Page 23 of Toren

“Andrew, come on.”

He had no idea why Dave approached him with any sort of hesitation or regret when it was so clear he had none. Not an ounce of it had ever existed in his body, and Andrew was the fool for thinking that could have ever changed. Even knowing he’d planned to break up with Dave, the betrayal still stung. Dave, after all, was the one who’d begged him for monogamy after finding out about Toren.

“I’m done,” he said with a cockeyed shrug, stare flickering to the man Dave had probably been trying to get inside of. “You can have him.”

Andrew turned to go, ignoring Dave’s pleas. The door slammed and he didn’t look back, but Dave’s hand wrapped around his elbow from behind and brought him to a stop.

“What are you doing?” Andrew asked.

“What are you doing?” Dave shot back, arms crossed in front of his chest.

“What I should have done on Sunday.”

“You can’t break up with me.”

“I absolutely can.” Andrew braced his hands on his hips, fighting back shock that Dave was actually fighting him about this.

“Babe, this is what we do.”

“First off, don’t babe me.” He raised a hand to stop the nonsense. “And what even do you mean, this is what we do?”

“You know.” Dave gestured weakly toward the house. “This.”

“That’s nothing we do. That’s all you, and I’m done with it. I don’t want to be with you anymore. I haven’t wanted to be with you since college, but you caught me at a bad time, and now I’ve learned my lesson. I don’t need it a third time. I’m done with you. We’re done.”

“Andrew.”

“Go find yourself another man to lie to, Dave.”

Andrew unlocked his car and sank down into the driver’s seat, locking the doors just to ensure Dave didn’t try to get in and drag the conversation out further. The implication was laughable, that Andrew had signed up to be lied to, to be deceived. He was not much better, his Sunday night with Toren still a vivid memory in his mind, but what Dave had done, still did, was so much worse.

He pulled his phone out and stuck it on the dash mount, frowning at the time. It was early still, not even seven, and he was too ramped up to be alone. He knew he and Toren had plans in less than a day, but the other man was all he could think about. In desperate need of a distraction, Andrew fired off a text to everyone in his friend group and headed home.

An hour later, there was a knock at his door, Sawyer and Holt standing there with a bag that smelled a lot like it was stuffed with Thai food. He stepped out of the way to let them in, leaving the door unlocked in case anyone else decided to show up. Sawyer made himself at home in the familiar way he always did, taking food out and spreading it across Andrew’s kitchen counter.

“Please tell me you broke up with him and not the other way around,” Sawyer said, tossing the takeout bag into the trash.

“I broke up with him.”

Holt fist-pumped the air and grabbed all three of them beers from Andrew’s fridge.

“Tell me everything,” Sawyer said, which also meant tell me as much as you want.

Andrew took a swallow of beer and climbed onto a barstool while Sawyer did what he did best—took care of everyone around him.

“I hooked up with someone this weekend,” he started. “At the art show.”

“At the art show?” Holt asked, eyes wide.

“After.”

“Okay, we’ll come back to that.”

“I told Dave and he lost his mind, tried to say let’s close the relationship.”

Holt cursed under his breath. “A leopard and his spots or whatever they say.”

“I know.”