Devil's Kiss (Sunset Cove #2) (29 page)

This time around, though, he wanted to start from scratch. He wanted to be the founder of this particular foundation for very personal reasons, and he’d had a feeling if he dropped a few breadcrumbs for his mother, she would be on board in a hot second. She was the best when it came to procuring money for a worthy cause, and this one was more than worthy. It was essential.

“Of course. Come and stay. You never have to ask. How long are you thinking?”

“Just one night to break up the trip, talk this over with you, and, of course, to see our darling boy.”

“You really should stop referring to me in such polite terms. I’ll start to believe they’re true.”

“But you’re such a good boy, J. And I miss your cute face. Oh, speaking of cute, August came and said hello the other day. He was staying at his parents’ place for the month.”

Of course he was, Jordan thought with a smirk. Although there was nothing
cute
about August, at least not since he was maybe ten. From eleven on, the guy had been a hell-raiser, and offered no apologies for the hearts he left broken all around the globe. As far as Jordan knew, August was currently involved with an Italian ar
tist
. Rich, temperamental, and—according to the last email Jordan had received—“a fucking dynamo in bed.”

Once upon a time, that jet-setting lifestyle had been so appealing to Jordan. But now here he was, eleven years into a job he adored. It seemed that his professor, Miss Anne Hamilton, really had understood who he was on a level he hadn’t even known existed.

Thinking of her brought to mind his first day teaching at the university and, of course, Derek. It was hard to believe they’d known one another for so long. But when he looked back on his career thus far, Derek Pearson was certainly someone who stood out as having made it worth it.
 

It was funny that in the beginning he’d thought he focused on the surly student with the bruised eye so he could watch him grow and learn. He was proud of all that Derek had accomplished, that was for damn sure, but it wasn’t until recently that Jordan realized there was so much more to it than a teacher’s pride in his student.
 

He loved Derek. He’d loved him from that very first day, and it was only now that he was starting to let the enormity of those feelings encompass him.
 

“Jordan?”

“Oh, sorry. What was that?”

“I’ll let you go. I know you have work today,” his mother said.

“Yeah, I do.
Shit
. I’m going to be late. Thanks for calling, Mom. I can’t wait to see you guys. Love you. Bye.”

“We love you too, J. Kisses!”

He made kissing sounds into the phone as though he were ten instead of early thirties, then shoved aside thoughts of Derek that would likely distract him, and hung up to go and finish getting ready for his class.

* * *

DEREK HAD JUST put his Jeep in park when his cell phone rang and his brother’s number flashed up on the screen. He really didn’t want to answer, especially not before work. But the alternative was to let it go to voicemail, where once again Alan would leave some long-winded message about how it was his duty as a son to help out the family.

What utter bullshit.
 

That didn’t, however, stop the guilt that had begun to fester somewhere in the broken parts of him that he’d buried deep down, where he’d hoped they’d never see the light of day. Taking a deep breath, he picked up the phone and brought it to his ear.

“What do you want, Alan?” he said.

“’Bout time you answered the phone.”

“Seriously? I’m about to hang
up
the phone, so you best stop running your mouth.”

“Calm your tits, would ya? Jesus.”

Derek wrung his fingers around the steering wheel and prayed for patience. “What. Do. You. Want? You’ve got five minutes, and then I’m hanging up.”

“I got him an appointment for Friday.”

 
Alan didn’t have to say
who
he was talking about. They both knew, and if his brother wanted the conversation to continue, it was best to leave it unsaid.

“So?” Derek said, not giving a shit one way or another.

“I gotta work Friday. So you’ll have to take him.”

“Fuck you, Alan. I’m not coming back there.”

“Derek—”

“No,” he snapped. “The last time we talked, I agreed that he could use my insurance, and that was it. He should be fucking grateful I’m doing that much.”

Alan coughed, and the sound was so repulsive that Derek looked at the cigarettes on his dash and decided right then he would never touch one again.

