Louis huffed.
“Tonight sucked anyway. All you could think about was stalking your ex and his new boyfriend.”
“Okay, see you,” Andrew said absently, so intent on watching the parking lot the other man’s words barely registered. He’d watched Tom drive away and Darwin was getting into his own truck now. Darwin.
Andrew snorted. That was a made-up name if he’d ever heard one.
“Fuck you, asshole!” Louis shoved open the door and stormed out. Andrew shrugged. Louis had been on the bottom of his B-list anyway, only called during a moment of dateless desperation.
Tom, on the other hand…
Tom was special. Andy had just known after all the drama and cheating and other bullshit, he and Tom would end up together.
Andrew wasn’t about to lose him to some sketchy meathead with a stupid name like Darwin.
Once the taillights of Darwin’s truck had disappeared, Andrew glanced around. No one seemed to be paying any attention to him so he reached out a gloved hand and plucked the cup out of the trash, holding it carefully by the edges of the plastic lid.
As he shouldered the door open, Andy used his teeth to yank the glove off his free hand. He pulled his phone from his pocket and scrolled through the contacts, giving a small smile when he found Sheffield’s name.
Andy wasn’t sure he’d even kept the guy’s number—why would he need to call the king of the nerds?
“Hello? Andy?”
His smile grew at the eagerness in Sheffield’s voice. “Yeah.”
“Hi. What’s up? It’s been a while.”
“Way too long,” Andy said. Not nearly long enough. “Hey, do you still do that CSI shit at that lab?”
“You mean latent print analysis at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension? Sure, I’m still doing that.”
Andy’s eyes rolled but he tried to keep the irritation out of his voice. “Awesome.
You want to get together?”
“What? Now?” Sheffield’s voice went up a half-octave. “I mean, sure, that’d be…uh, fun.”
Andrew sighed. The things—and the nerdy guys—he did for love.
Chapter Seven
Surely it had been long enough now.
Darwin paced his loft bedroom, gripping the rail as he stared sightlessly down into his living room. It had been almost two hours since he’d watched Tom drive away, wanting more than anything to climb into that truck cab with him. He’d waited long enough to call. After all, he didn’t want to put it off too long and end up waking the man out of a deep sleep.
Having talked himself into it, Darwin called Tom’s number, silly excitement fizzing in his belly as he listened to it ring on the other end.
“Hi.”
Darwin smiled, a slow, satisfied grin.
Though he almost missed the tongue-tied silence Tom usually used to answer his calls, this shy but eager greeting more than made up for it. “Tom Cooper. Did I wake you up?”
“No. I was hoping…ah…” Tom trailed off and then started again. “I thought you might call. Tonight, I mean.”
“You’re addictive,” Darwin said, not caring that he sounded like the cheesiest lovesick dumbass in the world. “Don’t think I could sleep without talking to you.”
“Good,” Tom said and then paused. “Did that just sound totally selfish?”
Darwin grinned. “Completely.”
There was a heavy sigh on the other end of the phone. “I’m sorry. I—”
“Cooper.”
After a short silence, Tom sighed again, although it sounded more exasperated this time. “You’re fucking with me again, aren’t you?”
“Little bit.”
The other man’s reluctant laugh made Darwin smile. “Better watch it,” Tom warned. “I’ll hang up and leave you sleepless.”
“I’ll be good,” Darwin promised, rolling his eyes at the way his voice went thick as he said the suggestive words. Tom was going to think he was a sex freak or something. The problem was that, with Tom around, he couldn’t stop thinking about things like nakedness and kissing and sex.
“Not too good, I hope.” Although Tom sounded more wary cat than
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