Page 9 of Mutual Desire

Rubbing his eyes, Damien fought back the urge to hang up. “Do I need to remind you that I just left your place a couple of hours ago?”

Nick’s smug tone was unmistakable. “When did you start needing so much nap time, Sleeping Beauty?”

Damien had rolled his eyes, realizing there was no winning this conversation. “Nicolas, I just woke up. No,youwoke me up.”

Nick chuckled, unrepentant. “Did you look at the PowerPoint yet?”

“I’m hanging up now,” Damien said flatly, already regretting answering.

Nick ignored him. “Don’t forget to go through it. And don’t be late, Clarke.”

Now, standing in front of the mirror, Damien debated whether he should crawl back into bed. But napping never worked once you were awake—it only made things worse. Besides, there were too many things to do.

First, there was hiscar, which had been acting up for weeks. Damien had postponed dealing with it so often that “tomorrow” became a mantra. Today didn’t look ideal for it either, so tomorrow it was. Definitely tomorrow.

After a quick breakfast and shower, Damien updated the calendar on the website he and Nick had created, where he offered private biology and chemistry online courses. He opened up his July schedule for bookings, knowing his clients preferred live teaching sessions despite the prerecorded content available.

Reluctantly, Damien turned his attention to Nick’s 42 slides PowerPoint.

To his surprise, it was impressive—professional, sleek, and easy to follow. Damien committed the slides to memory as best he could. Nick would do most of the talking, but Damien didn’t want to take any risks—it was Nick’s career on the line, after all.

Checking his phone intermittently, Damien hoped to see a message from Craig. Nothing. He’d sent a text earlier, hoping to bridge the tension from the night before, but Craig hadn’t responded. Damien could badger him for a reply, but that wouldn’t solve anything. They needed to talk in person.

Around noon, after finishing up some laundry and washing the dishes piled in the sink as he was heading to the bathroom, Damien’s phone rang. For a brief moment, he hoped it was Craig, but his heart sank when he saw it was Dana, his sister. He knew exactly why she was calling.

“Don’t tell me you just woke up, Dam,” Dana said as soon as he answered.

“No, I’ve been up since nine, thanks to Nick,” Damien replied, rubbing his forehead.

Dana laughed softly. “You sound tired. When are you coming to visit?”

“I don’t know... next week?” Damien said, trying to sound convincing, though he knew it wasn’t.

“Sure, next week,” Dana said, amused by the obvious lie.

“Or... the week after,” Damien added, still not sounding any more convincing.

It wasn’t that Damien didn’t want to see her. He adored his sister more than anything, and she was his rock. But things with Craig were too complicated right now. Leaving town wouldn’t help, even if Craig encouraged him to go. They needed to fix things, not add more distance.

“As much as I love you, I’m not breaking the news to Mom,” Dana teased.

Damien laughed. Their mom had moved to Boston with Dana to help raise his nephew Ryan after her divorce. He missed all three of them more than he wanted to admit.

“I’ll be there soon, I promise. Just... bad timing right now.”

Dana’s tone shifted, concern creeping in. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just... things with Craig are a little off,” Damien admitted reluctantly. There was a brief pause at the end of the line.

“When’s the last time you two fucked?” Dana asked bluntly.

“Jesus, Dana!” Damien exclaimed, laughing despite himself.

“What? I’m a divorcee now—I know what makes relationships tick,” Dana said, feigning seriousness.

Damien shook his head, laughing harder. “Thanks, Dr. Dana, but I’ll pass on your relationship advice.”

“Two weeks? Three? A month?”

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