“You’re an asshole,” I finally said to Jay.
“But I’m an honest one.” He rested an arm on the back of his chair “You ready to tell me about the guy, or do I have to beg?”
“With a face like yours, you’ve never had to beg for a thing in your life,” I said. “You wouldn’t know how.”
“Want me to get on my knees and show you?” A challenge rang in his words. The gleam in his eyes said the same.
That’s when I truly understood the effect Cason had on me. It normally wouldn’t take much for me to give in to Jay. Yet, something held me back from asking him to come back to my house and fuck my brains out.
“Okay.” I downed the last of my beer before banging the bottle on the table and narrowing my eyes at the annoyingly handsome devil. “There’s a man I like who likes me too.”
“What’s the problem, then?”
The words halted on my tongue. Jay was an extremely sexual being, but I doubtedhecould even understand me lusting after a damn eighteen-year-old.
“It’s complicated,” I said again.
“He married?” Jay smiled at a man who passed our table before moving that smirk to me. “You were married, too, the first time we fucked.”
“I was getting a divorce,” I said, a bit defensively. “I’m not a cheater.”
“I know, Cross, I know.” Jay laughed and took a swig before frowning at the empty bottle. “If he’s not married, then what’s the problem? He closeted?”
“Something like that.”
“And you’re not gonna tell me what thatsomethingis?”
“You’re an attorney,” I said, taking the cigar from his hand and inhaling before handing it back to him. He watched me as I blew the smoke toward him. “You figure it out.”
The band returned to the stage after a short break, and the saxophone wailed a bluesy melody. I watched the performers as my mind drifted again to Cason. He had such a bright future ahead of him. He didn’t need me swooping in and complicating his life.
“Some people don’t like jazz,” Jay said, drawing my attention. “They say it’s because jazz doesn’t have a set rhythm, that it’s mainly a bunch of random transitions and notes chasing each other. But that’s why I like it. I like to be surprised. Predictable is boring.”
“Is that why you haven’t settled down?” I asked, catching a table of women ogling him. After a few drinks, I was sure one of them would get brave enough to come over and talk to him.
Jay returned my smile, though there was a layer of something darker behind it. “Why settle when the world is my plaything? I’ll be a bachelor for life. I can’t be tamed, though you came close.”
“Me?”
“You think I keep regularly seeing guys I’ve fucked?” Jay shook his head. “Only you.”
“What makes me so special?” I asked, sensing he was just screwing around. Jay was a sweet-talker, and it was hard to take anything he said seriously.
Jay watched me, his expression unreadable. Annoying how he could read me so well, but he remained a mystery to me. Then, he was back to his charismatic self. As if he’d put on a mask before returning to the stage. “It’s your pretty blue eyes. What can I say, I’m a sucker for them.”
“And here I thought you liked me for my ass.”
“That too,” he said, winking. He leaned forward, a calculating look in his eyes. “And as for that challenge you gave me… consider it accepted.”
“Challenge?”
“The complicated man in your life,” Jay responded. “You told me to figure it out, and I will.”
“Just drop it, Foley.”
My harsh tone seemed to cut through his bigheadedness. I liked Jay, and it was great that we were building a solid friendship, but I didn’t appreciate him sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.
“Consider it dropped,” he said, nodding. “I was just trying to help, but things don’t always come out the way I want them to.”
