.
“Jesus, I wish I knew what I was doing with guys. Chicks are hard enough, but this might be worse.”

Lex smiled at Tally. “Yeah, I think it’s hard no matter what. Especially if you care. You really care about this one, don’t you?”

“I have no idea why, but yes. A lot. We barely know each other, but those nights on the phone were awesome. He’s so smart and funny.”
And mean, and bitchy, and snappy.
Drew still couldn’t reconcile the man he’d taken bowling with the sweet funny guy he’d been talking to. It just didn’t make any damn sense.

“Is there something you’re not telling us?”

Lex asked.
“Mason’s your friend, Lex. It feels really
weird doing this whole talk-about-the-boy thing
with friends of his.”
Lex shrugged. “We’re your friends too, D.
This is part of what happens when you know both
of the people in the relationship.”
“I’d hardly call it a relationship. A few phone
calls and one god-awful date.”
Lex rolled his eyes. “Flirtation then. We
know both people in the flirtation. Now will you
tell me what happened?”
“It was just….” Drew hesitated. He didn’t
know how to explain what had happened. “It was
like that sweet, awesome guy I’ve been talking to
on the phone stayed home, and he sent his bitchy,

defensive twin out on the date with me. Everything I did was wrong, even when I thought I was being nice. I just… I couldn’t do anything right. I mean, he went
off
because I went and brought us snacks. Like I should’ve consulted him before I got nachos and mozzarella sticks or something.”

Lex made a perplexed face. “You’re right. That doesn’t sound like Mason. Wonder what was up with him on Saturday? Do you want me to call him and talk to him about it?”

“No!” Drew nearly choked on the tortilla chip that he’d just loaded with sour cream and shoved in his mouth. “Please don’t, it would just be even more awkward and then….”

“You’re afraid you wouldn’t have another chance with him.”
“I’m pretty sure I don’t already. It was so awful, guys.”

“No. That wasn’t Mason, and he really likes you too.” Lex shook his head. “I don’t think this is over.”

“You’re not ready to give him up,” Tally added. “I can see it in your face. Call him when you get home. Even if he’s asleep or at work, leave a message.”

“I think I can do that… yeah. I can do that.” “Good.”
He couldn’t, though. He’d given the big brave

face to his friends when they saw right through him about how much he still cared for Mason, weird behavior or not. But he couldn’t call. And he sure as hell didn’t expect to hear from Mason either. Which was why when his cell rang at nearly ten, Drew was startled out of a half doze on the couch. He turned his TV off and nearly fell to the floor before he managed to answer his phone without accidentally hanging up on… he looked at the display. Mason.
Mason? Oh
. Drew’s reaction times weren’t the fastest when he was half asleep.

“Mason?” Oh, God. Groggy voice. I sound like a frog.
“Hey.” Mason sounded adorably unsure, and so much like the guy he’d been talking to that the other night was already nearly forgotten.
“Hi.” And we’re back to that stage. Damn.
“So, I wanted to apologize for the other night. I’m really not psychotic, I promise.”

Drew snorted on a laugh. “I know you’re not psychotic.” He paused. “I’m sorry too, by the way. I didn’t have to react.”

There was another long awkward pause. “This is really hard for me. I just didn’t want it to end like that, with you thinking I’m a total jerk.”

Drew’s stomach dropped. “End?” Sure, the other night didn’t go so well, or well at all, but he didn’t want it to be
over.
“We’re not going to….” He choked on the last part. Sounding like a desperate fool wasn’t Drew’s ideal situation either.

“Well, I don’t want it to end, but I figured after Saturday it would.”
“Can you at least tell me what happened?” Drew was almost afraid to know. Too much information would ruin his perfect fantasy of what life could be like with Mason. Of course, fantasy and life didn’t really go in the same sentence. If there was ever a chance of them starting something, reality was necessary. Even if it wasn’t something Drew wanted to hear.
“Oh,” Mason began, “I just had a really weird run-in with my ex on Saturday. I’d been all excited about our date and he waltzed in, put me in a bad mood and on the defensive, and everything kind of crumbled from there. I probably should’ve postponed, but I really wanted to see you.”

“I wanted to see you too. I still do. I mean, maybe if we just hang out and don’t make it so date-like, things will be fine?”