Page 67 of Are You There, Moriarty?

Ah fuck.

“I really need to know,” I said. “Are you my boyfriend, or my sugar daddy, or my Dom or what?” I said, looking at the table. “I have no fucking idea.”

He blinked, looking like a confused rabbit. Then he reached for my hand. I hesitated, but I gave it to him. “Toby, I’d honestly like to be all those things.”

His words and the hand-holding tipped my already precarious emotions over the edge. I blinked back tears as I gazed at him, then cursed with embarrassment and took my hand away.

“Sorry. I’m sorry,” I babbled, wiping at my face.

He furrowed his forehead with concern. “Hey. What’s going on?”

“Nothing. I’m just— I’m trying to find a room to rent. And I just saw an apartment that would be perfect, if the other guy wasn’t a total stranger and the room was bigger than a postage stamp and not underground.” I took a deep breath. “I can’t stay at Esther’s forever.”

I put my head in my hands and closed my eyes.

“Has Esther asked you to leave?” Alastair asked.

“Not yet,” I said, “But I think she’s starting to wonder when I’m getting off her couch.”

Alastair was silent. I opened my eyes to find him regarding me with serious contemplation.

“What?” I asked.

“You know, I have a spare room,” he said.

For a long moment I wondered why he was bragging about his swanky house in Old Ottawa South when I was sitting here almost homeless. Then I clued in—and I felt dizzy.

“What?” I said.

He shrugged. “You could move in with me.”

I stared at him. Had I heard him correctly?

“What?”

“Look, Toby. You need a room. You want to get out of this temporary situation, and you don’t want to go back to your mom’s, I take it.”

“Right but—it can’t be so simple.”

“Why not?”

“Alastair,” I said, putting a hand on his forearm and finally noticing his leather jacket. “Hey, is this new?”

“No, but I haven’t worn it in a while.”

“But it’s so cold out. You must be freezing!”

He shrugged. I think it was his signature move.

“I wanted to look sexy.”

“For me?” I said, fireworks exploding behind my eyes.

He gave me a look. “For everyone. Obviously.”

I laughed.

“Alastair,” I said. “Sweetheart— Can I call you that?”

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