“I fucking bet,” Rick said, eyeing him up and down. “Done much panhandling lately?”
“Rick!” I gasped. “Stop.”
He seemed not to have heard me and continued staring daggers at Nate, who looked like he couldn’t care less about any of this.
“Hey, bud?” Nate called out to Gael.
“Yeah?” Gael looked shocked to have been pulled into this.
“Do me a favor and grab my boots from the bathroom?”
“Sure,” he said, and nearly broke into a run, probably to escape the oppressive adult tension in the room.
“Rick,” Mom said warily, “I think this is all a misunderstanding. Nate is a nice boy. You need to calm down.”
Her words made me want to shrivel up and die. Why couldn’t she stay quiet? Rick glanced at her, looking somewhat hurt. She’d never called Rick a “nice boy.” He’d tried to get on her good side for months. Her comment would only inflame the situation more.
Thankfully, Gael returned quickly and handed Nate his boots.
“Are you leaving or not?” Rick said, taking another step closer to Nate.
Nate didn’t bother looking at Rick. Instead, he slipped on his boots, then went about neatly folding the towel and draping it on one of the chairs.
“Mrs. Torres, it’s been a pleasure.” He turned to Gael and bumped fists with him. “Remember what I said about that game, little man. Stay cool.”
“I will!” Gael said with an enthusiasm only an eleven-year-old could muster. He knocked his fist against Nate’s.
I could almost feel Rick vibrating with rage. I’d never seen him that mad. In fact, I didn’t know he could get this angry. It was completely out of character.
Of course, he’d never barged into my house to find a half-naked man. A reallyhot, half-naked man.
Nate, still shirtless, walked toward the door, his boots thumping on the floor as he went. He walked past Rick so close that, for a heart-stopping second, I thought one of them might throw a punch. Rick eyed him with unwavering hatred while Nate looked at Rick the way I imagined a scientist might look at some new discovery under a microscope. Like he wanted to dissect Rick and figure out what was going on beneath the surface.
Swallowing hard, I opened the door for Nate.
“Have a good night, Cameron,” he said, giving me a mischievous grin before stepping out. My cheeks flamed as our encounter in the bathroom replayed across my mind.
“Yeah,” I mumbled. “You too.”
A moment before the door shut, Nate gave me one last smoldering look before heading down the stairs. The door clicked shut, and a strange, overwhelming sense of loss filled me. Rick came up behind me, putting a hand on my lower back. Almost immediately, my headache returned. It had been gone the entire afternoon.
“Glad that douchebag’s gone,” Rick said.
I flinched away from his touch, and before I could tell him what I thought, Mom spoke.
“You weren’t very nice, you know,” Mom said disapprovingly from the kitchen. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave Rick a reproachful look.
Rick sighed heavily, then whispered, “How about I take you out for dinner, huh? We can talk about whatever this was in private?”
“Rick.” I rounded on him, no longer caring that Mom and Gael could hear. “I told you we’re done. What part of that did you not understand?”
“You broke up?” Mom gasped, and when I glanced at her, I saw her fighting off a smile.
Rick didn’t bother looking at my mother. Instead, he held his hands out, pleading. “Give me a chance, Cam. A couple hours to explain? Try to get you to see my side or something?”
The last thing I wanted was to do that. All I really wanted was to go lie down. But I had broken up with him over the phone. The adult thing to do was to let him have his say in person, though I wasn’t looking forward to it. I wasn’t going to change my mind about our relationship, but I thought it would be good to end this the proper way.
Plus, the way Mom and Gael were glaring at Rick told me it might be better to separate everyone.
