Page 24 of Bad to the Bone
Not that Alex could blame him, but it still hurt to think he was a part of the past Ricky Lee had tried to forget. “He came back, though. I don’t understand why he wouldn’t want to let people know how successful he’s become.”
“It wasn’t his idea to come back. I talked him into it.”
Brigit headed toward the booth with a pot of coffee, and Crae paused to let her fill their cups and walk away before continuing.
“Lee and I met just before the GameFit sale went down. Once the news got out and people started hearing about Polynomial, he was swamped with applications and proposals and requests for interviews. Lee’s genius is as a hands-on developer, not a business executive. He needed someone to handle all the tedious details so he could focus on the big picture. That’s what I do for him. That’sallI do for him.”
Alex flushed. “I said I was sorry. But the way you were dancing at the reunion….”
“Well… maybe we were putting on a bit of a show,” Crae admitted. “From what Lee told me about his past, people were expecting him to do something outrageous. I didn’t want to disappoint them.”
“Believe me, you didn’t.” A low, deep rumble sounded outside, and Alex glanced out the window, half expecting to see Ricky Lee’s Harley before realizing it was distant thunder.
“Look, I’ll be honest. Lee told me about what happened to get him kicked out of school. He and I never got together sexually, but over the past four years I’ve gotten to know his type. They’re all blond-haired, blue-eyed, all-American boys, and none of them last more than a few weeks at most.” Crae caught and held Alex’s gaze. “He may not realize it, but he’s been looking for you, Alex, and he’s put you on such a pedestal in his memory that no one else can match up.”
“Me? On a pedestal?” Alex held back a laugh. If Ricky Lee had ever seen him that way, Alex’s admission of his many failures had surely shown him how wrong that image was.
“I consider Lee my best friend, and he deserves to be happy,” Crae said as another, louder boom of thunder echoed outside. “So when he mentioned a few months ago that it was coming up on ten years since he graduated from high school, I did some research and found the Facebook page for your class reunion. I figured if he could see you again, he’d realize you weren’t the demigod he’d built you up to be, and he could finally get over you and move on. So I convinced him that coming back here would be a kind of closure. I thought it would do him good to be able to gloat a little about his success. And I thought he’d see that you were really just a small-town, red-state rube, and we’d be back in Portland in a few days.”
Alex raised an eyebrow. “Spoken like someone who’s never been east of the Rockies.”
Crae had the grace to blush. “I admit I had some preconceived notions about Okies. In my defense, all I had to go on were Lee’s stories. And I also have to admit, you actually seem like a pretty decent guy.”
“You make it sound like that’s a bad thing.”
“Bad in terms of our getting back to Portland soon.” Crae glanced outside as a patter of raindrops speckled the window. “Damn it, I walked here. I’d better head back before it starts pouring or I’m going to get soaked.”
“I walked myself or I’d offer you a ride.” Alex drained his coffee cup and rose when Crae stood.
“Look, I understand this blindsided you, but give Lee a chance to explain. None of this has worked out the way I thought it would, but I don’t want to see him get hurt.”
“I’ll listen to what he has to say,” Alex promised, though he couldn’t imagine Crae was right. He might have had a chance with Ricky Lee the programmer, but Lee the millionaire was way out of his league.
