“As if I wouldn’t. Elliot, I’m hurt.” She was joking. He saw it in how she grinned at him. “Look, all I want to do is see the people I care about live amazing lives.” She put an arm around him. “You deserve to be happy.”
He let himself be drawn once again into an embrace, and when it was over, she tilted her head and paused to examine him.
“So what brought this sudden change on?” she asked.
Elliot shrugged. “A conversation with somebody this weekend.”
“Uh huh.” She took this in with a nod. He wasn’t sure if she could tell he was thinking about Theo.
Then he squinted. “So how much did you pay Theo to sleep with me?”
Brianna straightened, but she took the sudden change of subject in stride. “I offered $5,000.”
“Wow,” he said with a scoff. “High class stuff.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. She shot a glance back at Elliot. “He didn’t take the money.”
Elliot’s eyes widened. “What do you mean?”
“He felt bad, and when I tried to give him the money, he turned it down.”
That didn’t mesh with what Theo had told him the morning he found out about this whole ridiculous arrangement. “I thought he needed that money for his new place,” he said.
“He did,” Brianna said.
Elliot sat back and rubbed his chin. He was unable to explain the sudden rise of panic bubbling up from his stomach. “What’s he going to do now?”
Brianna looked at Elliot, and she squinted. A gleam in her eye. Then she took in a breath and blew it out. “He said he’s going to do what his dad wants.”
“What?” He shook his head. “No. Doesn’t his dad want him to join the military?”
Brianna snapped her shrewd gaze back to Elliot. “Seems that way.”
Elliot shook his head. He remembered the conversation they’d had about it, the look on Theo’s face when he mentioned that idea as a possibility. Elliot stood up. “Are you going to stop him?”
Brianna held her hands up. “What am I supposed to do? He’s made up his mind.”
Elliot crossed and uncrossed his arms, and then he fixed Brianna with another concerned stare. “Well, somebody should talk to him.”
“Don’t you think I tried?” Brianna said. She checked her watch. “He’s probably moving his stuff out right now.”
“What’s his address?” Elliot asked.
“What?”
“Just tell me his address. I’m going to talk to him.”
She pulled out her phone and flipped through it. “You better hurry,” she said as she thumbed over her screen.
“I know,” Elliot said. He was already picking up his bag and closing the lid on his laptop. “That’s why I’m going now.”
Brianna wore a confident smile on her face as she gave Elliot the address. “So what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” Elliot said. “I’ll figure it out when I get there. I’m going to stop him.” He started out of his cubicle, but then he stopped. “Oh, um. I’m going to need the rest of the day off. That cool with you, boss lady?”
Brianna laughed. “Go. Hurry.”
Elliot turned and ran for the doors of the dungeon.
Chapter Seventeen
Theo
Theo was putting boxes into his car, stuffing them into the back seat. The trunk was full already, and he had as much in the backseat as would fit. The only space left was in the front seat of his car, and he still had two more boxes that he was somehow supposed shove in there. He had a lot of crap to stuff in a small car. It was a two-load job. Two trips to Brianna’s place to drop boxes off was probably the smart thing to do, but he didn’t want to prolong this any longer than it had already taken. He was determined to make it work.
The day had warmed. The sun was high in the sky, and sweat poured down his face. It was going on two in the afternoon, and Theo had taken off his shirt to hang in the waistband of his jeans as he walked back in through the propped-open back door to their brownstone. He couldn’t park closer. There were too many cars there already, so he’d had to lift and carry those heavy boxes half a block from the door. At least this meant he didn’t have to hit the gym later.
When he reached the third-floor landing of the building, he thought he heard something coming from inside the apartment. He’d left the door open, which was stupid, he knew in retrospect. It was Chicago, and an open door was an open invitation for practically anybody to just walk in. Part of him let it go, though, with the thought that the majority of his stuff was already squeezed into every square inch of space in his car, so if people wanted to steal stuff, they’d be stealing Reid’s and not his. Still, he should probably go in there and stop them.
