Page 59 of The Heartstrings of Harry
“Madeline? Why are you meeting Madeline, it’s almost dark outside.”
“Because…” He sighed, a sense of defeat taking hold of him. “Because she wanted to go on a date with me.”
“Oh.” That crack in my heart splintered off in a dozen different directions. “And you said yes?”
“I felt bad saying no. So yeah, I said yes. I didn’t think… you… me… I didn’t thinkwewould ever happen. I thought that secret was going to stay bottled up inside me forever.” He smiled and stepped toward me. “But now it’s out of the bottle, all I wanna do is be with you. Forever.”
“Then stay.”
“I can’t. I can’t just leave her standing on my doorstep.”
He moved past me and pulled his T-shirt on, every muscle in his hairy torso flexing, creating an even greater ache in my chest.
When he sat on the bed to pull his shoes on, I sat beside him.
I rested my hand on his thigh and my dick started to stiffen again.
He saw and groaned. “Oh God, you’re making things harder.”
I gave him a gentle, sneaky smile. “Actually,you’rethe one making things harder.” I took my erection in my other hand. “Don’t you wanna stay and do it all over again?”
He looked from my face down to my cock and licked his lips. “I do. God, yes, I so want that. But I can’t. Madeline is a nice person, I can’t just stand her up.”
My erection began to wane. “So, you’re just gonna go ahead with your date… after you spent the afternoon fucking me?”
He kissed me quickly, before my jealousy found more ways to make him feel bad. “Dean, please don’t be like that. And please let’s stop calling it a date. I’ll talk to her, I’ll let her down easy.”
“How?”
He shrugged. “I’ll simply tell her I’m not interested. I’ll tell her it’s me, not her.”
“Because nobody ever sounded gay saying that line before,” I said sarcastically.
“Hey,” he said, touching my cheek. “It’s okay. You’re not gonna lose me. I’ve been wanting you in silence for far too long to let you go now. You’ve got nothing to worry about.” His face suddenly shifted.
“What is it?” I asked.
He didn’t want to tell me what had crossed his mind, but I had a good idea he suddenly remembered my stalker, and the upcoming concert, and the fact that at some point one of us or both of us was going to have to tell my dad what was going on between me and Harry. And I could see on his face that he realized Ididhave things to worry about.
He stood from the bed.
I grabbed his hand, not ready to let him leave.
“Dean, I have to go.”
I let his fingers slip from mine, and just like that he vanished out the door and disappeared into the twilight.
HARRY
Halfway home my phone buzzed,and I saw that the number on the screen was the same one from this morning. I could only assume it was Dean’s manager wanting to talk about the event planning for the concert. I knew I couldn’t ignore her call any longer. I answered the call.
“This is Harry Dalton.”
“Finally!” came the sharp British accent over the phone. “You’re a hard man to track down, Harry Dalton, do you know that? Don’t bother answering, it’s a rhetorical question and I don’t have time to beat around the bush. My name’s Astrid Aldridge, I’m—”
“I know who you are, Ms. Aldridge. Dean mentioned you.”
“Good, then hopefully you know all about the concert we’re holding on Friday night. I’ve already spoken to your sheriff and had all the necessary paperwork approved. Now all I need is someone to help me co-ordinate all the logistics and AV set-up. Apparently that someone is you, is that correct?”
