clock, Corey counted the minutes. Remy would probably call in a few minutes anyway. They had a date today and it’d started thirty minutes ago. Without Corey. Yes, he was a chicken. And yes, he felt childish and like the biggest heel right now.
When the phone in his hand warbled, Corey startled and shrieked—feeling the color slip from his face when Remy’s name appeared on the screen. Shit, crap, fuck. He hit connect.
Chapter Eight: Where a phone call forces our determined lover to act.
“Corey? Is something wrong?” Remy asked, worried as hell because he’d been waiting for his lover for thirty minutes now.
“I’m fine,” Corey’s flat reply ghosted through the line. Remy didn’t buy it.
“If you’re fine, where are you? Was there a misunderstanding? I thought we said Angelo’s at nine. It’s nine thirty. Do you have problems with the car?”
Remy was nervous, he couldn’t deny it. Never once had Corey failed to turn up for one of their dates. Something must’ve happened. Yesterday, Corey had been eager to see him again.
“It’s not the car. I won’t make it tonight, Remington,” Corey said.
Remington? “May I ask why?” he prodded. He wasn’t the most patient guy and Corey’s strange behavior did nothing to calm him down. The man’s next words felt like a punch to the gut.
“I think it’s best if we don’t see each other any longer.”
Apart from a shocked gasp—hell, he’d feared to hear those words eventually—nothing bright came out of his mouth. There he stood, eloquent lawyer with his fancy degree and experience, and one sentence from his lover had managed to turn his brain into useless mush. But what a sentence.
His heart beating faster in his chest, Remy felt his mouth going dry when his brain finally caught up with the conversation.
“You’re breaking up with me?”
Corey sighed deeply through the line. “It’s only considered a break-up if you’re in a relationship, Remington. We’re not. We’re fuck-buddies. And I don’t want to do this any longer.”
Remy had, with Rafe’s help, used the past week to plot his plan of final seduction. Seemed like Corey had run out of patience though—an unfortunate development. Didn’t mean he’d give up easily.
“Now, wait a second! You don’t want us to have a casual affair. I get it. But instead of talking with me and asking me how I feel about the matter, you call it quits? Over the phone?” He couldn’t contain the anger and disappointment to seep into his voice.
Corey’s reply was cold and quick. “Yes.”
Remy heard the light tremble in his lover’s voice though. Despite the man’s attitude, he just couldn’t believe that Corey would act so cruel. Not without a reason. Corey was the most caring and gentle man he’d ever met. Had something happened that forced the younger man to break it off?
“Why don’t we meet and talk about this in person? Please,” he begged. The irony wasn’t lost on him. While they’d been together, Remy had forced Corey to beg so many times. Now he was the one who thought about sinking to his knees.
Corey’s next words crushed his hopes. “There’s nothing to talk about. You’re going to search for a new fuck-buddy when you move on to the next job anyway. You enjoy sex without strings and then you move on to the next guy before they bore you to death. That’s what I heard,” he said, his voice becoming wobblier with every word he said.
Shit. Who would’ve thought his reputation would someday bite him in the ass. Well, he couldn’t deny the truth. Remy groaned and raked his fingers through his hair.
“Corey... it’s not like that. Okay, it might have started that way when we first met. Then I got to know you and everything changed. Why do you just assume I don’t want more with you than an affair? You stand me up and when I call, you confront me with your decision without knowing all the facts! Do you even care if I have feelings for you?”
“You
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