Miss Su jumped up on the bed and settled herself against Wills’s side, her purr the only sound in the room.
The door was opened a crack; it must not have caught when I’d shut it. Well, I’d leave it like that in case she needed to use the litter pan. I got in bed beside my lover, an arm over him keeping him close to me.
“I love you, Wills.” The words came out without me even thinking about it. Maybe that had been the problem all along, I’d been thinking about it too hard.
“Glad.” Wills sighed happily, but before he could say anything else, he was sound asleep.
I brushed a kiss against the corner of his mouth, and before too long, I was asleep as well.
Wills was still sleeping when I woke. By the amount of sunlight coming through the curtains, I judged it must be about the same time as when I’d arrived the day before.
He needed the sleep, and I had no intention of waking him just yet. I eased out of bed and retrieved my cell phone. Both Tim and Cris were probably down in the Pub, and I knew I’d have the privacy I needed to make this call.
I went into the kitchen and turned it on, relieved the battery had enough power since I’d forgotten to pack my charger, pressed two on speed dial—Wills was one—and waited.
“Vincent. What’s up, Theo?”
“Wills won’t be in tomorrow.”
“He won’t?”
“No. I don’t want him driving when he’s this exhausted.”
“Aren’t you the concerned mother hen.”
I scowled at the phone. “Damn straight I’m concerned, Vince. He spent all night driving down here…”
“Driving down where?”
“Oh.” I’d forgotten he wouldn’t know. “I’m in Savannah.”
“Want to tell me what you’re doing there?”
“It’s a long story—”
“Hey, I’m not going anywhere.” He was in an awfully good mood.
“Did you just get laid?” I could almost picture him lying on a bed, his hands stacked behind his head and a satisfied grin on his face.
There was silence for a long moment, and then he started laughing. “As a matter of fact, I did.”
“A little afternoon delight? I’m so happy for you, Vince. Surprised, but happy.”
“Yeah, well, there are more things to life than the job. And if you tell Matheson I said that—”
“I know, I know. Don’t worry about it. Your secret is safe with me.”
“So what are the two of you doing in Savannah? I assume Matheson is with you?”
“Yes. He came after me.”
“‘Came after you’? Oh, this is gonna be good. Start talking.”
“Well, after you called the other day to tell me Wills was coming home…” It took longer than I’d thought to tell him the whole story. He kept interrupting, asking questions about things that hadn’t seemed pertinent at the time, but now that I stopped to think about them…”Geez, I really was an asshole about this whole thing, wasn’t I?” I sighed.
“That’s beside the point. I don’t need my boy in a state like this because he has to worry about you.” Even back when he’d first moved into the attic apartment, I’d never heard his voice so cold, and I shivered.
Was he going to tell me Wills had to choose between his job and me?
“Tell him he has tomorrow off. No, wait a second, tomorrow is Friday, and I need him to…Ah, what the fuck. I’ll delegate. Tell him he has the whole weekend off. I’ll have his secretary reschedule any meetings that are on his calendar.”
“Vince?”
“I’ve gotta go, Theo. Some of us do have…things to do, y’know.” I thought I heard someone in the background, but then Vince said, “Take it easy,” and disconnected the call before I could say another word.
I closed my phone and set it beside me on the table. What would Wills do if Vincent told him he had to give me up? He said he loved me, but he loved his job, and I’d more or less resigned myself to the fact that there were times when it would come first, but…would this mean I wasn’t even in the running?
“Sweets, what are you doing sitting around in your skivvies in the kitchen?” Tim stood there looking amused.
“I had to make a phone call, and I didn’t want to wake Wills.” I turned to face him, and his expression became stone cold.
“What happened? Did that bastard hurt you again? I took it easy on him earlier, but I’ll tear him a new one now.”
“What are you talking about?” It hadn’t looked that way from where I’d sat on the floor, but I wasn’t going to bring that up.
He touched my cheek, showed me his fingertips. They were wet.
I dropped my head in my hands. “Geez. I haven’t cried this much…”
“Why are you crying, Theo?” Wills stood in the doorway. His hair was every which way, there were crease marks from the pillow on his cheek, one black sock was up around his calf while the other sagged around this ankle, and he should have looked ridiculous. He didn’t.