Page 61 of Boy Issues

“You can’t quit!”

Donovan blinked several times. Jesus. That was fast. His gaze traveled down to the cell phone Lawrence clutched in his hand.

Donovan smirked. “Yes. I can. Now go fuck a socialite, I’ve got more important things to do.” Donovan arched his eyebrows. “Ooh, I know. Why don’t you give Charlotte a try? I hear she’s back on the market.”

Lawrence dug his fingers into Donovan’s shoulder. “You fucking asshole, I won’t have you ruining everything for me!”

Donovan shook him off. “Why? Because you’ll have to do something that resembles work, instead of me handling everything?”

“What’s your problem, huh? Is it really worth giving all this up over some dirty Mexican?”

Donovan’s fist connected with Lawrence’s nose before he’d had the chance to register the move. Lawrence cried out, his hands flying to his face as he tumbled backwards then hit the floor. Claire, the receptionist, shot to her feet and employees poured from their offices to witness the showdown Donovan was sure they’d been anticipating for years.

Donovan leaned over his whimpering brother and made one final finger jab before he walked out of Fonterra and Associates forever.

“Don’t you ever speak that way about the man I love again.”

With a satisfied sigh, Donovan straightened and headed for the stairwell. He had plenty of steam to burn off—at least twenty floors worth. He laughed, certain the entire firm thought he’d lost his mind. After giving the door a hearty shove, he pushed his way through and took the first step away from his old life and into the new.

* * * *

“Oh! That was cold blooded, chica!”

Silver laughed at Nico’s pain. Erika slayed him at Grand Theft Auto every time. He took a slug of his beer, kicking back on his ratty side chair while they battled it out on the sofa. As he’d lain wide-awake in bed the night before, he’d mentally added the junky piece of furniture to the list of things he was getting rid of when he moved.

Typically, he didn’t drink early in the day, and he never went beyond a pleasant buzz, but Monday morning had hit him like a hurricane.

His world was no longer right. Sure, the situation with Mr. Jenkins sucked, had reduced all his careful plans to shambles. But adding whatever it was going on with Donovan had turned something he’d normally shake off in a day or two, into a situation that seemed overwhelming.

Donovan was slipping away from him.

He’d always known there was a good chance it was too late for Donovan to truly change, that he’d lived a privileged and closeted existence for too long to risk it all for love. So, he couldn’t bring himself to be angry with Donovan. Silver had been the one who’d taken the risk, he’d had his eyes wide open.

But why the hell had he let himself fall in love with the guy?

Silver chugged the rest of his beer. He didn’t plan on going anywhere for the rest of the day, so he wouldn’t be driving. If Erika and Nico decided to hang around, that was cool. They could either hit up the taco truck or order some pizza later.

“Hey guys. I’m gonna grab another beer. Want one?”

They both kept their eyes trained on the TV, the Xbox controllers held in firm grips as the chase raged on in the game.

“I’m good.” Nico did a pit maneuver and sent a cop car flying into a group of bystanders.

“Me too.” Erika cut Nico off and his car flipped.

“Dammit! Why you gotta do me like that?”

They both started yelling at each other in Spanish and Silver wondered if he should just kick it downstairs while they played. He could always start packing up shit he wouldn’t be needing over the next couple weeks. And anyway, he wasn’t in the mood to carjack innocent virtual citizens.

Silver jogged down the stairs where the first thing he was met with was the dismantled Morgan. He groaned as he moved past the mess to get to his mini fridge. What he should’ve been doing was working on that nightmare. But when Nico and Erika had stopped by, he’d used his buddies as an excuse to take one more day off before he faced reality again.

The buzzer to the side door rang and Silver stopped in mid-stride. Dammit. He hoped to God Carl wasn’t showing up to either talk him into staying or telling him to get the fuck out. The vato was wildly unpredictable, even on his best days.

The buzzer rang again with more insistence, whoever was on the other side of the door smashing the button over and over.

“Jesus! All right, I’m coming.”

Silver rolled his eyes as he hurried to answer. He flung the door wide and choked on his own spit. Before he had the chance to take in a breath, Donovan launched himself into Silver’s arms and clung to him as if his life were at stake.

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