Page 6 of He's the One

Was Robert going to ask him to stay?

“I love you, Col. I’ll tell Megan about us.”

Col widened his eyes. “What? Why would you do that? Why upset her? We’re over. She’s better off not knowing. Ever. Just don’t do this again with someone else.” A painful lump formed in his throat. “Was I even the first?”

“Of course you were. I couldn’t resist you. It’s you I want.”

Col shook his head. “Because of you I broke one of my rules. If someone’s in a relationship, no matter how much I fancy them, I leave them alone. You’ve made me feel really…bad, even though it’s not my fault.”

“I thought you’d guess.”

“Eight months of you telling me you loved me, that when you could afford to put your parents in a home, we’d have weekends together. Telling me you couldn’t wait for us to go on holiday.Give it a bit longer.” Col made a choked sound. “There would never have been any holidays, no Christmas together. You’d have come up with some excuse, you always did and I always believed you.”I’m a gullible idiot.

To think he hadn’t wanted to talk to the guy. Now he didn’t seem able to stop. “I like to assume the best of people. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do that again.”

“Not everything was a lie. I love you. I want you to be my future.”

Col gaped at him. “How? You’re married with kids.”

“We’d have the kids every other weekend.”

Without asking me?“You’re only sorry your double life isn’t going to continue.”

“It’s a weight off my mind that you know.” Robert groaned. “It was fucking exhausting.”

You arsehole!“Exhausting? Having your cake and eating it?” Col narrowed his eyes. “I hope you’re not expecting me to feel sorry for you. I have no problem with people being bi, but I do with liars and cheats.”

“I want to leave Megan. She drives me insane, but the kids…”

“Should come first. Always. No exceptions. You fuck up your life, fine, but you don’t fuck up the lives of your kids. All parents should do what’s best for their children. I want you to do what’s best for yours. Which is why you shouldn’t say anything to…your wife.” He hadn’t wanted the names of Robert’s wife and kids. It made everything more real somehow—and worse. Col hoped she never found out what her husband had done, because he knew her pain would be worse than his.

“I’m going to leave her. It’s you I want.”

“But I don’t want you. Not anymore.”

“Don’t say that,” Robert snapped.

Why was he making this so hard? “I don’t want to see you again.”

“I’m not giving up on you.” The tone of Robert’s voice had changed. Col heard the threat.

“But I’m giving up on you.”

“You piece of shit,” Robert hissed. “After all I’ve done for you.”

Col walked away before Robert’s temper came to the boil, but as he opened the door, Robert slammed it shut.

“I decide when we’re over. Not you.” Robert leaned into him and Col could feel the press of Robert’s erect cock against his backside. “I know you want me.”

Fuck you!But Col was scared. He made his shoulders slump and pretended to unbutton his jeans. He waited until Robert had his trousers down, then yanked open the door and fled. All the way to his car, he kept thinking Robert would come after him. As he drove away, he glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw Robert watching from the pavement.Please let that be the last time I see him.

Chapter Two

Theo stared at himself in the ancient mirror and adjusted his tie. The brown spots speckling his reflection made it look as if he had some horrible disease and he gave a wry grin. He remembered once dotting his cheeks with a brown marker because he liked the idea of freckles. He’d been put in detention for that. Indelible marker took days to wear off.

His tie didn’t look quite right, not fastened in a way that would meet his father’s or his mother’s approval, but this was his third go at a double Windsor and it wasn’t likely to be any better if he tried again. In any case, he knew he was only trying to delay the inevitable. He pushed his hair away from his eyes, took a deep breath and muttered, “You can do this.” Then said it again, louder and more firmly. “You can do this!”

Unfortunately, he didn’t manage to convince himself. Nothing new there. There was too much that he told himself he could do when he couldn’t. Desperately wanting didn’t equate to shit when it came down to it. Sadly.

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