Page 117 of The Blame Game

Audra closed her eyes. “Please don’t tell me you used those words.”

“Gay for pay? No.” Shea snorted. “I’m not an idiot.”

Audra scoffed. “Debatable.”

He ignored her. “But he also came out to some of his team last weekend and I don’t know what to do with that information.”

“Shit, really? Mr. Privacy volunteered that? Without being forced to?”

“He didn’t go into the details, but yeah, I got that impression.”

“Huh.” She snapped the clutch closed. “Well, sounds like you two need to talk.”

“I worry that if I push, he’ll run.”

“He might,” she said. “And maybe that would be for the best.”

“Aud …”

“No, I get it, Shea. He’s handsome and charming when he wants to be and, believe me, I understand the appeal. But you know how these things end. There’s a reason why it’s frowned on for us to date clients. Because it leads to messy situations and heartbreak. You know this. We’ve both seen it happen.”

“Doesn’t it mean something that he told his teammates about his sexuality?”

“It might.”

“And what about the fact that he asked me to fuck him for the first time?”

“I’m not saying he doesn’t have feelings for you,” she said quietly. “That he doesn’t care. I’m sure he does.”

“But?”

“But that doesn’t mean he’s ready to be what you deserve.” She leaned forward, her expression unusually serious. “He’s picking me up in a few minutes to take me to his team event. Not you.”

Shea winced.

“So, think long and hard about what you want. Do you want to spend years waiting for him to be ready to come out? Do you want to keep having him pay you for your time together? There’s nothing wrong with either, but I don’t think it’s going to make you happy forever. How long are you willing to keep doing this? And be honest with yourself.”

Shea nodded, feeling a little sick. Audra wasn’t wrong. And at some point, he was going to have to face the truth.

“There you are. I was starting to think I’d been stood up,” Audra teased as she opened the door to the apartment.

“No. Sorry. Traffic was terrible.” Dom frowned, stepping inside and letting the door close behind him. “Hey, is Shea around?”

Audra shot him a look. “Look, I know that I don’t do it for you, but not even a, ‘hello, Audra, you look lovely. I appreciate you making all of this effort to get beautiful for the event I’m taking you to tonight’ or anything?”

Dom blinked, finally taking the time to look her over.

She was lovely and he was sure she had put in a lot of time getting ready. “I’m sorry,” he said sincerely. “You do look beautiful and I appreciate you being willing to go to this level of effort for me.”

She smirked. “That’s more like it. Now, if you want to see Shea before we head out, I think he’s still in the living room.”

Dom frowned. Huh. Odd that he hadn’t come to say hi.

He’d seemed off lately though. A little distant. And Dom supposed he had been too. It had been a strange week, filled with medical testing and the stress of not knowing what was going to happen to his career.

He’d needed time to think too. To try to figure out why it had bothered him to learn that Shea’s sexuality was murkier than he’d realized.

“I won’t be long,” he assured Audra.

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