Page 39 of Due Dilligence (Takeover)
To be wanted and needed by Fazil was perfect. The on-again-off-again thing had been killer. He’d spent so much time in high school wondering if Z really wanted him or if—yeah—he’d been an experiment.
“How’d you end up in Seattle?”
Long story. He glanced out the window at the buildings of his new hometown slowly sliding past them. “After I graduated college, I got a job at a company in Philly. Entry-level programming. Didn’t pay much, but enough. More than I brought in at the garage. After a year, they were bought by a larger company.” He took a sip of coffee and the dark taste matched his memory. “They said we could either move to Los Angeles or lose our jobs.”
Fazil gave his hand a squeeze. “That’s pretty shitty. I’m not sure I would have moved for a company that did that.”
Todd’s stomach flipped. Up until this moment, he’d blanked out the reason he’d gone. He’d never toldanyonewhy, other than the money had been good. He freed himself from Fazil’s grip and wrapped both hands around his coffee mug. “I almost didn’t,” he said. “Business at the garage wasn’t great. Dad was having a harder time with it, and we’d all realized that I wasn’t going to be taking the shop over.”
Fazil had flattened his hand against the table. The other was balled into a fist.
There were parts of this that would hurt Z, but that was life.Theirlife. “Luckily, they started building out that part of Warminster. Big-box stores. People buying the older ranch houses, knocking them down, and sticking larger houses on the properties.”
An absent nod. “Yeah, last time I went back, some parts were hardly recognizable. They even tore down most of the high school and built a new one.”
“Right? Doesn’t feel like home anymore.” Hadn’t since Fazil had left. Todd looked out over the sound. “My parents sold the garage and their house and moved to South Carolina. I went to LA.” He slid his gaze back to Fazil and he studied his furrowing brow. “I could have gone somewhere else or gotten another job in Philly. But I had thishopethat I’d find you. Stanford isn’t that far from LA.”
Fazil swallowed and paled.
“Obviously I didn’t. But on weekends, I’d look. Bars and the like.” Whole thing sounded foolish now. “That area’s so big.”
“Yeah,” Fazil said. “It is.”
“I sound like a stalker again.” He had been, in a way. A little too obsessed with the friend who’d run. “I don’t even know what I’d have done had I found you.”
Fazil inspected his coffee. “I wasn’t there. I’d moved to Massachusetts for grad school.”
Right. Boston.Heat crept up his neck. All those weekends pining over Fazil, whohadn’t even been there. He’d still been in his fuck-or-be-fucked-by-anyone-who-asked-nicely phase, too. He’d drowned many of those weekends in anonymous sex. That had been one of the things that had driven Martin away. “God, you must think I’m a fool.”
Fazil met his gaze.
And the food arrived. Bad timing. Or good. Todd wanted to crawl under the table.
Neither of them made any move to eat. “I don’t think you’re a fool,” Fazil said. “You were my best friend, and I vanished. Don’t...” He gave out a strangled laugh. “Don’t blame yourself formyshit.”
He didn’t anymore, but he also had for so long. That was a conversation for another time, because the food smelled fantastic, and there were some parts of his past that required hard liquor to explain.
“Massachusetts? For your masters?”
Fazil nodded and picked up his fork. “Yeah.” That reply was soft.
The demure response made no sense. Had to be more, given Fazil’s blush. Fazil had either done poorly, or excelled beyond what he thought he deserved. Todd took a bite of his French toast.
The Fazil he’d known would never have failed at academics. Sports? Sure. Remembering to tie his own shoes? Yup. But school? Never. Todd bit his lip to keep from smiling. “Dr. Fazil Kurt?”
Fazil met Todd’s gaze with a tiny, pained smile, then went back to eating.
Oh, fuckingbingo.“Holy shit, that’s awesome! Computer science?”
Fazil cleared his throat. “Yeah.”
“Boston University?”
Oh, didn’t that darken his cheeks. God, for someone who strived so hard, who’d been pissed off at beingfifthin his class, Fazil got so damned shy about success. “Out with it!”
“Harvard.” It was almost a squeak.
“Dude!” He couldn’t help laughing now. “You are so weird. That’s fantastic! It’s a good thing!”