In the doorway to the apartment, he stopped when he saw the back of some guy standing in the middle of their living room.
A back of a guy that looked familiar.
“Uh, excuse me. Can I help you?” Theo said. His blood quickened in his veins and roared in his ears.
The guy turned around and caused his heart to leap.
Elliot.
Until he reminded himself how they left one another over the weekend. “Um, hello,” Theo said. “What are you—”
“Shut up,” Elliot said. He dropped the bag slung over his shoulder onto the floor.
Theo sighed. “If you’re here to yell at me, I already talked to Brianna—”
Elliot interrupted him again. He moved forward in two wide steps, and he smashed his lips against Theo’s, both of Elliot’s hands on the side of his face. Theo only accepted the kiss. He wanted to accept it. He sank into it and moved his arms around Elliot’s waist.
God, did he want this kiss.
“You stupid man,” Elliot said after they finished and he stood close to Theo, his hands still on his face.
“No argument there,” Theo said, catching his breath.
Elliot laughed. “You’re not joining the Navy,” he said.
Theo took a step back. He was close to the wall, and he leaned with his back against it. “You talked to Brianna,” he said.
“Of course I did.” Elliot moved with Theo and still stood close enough that their legs were touching. “You should have taken the money.”
Theo shook his head. “It’s not that simple,” he said.
“Yes, it is.”
“No, it’s not.” Theo looked directly into Elliot’s generous brown eyes. “It’s ridiculous, I know, but I don’t want to cheapen that night.”
Elliot smiled. “Five-thousand dollars isn’t that cheap. I think I’m a little proud of that in some weird way.”
Theo’s turn to smile. “What?”
“A night with me to show me a good time was worth $5,000.”
The smile fell a little from Theo’s face. “It was a good time,” he said. “That’s why I didn’t take the money. I feel bad about even having that kind of arrangement.”
“You’re not a bad person, Theo.”
“And you’re worth more than some measly $5,000,” Theo said.
Elliot tilted his head. “I think that’s the most flattering thing anyone has said to me.”
Theo said nothing in return. He simply watched Elliot. There was a fluttering in his chest, a feeling that he hadn’t had for a year and a half now, and it took him by surprise. He enjoyed seeing Elliot’s face. It was a pleasing face, a gorgeous face that he was glad he now was gifted the time to see it by the light of day. His was a face he wanted to memorize, to know.
“You’re not joining the Navy,” Elliot said again.
“Why?” Theo asked.
“Look, we might not work out. We might hate each other in six months. I don’t know. A year from now, we could look back at this moment and think God, if only we’d known then…” Elliot shook his head. “I don’t care. We can find out. This is probably stupid and way too fast, but I don’t care. I don’t know how these things work. I’m totally new at all of this.”
Theo leaned
closer to Elliot. He put his hands on his shoulders. “What are you trying to say?”
“I’m saying that you can just stay with me.” Elliot met Theo’s gaze with an expression of certainty. Of finality. There would be no argument.
Theo didn’t want to argue. He wanted to breathe this man in, to lay him down, to pick his bones clean. He wouldn’t turn away from him, and he didn’t want to ruin the moment by saying something dumb. His mouth probably wouldn’t work right anyway.
“Maybe it’s stupid,” Elliot continued. “I’m probably stupid and inexperienced for even letting myself say this—this is my first time ever having something like this to say to a guy like you, to any guy—” Elliot swallowed. “But I feel something for you.”
“You’re not stupid,” Theo said. It came out in a husky whisper. He moved even closer to Elliot’s face, close enough to kiss him. There was no denying it. It had been there since their one night together. It was too soon, he told himself. This couldn’t be love. Love didn’t happen that quickly, did it? But Lord if whatever it was he felt right then didn’t make him dizzy. “I feel it too,” he said.
Then they kissed, and they ended embraced in each other’s arms.
“Okay, Roomie,” Elliot said. He was grinning. His breath lit upon Theo’s cheek.
“Okay, Roomie,” Theo repeated. His lips brushed Elliot’s, and they kissed yet again. “Should we talk about rent?”
