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“Sure.” I buckle because he isn’t great at talking about important stuff. “Is this the first time you’ve done something like this?”
“Yes.” He doesn’t elaborate. Okay, so this will be a pulling short hairs operation. We’re going to tweeze each painful answer out one by one.
“Why did you hide my stuff?” I ask.
“Because I didn’t want to talk about you.”
“Why not?” I tighten my jaw. “I am your friend, so why hide me?”
“I didn’t want it to be complicated, like…” He chugs the rest of his wine.
“Like what?” I wonder if he is referring to our relationship.
He shakes his head. “Never mind.”
“Do you love her?” I ask.
Carl shrugs his shoulders and shakes his head, but it’s not truly a no.
I sit down at the kitchen table and finally take a sip. “I should move out,” I say, but it almost sounds like a question. I want him to argue and protest, fight for me, but why would he start now?
“You don’t have to,” he says, but I hear the hidden implication that maybe I should go.
“I will be out by the end of the month. I have to find a place first.” I stand up and abandon my full glass of wine on the table as I head back to my bedroom.
“Dee,” Carl calls after me. “Wait, you don’t have to rush into this.”
“No. I think it’s for the best.” I look back over my shoulder and say, “Oh, and I will have a visitor of my own until I leave.”
“What?” he shouts and rushes after me before I can disappear into my room.
Eros steps out and hangs a muscular arm over my shoulders, casual as all that. “Hi. Carl, is it?”
“Who the hell are you?” Carl almost growls as he glances at Eros’s easy familiar contact with me.
“You could say I’m Dee’s love god.” He leans down and kisses my cheek.
I suppress a laugh. You could sayexactlythat, and it wouldn’t be a lie.
Carl glares at me, silently demanding an answer for why this man is in his home.
“He didn’t come in until I realized the no visitors house rule was null and void,” I say.
“It’s true. I stayed at the door like a good little cherub.” Eros’s hand slips down around my waist, and he squeezes me against his side.
“Where did you meethim?” Carl eyes Eros with more curiosity now, taking in Eros’s height and muscular build, which outdoes Carl’s by inches in both ways.
“We finally met in person this weekend,” Eros answers, “but we have had something going on for years on the web.”
“The web?” Carl says with distaste. “I didn’t take you for an online dater, Dee.” He now studies me like he has never met me before.
I shrug, rolling with this craziness. “Apparently, there’s a lot we don’t know about each other than we realized, especially about our love lives.”
Carl takes the dig and has the decency to look away. “I get it. You want me to butt out.” He flexes his jaw, thinking for a moment. “Fine, all our rules are done. He can hang out here with you, but you need to find another place to live by the end of the month.”
A wave of rejection crashes into me, but I don’t let myself drown. “No problem.” I pull Eros back into my room so we can be alone.
As soon as I hear Carl storming down the hall to his own room, I turn and glare at Eros. “My love god? And I met you on the web? What web?”
