“I can see that,” Matthew said, planting his hands on his hips and glaring at Javier. “Is he still sniffing around you?”
Javier was seconds away from standing up and giving the man a piece of his mind, especially for what had happened at the concert, but Desmond beat him to it. “I won’t have you interrupting my lunches,” he said, standing and forcing Matthew to take a step back from the table.
“I need to talk to you,” Matthew said, lowering his voice and leaning toward Desmond like the two were having a lover’s spat.
Javier knew better than to think somehow the two were still together. All the same, he stood and met Matthew glare for glare, silently telling the bastard he would defend his man if he had to.
Desmond cleared his throat and glanced furtively around. “Please, let’s not make a public scene.”
“I want to know why my deposit didn’t come through this week and why you’ve blocked my number,” Matthew hissed.
Javier smiled despite himself. Good for Desmond for blocking the arse’s number.
Desmond sighed and looked at Javier. “I’m sorry,” he said, longing and sadness in his gaze. “I need to take care of this. It was lovely meeting up with you.”
Javier understood a lot from those few words. Desmond wanted to deal with Matthew on his own. He wasn’t dismissing Javier, he was just handling things. “No problem, baby,” he said with a smile, touching the small of Desmond’s back beforeturning to gather up their lunch things. “I need to get back to the office anyhow.”
Desmond gave him a look that said they would talk, then whipped around to glare at Matthew. “You cannot keep doing this,” he growled under his breath, marching Matthew away from the dining area.
Javier watched them go for a moment before concentrating on cleaning up from lunch. Another couple was already eyeing their table covetously. He got out of their way, then thought about heading back toward Desmond’s building to make certain everything turned out for the best and Matthew got what was coming to him. Desmond was a grown man who could take care of himself, though, so he headed into the shopping center.
As soon as he reached the platform for the DLR, his phone buzzed with a text from Desmond.
“It’s taken care of. Do you want to come over for supper tonight?”
Javier smiled, feeling as though things were back on track. “Of course,” he replied, then headed for the station.
Half of his life might have been falling apart, but the other half of it felt like it was only just beginning.
eight
. . .
Fury was too light a word to describe how Desmond felt about Matthew’s interruption. He’d already been having a stressful day as he worked with Marcus Abara, one of the senior partners at Pickering Jones, on a client acquisition they were competing for with one of their biggest competitors, Goulding McTavish. Javier calling him out of the blue to ask if he wanted to go to lunch was a gift to his overstressed nervous system that he wasn’t about to turn down. He desperately needed the escape from his real life.
Lunch had been perfect. It pained Desmond’s soul to know that Javier was struggling with his business. He gathered there was far more that had been left unspoken than the bits and pieces Javier let slip out. He wanted to help in every way he could, especially if it meant he could spend time with the charming and sexy man.
And then Matthew had arrived on the scene like a squawking seagull intent on divebombing his plate to steal his sandwich, and ruined the whole thing.
“You cannot keep doing this,” Desmond hissed as he goosestepped his ex away from his next. Well, his next if he had anything to do about it.
“I want answers,” Matthew snapped in return. “Are the two of you really together? He’s a liar. I know he was lying about the two of you at the concert the other night.”
“Keep your voice down and stop acting like a jealous teenager.” Desmond searched the crowded area for some empty corner where he could give Matthew the piece of his mind that the man deserved. The best he could come up with was to march him over to the far side of one of the long water features stretching through the open area.
“Where is my money?” Matthew demanded once the two were reasonably isolated, spinning to glare at him. “It should have been in my account by Monday. It’s now Friday, and nothing is there.”
Desmond huffed a sigh, closed his eyes, and clenched his jaw for a moment. When he felt confident enough, he opened his eyes and stared hard at Matthew. “I’ve stopped all deposits,” he said.
“How dare you?” Matthew feigned offence, but Desmond had known him long enough to see the fear behind that fake expression. “We had an agreement, Des. And you know all the reasons why we have that agreement.”
Heat flushed through Desmond, centering on his face. He glanced away momentarily, fighting off the shame and the nausea of everything Matthew meant by those words. It would have been so easy to slump back into the trapped feeling Matthew and everything he knew always gave him, but a miniscule glimpse of Javier’s back as he headed into the shopping center where the DLR station was located inspired him with confidence instead.
He wanted the chance to have some sort of future with Javier, but he would never have that if he let Matthew continue to drag him constantly into a past he would rather forget.
“Our agreement was a mistake,” he said, forcing himself to stand firmly with shoulders squared, as if he were conducting a business meeting with a high-level client. “You are a grown man who has evidently found another job and who is more than old enough to take care of himself.”
“That’s not part of our deal.” Matthew shifted restlessly, looking around them as if someone was coming after him.