“How’s he supposed to get across town?”

“I don’t know. And I don’t care. Tell him to look up a bus timetable, because I’m not taking that piece of shit anywhere. Got it?”

“Yeah, whatever, dude. Must’ve been nice to just walk the fuck away like you did.”

Derek’s hand hurt from how hard he was gripping the phone, and when he could finally find the words to actually speak, he said, “I didn’t walk away, Alan. I fucking ran and he still found me. So why don’t you tell him
that
as he crawls to the closest bus stop.”

He hit end on the call and his hands shook as his stomach clenched, and for a minute he thought he was going to see his breakfast again. When he finally got his breathing under control, he squeezed his eyes shut and cursed the hold that asshole still had over him.

Derek hated that his father still had the power to instill fear in him. To make him feel weak. And out of everything the man had done to him over the years,
that
was the one thing he loathed the most.
 

Fuck, there was no way he was fit for work today.
 

When he finally felt able to drive again, he put the Jeep in reverse and headed back the way he’d come. He needed to go somewhere where he could think. Where there was nothing but him and his own thoughts, and he knew the perfect spot.

Somewhere he’d been going for years.

* * *

DATE TWO. JORDAN had thought of little else all day, and he had the perfect idea. As he pulled into a parking spot at the local grocery store, he debated whether to call Derek now or to make dinner and then surprise him by going and picking him up. Either way, he was going to kidnap the guy, bring him back to his place, and feed him until he was so full he couldn’t eat another bite
or
find the energy to leave.

After last night, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Derek’s final words on respect. Derek didn’t know it yet, but for the past few months Jordan had been working on something that he hoped would show Derek just how much he admired and,
yes
, respected him.
 

He’d been waiting for the perfect time for a while now. Originally, he’d wanted to tell him when he began working on the idea, but that was the night Derek had first told him he loved him, and after Jordan had sat there stunned into silence, everything had changed and he hadn’t had a chance since.

That had all changed, though, in the last couple of days, and now it was time. He knew that it was. He wanted Derek’s opinion on this. Wanted to share it with him, and was excited to see his reaction.

He reached for his phone and hit
He-Man
in his contacts with his palms sweating, the equivalent of a twelve-year-old with a crush.
 

When the call connected and Derek’s less-than-enthused “Hey” came through the line, Jordan’s all-day smile slipped a notch.
 

“Hey?” he joked, settling back into the car seat. “Don’t sound too excited. My ego won’t stand for it.”

“Oh,” Derek said, and he sounded so distant that Jordan’s smile completely vanished. Maybe this had been a bad idea, him calling. Maybe he should’ve waited. Maybe—

“Yeah, sorry about that. I’m just… It’s been… Well, it’s been a really shit day, to be honest.”

Jordan thought of how wonderful his had been, and wondered what had made Derek’s so miserable. “I’m sorry. Is there something I can do to help? Are you okay?”

He heard the sound of Derek taking a deep breath, then he let it out and sounded stressed.
 

“I’m okay,” Derek said, then gave a mocking laugh. “I mean, I’m not hurt. It’s just, my brother called, and…”

That right there was a shocker. Jordan hadn’t been aware that Derek still talked to his family.
 

“I’m just not in a good place right now. I…
Fuck
.”

Jordan heard the sound of something being thrown, and winced. Whatever had happened, he would place bets it had to do with… “Is it your father?”

The silence that fell between them was a familiar sound, and it was a stark reminder of the painful presence that had first drawn them together.

“Derek?” When he got no response, Jordan pushed aside any plans he’d been making in his head and tried again. “Derek?”

“Yeah.”

“What do you need? Tell me.”

More silence met his ear as Jordan sat there in the car—waiting. Then he heard, “You.”

* * *

DEREK SAT ON the bottom step that led to his apartment and waited for Jordan to arrive. All day he’d been trying to shove aside memories too painful to relive. But the more he’d tried to push them aside, the more they’d come flooding back. Then Jordan had called, and
Here I am, waiting for him to put me back together again.

