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“But after that minute, you knew,” Victor accused.
Oliver bit his lip and nodded. “It didn’t take long for me to figure out you weren’t the guy waiting on me.”
Victor opened his mouth, then shut it again. “Take me back to my car,” he said, his voice defeated.
Oliver wanted to tell him no—to tell him they could still hold hands and drink beer and finish the game. They could pretend like none of this was happening and make the night worth something.
But he didn’t.
Not with the look on Victor’s face now that it was all out in the open.
Oliver wanted to apologize, but he didn’t think it would be well received. So, he kept his mouth shut and led the way back down the maze of halls, into the elevator, where there was a canyon between them, and eventually to the parking garage.
Victor got into the car wordlessly and turned his face away as he buckled his seat belt.
The silence was heavy and thick as they made their way out, and they were waved through without even stopping to ask for proof that they were supposed to be there. Oliver headed down the street back toward the 7-Eleven, and every mile they passed felt like a stab in the gut.
He had no one to blame but himself, of course, which felt even worse.
“Please tell me why?” Victor eventually asked, very softly, as the 7-Eleven came into view.
“Why did I lie?”
“Why you wanted to humiliate me tonight,” Victor clarified, and Oliver sucked in a breath. “Why make a fool out of me like that?”
“I wasn’t,” Oliver started, then stopped. “That wasn’t my intention. I didn’t want you to be embarrassed about assuming who I was, so I just…went along with it.”
Victor’s exhale was slightly shaky. “Was it because I seemed weak?”
Oliver pulled into his previous parking spot and killed the engine. “It was because you seemed so goddamned sad,” Oliver told him. “You were so good-looking, and so kind, but you seemed so lost, and I just…” He dropped his head back against the seat and looked up at the roof of his car. There were brown Coke stains from when a bottle exploded once a week after he bought the damn thing. “I wanted to do something nice because I didn’t think anyone had done that for you in a while.”
“I,” Victor started, then stopped. “I didn’t hate tonight. But I don’t like when people pity me.”
Oliver rolled his head to the side. “Pity’s just part of life. It sucks, but it is what it is. You were heartbroken, and I actually was going to tell you earlier, but then you said this was supposed to be your honeymoon, and yeah—I couldn’t make it worse.”
Victor winced, but he didn’t seem as upset as before. “Who are you?” he asked again.
Oliver knew he couldn’t keep lying. “I’m Oliver. I’m just a guy who got lucky and traded a shitty night for an amazing one.”
Victor laughed, but the sound was humorless. “Who were you waiting for?”
“A client,” Oliver told him. He was done hiding it. It wasn’t like Victor was ever going to see him again, so there was no point in keeping up the lie. “This guy—I don’t even remember his name anymore. He booked me for the night. He wanted to get a blow job in a bathroom stall at one of the clubs down the street from here. Some old college fantasy he had and never got to live out.”
Victor sucked in a breath. “You’re a—”
“Yeah,” Oliver said. “I am. And before you get all up in arms about how you accidentally hired a hooker or whatever, you didn’t pay me, so it doesn’t count.”
“That’s…not what I was going to say,” Victor replied. Oliver tried to read his tone and failed. If the guy wasn’t a lawyer, his talents were being wasted. “I should pay you.”
Oliver damn near choked on his tongue. “Um.Excuseyou?”
“You lost a whole night’s wages for this misunderstanding, and—”
Oliver felt a sudden burst of panic as he sat up and faced Victor. “Please don’t take this from me.”
Victor blinked in surprise. “What?”
“Please don’t pay me. Don’t make it a transaction,” Oliver said, his voice so thick he thought maybe he was going to start crying. His sudden desperation was making him feel irrational. “Tonight was one of the best nights of my life. I was able to forget for a few hours that my life was a complete shit-show, and…I just. I don’t want to lose it, okay? I got to eat amazing wings and hold your hand and watch hot guys do the splits on ice instead of cleaning someone’s dirty come out of my hair.”