Elliot’s grin widened. “I got a few ideas about how you could pay rent,” he said.
“So rent is worth $5,000, then?” Theo grinned.
“If that’s only one night, maybe ten. Twenty.” Elliot put his hands on Theo’s naked chest. “And I may need a security deposit.” Elliot surprised Theo by reaching down and grabbing his crotch, and Theo laughed.
Theo kissed him again. “First and last month’s rent?”
“You bet. And an application processing fee.”
Theo laughed. “I owe you a lot already, it seems.”
“We better start working off that debt then.” Elliot pushed up against Theo, and they kissed yet again, this time long and deep until both of them had to stop for a breath. There was no more negotiation after that.
The deal was sealed.
But Theo paused. “So, Brianna didn’t tell you everything, did she?”
Elliot’s brow crossed. “What do you mean?”
Theo laughed. “She was going to let me move in with her.”
For a long moment, Elliot stared at Theo. Then he shook his head with a grin. “She neglected to disclose that piece of information.”
“I think we’re being manipulated,” Theo said.
Elliot smiled as he pressed his lips to Theo’s. “This time, I don’t care.” He put his arms around Theo’s neck, and they kissed again.
And they kissed a lot.
“What the fuck is going on?” The voice interrupted them, and Theo turned to find Reid in the doorway of the apartment, his roller bag standing on the landing behind him.
Theo turned back to Elliot, and he burst out laughing. After a moment, Elliot joined in the laughter.
Reid wasn’t laughing.
“Elliot, this is Reid. Who wasn’t supposed to be back until Wednesday,” Theo said.
Elliot glanced to Theo. “He’s the asshole?”
“The one and only,” Theo said. He grabbed one of the remaining two boxes that held his stuff. “We were just leaving,” Theo said to Reid.
Elliot gathered his bag and flung it over his shoulder. Then he lifted the last of Theo’s boxes. He struggled a bit with it in his arms, but he recovered. “Yeah,” Elliot said to Reid. “We had to work out the living arrangements.”
“Sorry about the mess,” Theo said as he passed Reid still in the doorway of the apartment. Not sorry. “Larry can help you clean it up, I’m sure.”
Theo turned to wait for Elliot out on the landing. As he passed Reid, Reid lifted his chin. “You know he’s a stripper, right?” Reid said to Elliot.
Elliot lifted his own chin. “Well, I hear you’re a lawyer, so...” He shrugged. Then he turned and grinned at Theo as they both left Reid behind, still standing in the doorway.
Epilogue
Elliot
Elliot found Theo in the bathroom—their bathroom now in what used to be Elliot’s apartment. It was a shared bathroom, a shared apartment going on three months now—each day the giddy beginnings of a shared life. Even after that amount of time, seeing Theo in this space still filled him with excitement that skipped his heartbeat and caught his breath.
Theo had a towel around his waist and his skin wet and flushed pink from the shower that still fogged the edges of the mirror. He stood, brushing his teeth and flexing an arm like he admired himself and the bulge of his bicep, turning his arm to see how his triceps flexed. Then he turned to the side and bent his body enough to define each abdominal muscle and the strong ripple of the oblique muscles along his ribcage. When he found Elliot watching him, his face turned red, and he grinned bashfully with a sudsy toothpaste mouth. “You little spy,” Theo said, his mouth still wrapped around the toothbrush so that it came out mumbled.
“Admirer,” Elliot said. “Spy is such an ugly word.” Elliot wore a shirt and tie. He had already showered. His suit jacket lay on the still-messed bed.
When Theo bent over to spit in the sink, Elliot moved in behind him, and he gripped the edge of the towel to pull it off. Theo rose to standing again, and he leaned back into Elliot’s arms as Elliot reached around, grinning into the mirror, and touched Theo’s cock.
“What’s this an example of?” Elliot whispered in Theo’s ear.
“A boyfriend who wants to get pounced on and have his hair messed up before his big presentation,” Theo said.
