Page 31 of Past Lovers

Clay shook his head. “I love my job. While a particular co-worker kept me there, I really enjoy what I do.”

Adam grinned and leaned in for a kiss.

Just then, the door slid open and Hayden came crashing in. Adam jumped back, putting space between them. He didn’t have time to be irritated by it. Clay saw the look of desperation on Hayden’s face, and thoughts of anything else slipped from his mind. “What’s wrong?”

Hayden dropped to the couch, silent a moment.

“Hay?” Adam asked, sharing a worried look with Clay.

“I fucked up,” Hayden said. “I really,reallyfucked up.”

Clay lowered himself to sit beside Hayden. “What happened?”

Hayden turned to look at Clay, but he wasn’t sure the guy saw anything at all. He didn’t look right…

“Dude, you’re scaring me.Whathappened?”

“Ikissedhim… and hepulled away,” Hayden mumbled.

“Wait… what?”

Hayden’s face twisted in anguish. “Jesse! I kissed Jesse!”

Clay shared another look with Adam before Hayden turned to him.

“I love him… and I thought… maybe he loved me, too. So I went to him. And I put it all out there on the line. I kissed him.” Hayden shook his head. “And he pushed me away. I just lost my best friend…”

Clay didn’t know what to say… he understood the emotion Hayden was feeling. He’d felt it himself. The fear of losing what he held so dear…

He glanced at Adam, knowing things could’ve gone much worse the night before.

Hayden scrubbed his hands over his face a moment before looking up at them. “You shocked by that? That I love a guy? Or the fact it’s Jesse?”

“To be honest, I’m not all that surprised,” Adam said.

Clay lifted a brow, slanting a gaze at Adam.

“I saw the looks you two were giving one another at dinner. And as jealous as Jesse was over your date…” Adam laughed. “I thought he was going to lose his mind right there.”

“Jealous?”Hayden asked. “He wasn’t jealous. He wouldn’t have pushed me away if he was jealous.”

“Maybe you just threw him a curveball,” Clay said. “Maybe he needs a minute.”

“No… I saw the look on his face.” Hayden shook his head. “I gotta get out of here.”

Clay grabbed Hayden’s arm. The guy wasn’t in any condition to go anywhere. “I know a place we can go. Nice place on the beach… a friend of mine said I could come anytime.”

“Yeah?” Hayden asked.

“Remember Gillam? My godfather? He has that big, nice house down on the Gulf Coast. We could be there in about five hours.”

Hayden nodded. “I remember the place.”

“I talked to Gillam about you. I was worried.”

Hayden frowned.

“All the drinking. The partying,” Clay said.

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