Page 12 of Ripped

My ears perk up at the mention of a theater room and maybe I’ll work up the courage to go use Donnie’s things when he’s not home.

“Do you need anything before I go?”

I shake my head, then stop. “What time do you think you’ll get back?” I ask, voice small. It’s such a stupid question, something a child would ask when they want to know how long they’ll need to look out for themselves.

But Donnie smiles, warmly this time. His eyes go soft and they crinkle at the edges. He looks at me like he wants to walk over and hug me. I wouldn’t object if he did.

“Around six. I can make dinner when I get back.”

Six o’clock. Eight hours. It’s a standard work day and yet it feels like eons. I push down the seed of fear and nervousness that’s suddenly implanted itself in me. It’s only eight hours. I have work I can do. There are movies to watch. I’ll be fine.

I smile and try not to look like I’m afraid of being alone. “Have fun at work.”

Donnie half turns to leave, but hesitates. He glances back at me for a moment, then he’s closing the distance between us. He pulls me into a hug and we hold each other, neither one of us saying a word. It should feel weird—two grown men, practically strangers, giving each other a hug goodbye—but it feels like the most natural thing in the world.

He holds me until that seed lodged in me dissolves. I can do this. Donnie will be back in no time.

CHAPTER SIX

DONNIE

Sawyer waves me down the moment I step foot inside Mars. “Hey, how’d it go? How’s Connor?” he asks conspiratorially.

I pause on the public side of the front desk. Connor looks a lot better this morning than he did last night. His eyes were still a bit puffy when I left for work and he could probably use a few more hours of sleep, but he’s nowhere near as wrecked as he was when I brought him home.

“He’s fine.”

Sawyer leans over the front desk to whisper to me. “Is he still at your place?”

“Yes, he is,” I whisper back suspiciously. “Why?”

He glances across the lobby to where there’s a juice bar. The barista is serving someone and there are a couple of gym members sitting at the small café tables. He lowers his voice even more. “Connor’s boyfriend, Miles, came in this morning looking for him.”

“What?” Anger boils up inside me, hot and vicious, and every muscle goes taut, like I’m getting ready to pounce. The fucking audacity. How dare he waltz in here thinking he has any right to ask about Connor? “What did you tell him?” I growl.

Sawyer backs away from me with his hands raised. “Whoa, easy. I didn’t tell him anything. Just that Connor isn’t here, and I don’t know where he is.”

My pulse is raging with no signs of slowing down. If Miles came looking for Connor once, he can do it again. We have to protect Connor from the monster. He shouldn’t have to see Miles’s face ever again if he doesn’t want to.

“Bro, what’s up? Did Connor tell you what happened last night? Does it have something to do with Miles?”

It isn’t my story to tell, but I can’t get Miles banned from Mars without giving a reason. And I really, really want to get Miles banned. I nod toward the staff break room and Sawyer meets me back there.

“What did Miles say? What were his exact words?” I ask.

“He didn’t say much. Just that Connor didn’t go home last night and now he’s looking for him.”

“That’s all?”

“That’s all! I swear! What happened?”

“The fucking bastard,” I mutter. He made it sound like he was the good guy, the concerned partner who is looking for his missing boyfriend. Except the missing boyfriend ran from him for a reason and maybe the missing boyfriend doesn’t want to be found.

“Who? Miles? What did he do?”

I stalk to the front desk and wake up the computer we keep there for membership records. “Do we have a persona non grata list?”

Sawyer’s peering over my shoulder. “Uh, yeah, but why do we need it?”

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