Page 7 of Tangled With You

“A thousand times no. It was a nightmare.”

“What happened?”

“Things seemed fine for a while. I was working at Stark Internationaldoing security. He had a job doing film restoration. We had a yard, a garden,and a dog. I thought we were happy. We were sure as hell domestic. Two yearslater, he left me for someone else.”

“Oh, man. I’m sorry. How did it happen? How did he meet him?”

“Him?” Trevor asked.

“They guy your husband left you for.”

“They met online. And the pronoun would be her, actually.Turns out he started trolling dating apps about two months after we moved into thehouse. I found out because he left the app open on his computer the same day hecalled from work and asked me to forward something in one of his files.”

“Oh, Trev. I’m so sorry.” Ollie’dhad his share of heartbreak, but nothing like that. Nothing both out of theblue and perplexing. “You had no idea he was interested in women?”

“I knew he was bi. We’d actually spent a lot of time talkingabout it. Or, in retrospect, he was just paying lip service. Told me he lovedme, and that was all that mattered. I believed him. I never thought—”

He broke off with a shake of his head. “Anyway, that night,I confronted him when he got home. He told me he didn’t want to be gayanymore.” Trevor said the last part with finger-quotes. “How was I supposed toargue with that?”

“Sounds like you’re better off without him.”

“Damn right.”

“But it still hurts.” Ollie knew how that was. Courtney wasbetter off without him for sure, but Ollie knew the on-again/off-againrelationship he’d put her through had hurt her, and deeply. It had taken a longtime for her to finally say that they were over. Thank god she’d had the gutsto. He sure hadn’t.

“Yeah, it hurt. I’d lost my mom about a month before, too.Single mom—I barely remember my dad. All I remember is him walking away from myfifth birthday party and never coming back. So, yeah, Mom was my whole worldgrowing up. And then one day she was gone. I went into the garage to get thelast of the groceries I’d picked up for her. When I left, she was telling methe plot of some soap she liked and making corn muffins to go with the chilishe’d planned for dinner.” He swallowed. “When I came back, she was dead on thekitchen floor. Aneurism. The EMTs said she wouldn’t have felt a thing. I’m notsure I believe them.”

“Trevor.” Ollie put his hand on Trevor’s arm. “I’m sosorry.”

“It was hard. It still is. But it was different. She wasolder—she had me at forty-five—and we’d had some scares before, including aheart attack. So I’d faced it, you know? But then with Greg walking away…” Hetrailed off with a shake of his head. “That gutted me. I mean, shit, I even gotsideswiped by panic attacks. Never expected that. Left me feeling like I wasn’tthe man I thought I was, you know?”

“Yeah,” Ollie said. “I think I do. That must have beenhorrible.”

Trevor nodded. “It was. But the worst was that it was Gregdoing this. Hurting me. We’d meant everything to each other—or at least Ibelieved that. Isn’t that what marriage is? A statement of fidelity andtogetherness?”

“I always thought so.”

“Greg didn’t. Either that or he missed the you don’twalk out on your husband day of class.” He waved the words away. “Itshouldn’t still matter. I’ve been over him a long time. And yet every time Ithink about it, I get worked up again. It’s like the son-of-a-bitch cursed me.”

“You still have the panic attacks?”

Trevor shook his head. “Managed to work through that. A bitof counseling. A lot of talking to myself. Greg’s in the past. All of that is.”

“Relationships are hard,” Ollie said. “Especially whenthey’re complicated.”

Trevor turned, his eyes meeting Ollie’s. “Whenthey’re complicated? Come on, Ollie, when aren’t they?”

Ollie looked away, trying to ignore the uncomfortable zingof awareness that had shot all the way down to his cock. “You make a goodpoint.”

He reached to grab another piece of pizza, then jerked backwhen Trevor reached for his whiskey at the same time and their hands brushed.That yank back was embarrassing enough, but what was worse was the pizzalanding cheese-and-pineapple side down on his crotch.

“Oh, hell,” Trevor said, his fingers brushing Ollie’s sauceand denim-covered package as he grabbed the errant slice. And in the processmaking Ollie practically leap out of his skin.

Immediately, Trevor drew his hand back, leaving the pizzawhere it fell as he leaned back, hands up as if in surrender. “Sorry, man. Youknow I wasn’t trying—”

“No, I—”

“Just hang on,” Trevor said, standing. “I’ll get some papertowels.”