Page 35 of Havoc
There was a knock on his door, and he furrowed his brow as he checked his phone. He’d ordered dinner for them ten minutes ago, but he knew it usually took the place he ordered it from forty-five minutes. Seeing the time, he figured it was his neighbor to the right if you were coming out of his apartment. She’d come over a few times while cooking when she needed something opened.
Lawrence opened the door to find Remy standing on the other side. He leaned in to kiss him, and unconsciously, Lawrence leaned back. He glanced at his father, whose eyes were still on the television.
He placed his hand on Remy’s chest and pushed him backward, closing the door behind him. Remy raised a questioning brow at Lawrence.
“Hey,” Lawrence greeted.
“Hey, is this a bad time?” Remy asked. “I would have called, but you told me you didn’t mind my visits, and I brought dinner.”
“My…dad is here,” Lawrence told him. “And he doesn’t know that I’m dating someone. So...”
Lawrence watched as Remy studied him with those deep brown eyes. He shook his head, scoffed out a laugh, and then nodded.
“Yeah, okay,” Remy responded.
Lawrence cursed himself mentally because he realized how that sounded. “I just haven’t told him yet, but I will.” Remy remained quiet, and Lawrence shifted under his intense gaze. “Come inside; I can introduce you.”
“How?”
Lawrence furrowed his brow. “What do you mean how?”
“How do you plan on introducing me?”
Lawrence licked his lips because, for some reason, they felt dry all of a sudden. Remy was asking if he planned on introducing him as the person he was dating, his boyfriend, or his friend.
“I…well, since he doesn't know, it might be better to—”
Remy turned and began to leave, cutting his sentence short, and Lawrence followed him down the hall.
“Remy, wait.” Lawrence stepped in front of him. “Just come inside.”
“So, you can introduce me as your friend? I’ll pass.”
“Remy—”
“I don’t fuck my friends,” Remy cut him off.
“But it’s okay when you planned on just fucking me for a night,” Lawrence found himself shooting back.
Remy’s jaw ticked, and he said something in Creole that Lawrence didn’t understand, and honestly, he wasn’t sure he wanted to. He wasn’t trying to make him mad. He needed to find the right time to tell his father they were dating. He hadn’t yet because he didn’t want to deal with his father asking him if he’d been going to church or reading his bible because if he had, he wouldn’t have the urges he did.
“I don’t want to argue,” Lawrence told him after releasing a sigh.
“Good, because I don’t plan to.”
With that, Remy stepped around him, and instead of waiting on the elevator, Lawrence watched him leave through the door leading to the stairs.
Lawrence went back into his apartment. He was glad his dad didn’t ask who was at the door because while he wanted to tell him about Remy, he didn’t want to deal with what he knew would come immediately after. He also wasn’t sure if there was anything to tell based on how their conversation had just ended.
Picking up his phone, he called Remy. It rang a few times before going to voicemail. Lawrence didn’t bother leaving one. Instead, he sent him a text. If he didn’t get a response, he would text Alijah to see if she could get him on Remy’s schedule tomorrow without telling him.
Placing his phone back down, he leaned back against the couch, his focus far from the movie.
Remy leaned back in his chair, staring at his computer screen, but he wasn’t seeing much of it. His mind had been occupied all day with what had happened with Lawrence the evening before. He wasn’t sure if he should have been as irritated as he was with him. However, Remy felt Lawrence wanted to keep him a secret because he knew the other man was out.
He hadn’t demanded that Lawrence introduce him to his father, and Remy would have allowed him to do that when he was ready. It was the fact that he knew Lawrence would introduce him as a friend.
Remy knew he could have tried to be a bit more understanding because he didn’t know the situation between Lawrence and his dad, but he wouldn’t have done that to him because Remy had no intention of hiding him, the way he felt he’d been hidden yesterday.
