Page 50 of Rock Bottom

Leo lifted his dark brown eyes to mine and said in a serious tone, “For the last time, Xavier and me are just friends. We hang out. That’s it.”

“You don’t think it’s strange to hang out with your boss’s brother-in-law? One who’s identical to Xion right down to his DNA?” I put air quotes around the words “hang out”.

To me, hanging out meant playing sports together or running errands, maybe doing a job together. It wasn’t going to dinner and a movie every week and playing Call of Duty together every other night. Leo spent more time with Xavier than some of us, and we worked together.

“We are not dating!” Leo insisted. “Why is it you all think we can’t just be platonic friends who spend a lot of time together? Why do we have to be having sex?”

“I didn’t say anything about having sex. You said that. But it’s probably a good thing you aren’t. It’d be like shagging your boss’s husband. They have the same DNA.”

He reached under his glasses to rub his eyes. “You’re twisting this. They’re still different people. They don’t even look that much alike. Xion’s a shit stirring dog. Xavier is…” He sighed and stared dreamily up at the ceiling. “He’s smart, confident…elegante.”

Elegant wasn’t the word I’d choose, but then I wasn’t hopelessly in love with him, either.

I patted Leo on the shoulder, accidentally jostling his glasses on his face. “Enjoy your movie. Don’t forget to turn your phone off so Bowie doesn’t interrupt. He’ll call at the worst time.”

“Thanks.” He flushed slightly and adjusted his glasses before clearing his throat. “Anyway, the motion detectors are hooked up. If anything bigger than a racoon moves in front of them, the floodlights will kick on. I’ve sent the access codes for the CCTV stream to your secure email, but we’ll be monitoring them off site as well. Just in case, we should change the locks too. I’ve informed the owner of the cabin, but that’s up to him. In the meantime…”

“I’ll keep a closer eye on Dante,” I said, nodding.

“Shouldn’t be too hard considering he’s in your bed,” he said and gave me a knowing smirk. “I’ll check back in tomorrow.”

Once Leo left, I put the kettle back on and made some strawberry jam sandwiches, cutting the crust off. I was just getting everything onto a tray to take into Dante when my bedroom door opened the rest of the way and he came shuffling out, cradling his phone in his hands.

“How did it go?” I asked.

Dante stopped next to me and stood up on his tiptoes to plant a quick kiss on my lips. “Thank you. That was exactly what I needed.” He pressed the phone into my palm.

Fire burned in my cheeks and trickled into my chest. “I…You’re welcome. Are you feeling better?”

“Not as nauseous, but still kind of tired. I really want to take a shower. Am I too late to ask you to hold off on the tea so we can have it together?”

I smiled and moved the kettle off the burner. “It’s never too late. Don’t forget your change of clothes this time.”

Dante’s laugh was good to hear.

Nina finished cleaning while Dante showered. She apologized profusely for missing so many days, but I told her it was all right and sent her on her way with an extra hundred dollars for her trouble. It was the least I could do since she’d cleaned up after the both of us.

Once she’d gone, I went into the living room area to rearrange a few things. Dante complained about being bored. Maybe if I gave him something to do, he’d be less inclined to indulge the demons in his head. While the cabin didn’t have Wi-Fi, I had plenty of data on my phone, enough that I could easily connect my laptop to it and stream a movie. It wouldn’t be the best quality, but it was better than nothing. I’d have to thank Leo for giving me the idea indirectly when he mentioned his date with Xavier.

As soon as I heard the shower shut off, I started the kettle again. He came out of the bathroom right as I set the tray on the old rustic coffee table next to my laptop.

“What’s all this?” he asked, still running his towel through his hair. He’d put on a white T-shirt and a pair of black pajama pants.

“You said you wanted to have tea together, and I thought…” I trailed off, realizing what a stupid idea it probably was. After everything Dante had been through in the last twenty-four hours, maybe he just wanted to talk. What if he needed a friend more than…whatever I was trying to be?

Dante pointed at the laptop. “Is that Goldfinger? I love that movie!” He grinned and hopped over the back of the couch, bouncing on the cushion.

I frowned and looked at the screen. I hadn’t even realized I’d left the last thing I’d been watching queued up. “I wasn’t sure you’d be a Bond fan. We can watch something else if you’d rather.”

“No way, man. Connery is the best Bond. My mom had a big thing for him back in the day.” He grabbed a sandwich before sitting back. “Restart it from the beginning. The opening on this one is killer.”

“I would’ve said shocking.”

He grinned up at me and patted the cushion next to him. “He’s clever, sexy, can cook, and he has good taste in movies? Have I died and gone to Heaven?”

“Thankfully, not yet.” I moved the cursor back to the beginning and sat on the sofa.

Dante immediately scooted closer. By the end of the first half hour, he was resting his head on my shoulder and I’d forgotten all about my tea, letting it get cold. My heart was pounding so hard in my chest that I could barely pay attention to the movie.

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