“No, I mean what I’m doing.” He gave Theo’s cock gentle strokes until it grew firm in his hand.
Theo sighed, and his hands reached back behind him to Elliot’s sides. “Trying to make me late for class,” Theo said. His breath was heavy.
Elliot kissed Theo’s neck. “In terms of Newton’s third law,” he said.
“Force pairs,” Theo huffed. His hands pulled Elliot’s shirt from his waistband, and Elliot flinched and giggled when he touched the skin underneath. Theo continued, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
“What else?” Elliot nibbled at the skin of Theo’s shoulder. “This is also an example of…”
“Contact force. Tensional force. Frictional force.” Each concept uttered in between gulped breaths. When Theo tried to turn around, Elliot stopped him. “Push and pull interaction,” Theo said. His eyes closed, and his head lay back almost on Elliot’s shoulder.
Elliot’s free hand explored Theo’s stomach, graced over his chest and his hard nipples. He kept at it until Theo finished and spilled his load into the sink, standing up on his tiptoes and gasping for air.
“Fuck,” Theo said when he could speak again, and his weight fell back into the support of Elliot’s body still behind him. “Physics is hot!”
“I think you’re ready for your test,” Elliot said. He gave Theo’s naked ass a squeeze.
“I had a tutor with innovative teaching skills,” Theo said. Now Elliot allowed him to turn around to face him, and Elliot turned his face up to meet Theo’s lips for a long kiss. When they finished, Theo turned his attention down. “You look good,” he said.
“Wrinkled,” Elliot said.
“Whose fault was that?”
“Worth it.” Elliot tucked his shirt back in, and reluctantly pulled himself out of Theo’s grasp when he took note of the clock hanging on the bathroom wall. “But I gotta go. I only have an hour.”
Theo grabbed Elliot’s hand. “You’re not nervous?”
Elliot turned back with a smile. “Of course, I’m nervous.”
“You want to take a plastic baggie or two in case you puke?” Theo’s grin was big enough to show his teeth.
“Really?” Elliot laughed. “You went there?”
/>
“There’s history there, you know,” Theo said. “I just don’t want you to walk in—”
“Stop it,” Elliot said.
“—and spew all over Brianna and those game execs from San Jose.”
Elliot reached forward and tried to grab a pinch of skin at Theo’s side, and Theo flinched back. They were both laughing. But Theo caught Elliot’s hand, and he pulled him close once again.
“I’m just looking out for you, babe,” Theo said. Elliot let himself be pulled into the embrace. “But seriously,” Theo continued. “You’re going to make them jealous.”
“Of what?”
“Of your talent. You got this.”
Elliot sighed. “God, I hope so. I’ve been prepping for this for too long for it to fall apart now.”
“It’s not going to fall apart.”
“I just don’t want to let Brianna down,” Elliot said. He sunk further in to Theo’s arms, and Theo rubbed a hand up and down his back.
“Please. She loves it as much as I do. Really. It’s a good show of your talents.”
Elliot pulled away enough to look up at Theo. “She bought a fucking game company,” Elliot said. “All because of me.”
“She bought it because she thinks it’ll be a money maker. And her father agreed.”
“But I’m the one who got her looking into it in the first place,” Elliot said. “What if she hates it and thinks it was all a big mistake?”
“She’s not going to. I mean, a horror real-time strategy game? Come on. That’s a freaking awesome concept. People will beat down the front doors of gaming stores for the chance to play zombies killing humans.”
“I worry it’ll come off too corny.” Elliot tried to lay his head against Theo’s chest, but Theo pulled away. He put his hands on either side of Elliot’s face so that he was forced to look into Theo’s gorgeous blue eyes. Elliot could feel Theo’s gaze reaching down deep inside him and touching something that very few people in his life could ever reach.
“It’s not corny! Are you hearing me? It’s fantastic. You’re fantastic,” Theo said. He kissed Elliot on the forehead. “And you’re going to come back here tonight with an amazing story to tell me about your stunning presentation and how many millions of dollars they want to throw at you to make it.”
You May Have Met Him Page 16
