Page 40 of Blown

Rafe glared at his dad. He hated it when his dad called him out for being unreasonable.

He ignored the line of questioning in favor of saying, “At least I had a chance to introduce myself to Hélène Rénard properly.” He stood straight again. “She’s actually quite nice. I invited her here to Hawthorne House and she accepted the invitation.”

“That’s wonderful,” his dad said, genuine happiness in his expression. “When is she coming? Janice will love this. She’s had a bit of a crush on Hélène Rénard since some conference they both attended in the seventies.”

Rafe groaned and rolled his eyes. The last thing he needed was for his mum to follow his idol around when she visited, probably drooling and asking all sorts of inappropriate questions, like whether she wanted to have a threesome with her and his dad.

“We haven’t made firm arrangements yet,” he said. “Could you tell Mum not to embarrass me when she’s here, please?”

His dad chuckled. “Of course. But you know I’ve never been able to tell Janice what to do.”

That was certainly the truth. Rafe’s mum did as she pleased and always had.

“Now,” his dad said as they continued down the hall to their respective flats. “Tell me why you’re really angry at Jake. Hint,it’s not because he manipulated you into helping him immigrate to the UK by promising something you probably, deep down, knew he couldn’t deliver on.”

Heat flushed through Rafe’s entire body as he neared his flat’s door. “I’m too tired for this Dad,” he sighed.

“Alright, then I’ll just cut to the end and tell you,” his dad replied with a smile. “You’re falling in love with Jake, and witnessing him being caught in a major lie has made you uncertain about the veracity of this relationship the two of you are building. Because even though he’s been open about his compulsive lying, you’re worried that the feelings you have for him are based on a lie as well when you want nothing more for them to be the truth. You’re not angry, you’re hurt and you’re scared of losing him.”

Rafe narrowed his eyes and just stared. Then he shook his head and turned to unlock his door. “Goodnight, Dad,” he said, not glancing back at his dad as he opened his door and retreated into his apartment.

As soon as he had the door shut behind him, he heaved out a breath and let his shoulders and arms hang. Dammit, his dad was right. He hated how vulnerable it made him, but he’d genuinely started to fall in love with Jake and trust him.

Jake was a liar, though, by his own admission. How did you love a man who had a serious problem with the truth?

He shook his head, tossed his keys onto the table by the door, and slumped his way back to his bedroom. He didn’t know what to do. From the start, he’d wanted to help Jake, but now he wasn’t even sure if he’d be able to help himself.

THIRTEEN

Jake hadthe horrible feeling of his stomach sinking so deeply that it turned into a lead weight anchoring him to the sidewalk. He watched Rafe march away, shoulders tight, steps clipped. It felt as if he were walking away on a much more profound level, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. He’d already done it. His stupid, desperate, uncontrollable actions were what had driven Rafe away.

He couldn’t move until a man who had clearly had too much to drink nearly plowed into him as he left the hotel.

“Wha’chit, mate,” the man slurred, sending Jake a nasty look as he lumbered on.

Jake shook his head, immediately ignoring the man. He’d screwed up royally, profoundly. He’d spent the majority of his life screwing up in one way or another, and for what? To get people to like him? To convince people he didn’t care about, most of whom he would never see again, that he was something more than what his godawful family always told him he was.

It needed to stop. Even before coming to England and seeking Rafe’s help, he’d known it had to stop. He’d let things spiral for too long and now he was dangling over the abyss of itbeing too late. He had to make things up to Rafe first, then figure out how he was going to set the rest of his life in order.

He started forward after Rafe, then thought better of it and headed across the road and back to Cupid’s Arrow. Rafe needed time to get over his initial, justified bout of fury. Going after him immediately would just prolong the fight instead of giving things a chance to simmer down. He’d let Rafe drive home on his own, then he’d approach him to try to sort everything out.

Cupid’s Arrow was as loud and effervescent as it had been half an hour ago, but instead of seeing it as a place teeming with life and possibility, Jake was annoyed by the noise and the immediate attention he gained as he pushed his way through the edge of the dancers in his attempt to find Nally. Someday, he’d have to come back here with Rafe just to have a good time, but now he just wanted to leave.

“Nally!” He had to shout over the thumping music to be heard when he found Nally in a sandwich between two older, buff men. He had his hands in the air and looked like he was having the time of his life as the two, grizzled guys rubbed all over him. Nally Hawthorne definitely had a type. “Nally!”

Nally stopped his shimmying and flirting to turn to Jake. His giddy, pink-cheeked smile dropped when he saw the seriousness on Jake’s face. “What happened?” he shouted back.

The bears he’d been dancing with closed ranks, shifting to half shield Nally protectively between them, ready to beat the competition off with a stick. One of them even slipped an arm around Nally’s waist and glared at Jake, as if to dare him to try to take Nally away.

Nally ate it up, of course. He leaned into the man who had his arm around him and gave the man seductive doe eyes before lifting to his toes to whisper in the man’s ear. The man nodded at whatever he’d said but kept his arm where it was and glared at Jake all the same.

“Where’s Rafe?” Nally shouted, his voice suddenly overly loud as one song ended, before the next began.

“We had a fight,” Jake said, also too loud. “He went home.” The next song started up, the temporary pause in jumping, writhing movement ended, and Jake had to shout to say, “I need you to take me home.”

“What?” Nally blurted, not so much because he couldn’t hear, but because he was incredulous.

Jake moved closer to him, which caused the two bears to puff out their chests and stare daggers at Jake. “I need you to take me home,” he repeated. “I have to make things right between us. I screwed up, and I need to fix it.”

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