He blinked at the night sky and wondered at what moment, what junction in his life, he’d decided that Jordan Devaney was going to be his lifeline.

When did he decree that that was fair to do to someone? Was it the same day he’d decided it was time to free Finn?
 

Because somewhere along the way he’d distanced himself from the boy who used to pick up his broken pieces, and handed the job off to the man now pulling up by the curbside in front of him.
 

Was that how you knew you loved someone? When you could show them everything you were and know they wouldn’t leave? He had to believe that was the case. Otherwise the burden he’d laid upon Jordan would all be in vain.

As Derek got to his feet, he saw Jordan push open the door and make his way over, a frown marring his forehead. When he finally reached his side, Derek took his face between his hands and lowered his head to kiss Jordan’s mouth.
 

A firm hand pressed over his heart, then Jordan’s lips parted for him and Derek lost himself in his taste. The sweet slide into serenity was swift, and when Derek finally resurfaced and raised his head, he whispered, “Thank you.”

Jordan traced the angle of his chin and offered a sad smile. “You need to stop that.”

“Stop what?”

“Thanking me. I told you. If you ever need me—”

“I know. You’ll answer.” Derek rested his forehead against Jordan’s and shut his eyes.
 

“Always.”

His heart ached at the sincerity behind that one word, and at the same time it conveyed how much Jordan meant what he was saying.

“Sorry I ruined
date two
for us.”
 

“No need,” Jordan said with a wave of his hand. “I can work with this. I mean, unless you plan to take me hiking or something.”

“Not exactly hiking,” Derek said, as he eyed Jordan’s clothes with apprehension.
 

“What?” Jordan asked, then looked down at his gray lightweight pants and plum-colored button-up shirt.

“Yeah, about that. We might have to swing by your place before we head out. If you’re still game, that is.”

“I am…” Jordan said, as he looked over Derek’s khaki cargo shorts and navy-blue polo. Then he narrowed his eyes on the hiker’s backpack sitting on the stoop. “I think. Where exactly are we going?”

“Devil’s Bend.”

“Devil’s
Bend
?” Jordan scrunched up his nose. “We have to hike down there.”

“Not very far. It’s less than a mile.”

“In the
dark
,” Jordan said, his eyes wide and his expression so full of horror that Derek forgot about his shitty day and instead focused on how adorable the man in front of him was.

“I go there all the time. I could find it with my eyes shut.”

“Which is pretty much the equivalent of going there right now, don’t you think?”

Derek bent down to grab the backpack off the ground, and then he took Jordan’s chin between his fingers and kissed his lips. “Don’t worry, Posh. I’ll look after you.”

He stepped around the now stuttering man and headed toward his car. He knew the nickname he and Finn had given Jordan drove him nuts. But after Brantley had spilled the beans and told Jordan about it, Derek figured it was fair game to use whenever he wanted to get under Jordan’s skin. Which, he admitted, was more often than he should.

“Do
not
call me that, Derek Pearson,” Jordan said in a tone filled with so much upper-class
fuck you
that Derek couldn’t help chuckling. “You know I don’t like it.”

“I know,” Derek said as he leaned back against the trunk waiting for Jordan to unlock it. “But I’ve had a crap day and you get all feisty whenever I say it, which makes me hot, and then I forget I was in a bad mood and all is better.”

Jordan aimed his keys at the car and hit a button so the trunk would spring open and bump into Derek’s ass.

“All is
not
better, because now I’m annoyed at you.”

Derek swung his bag into the back and slammed it shut. As each of them walked to their sides of the car, Jordan aimed an exasperated look at Derek and asked, “What’s at Devil’s Bend?”

When they were seated and their belts were buckled, Derek leaned his head back on the headrest and whispered, “Peace.”

And no other convincing was needed.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“ARE WE NEARLY there yet?” Jordan asked, and chose to disregard the way Derek ignored him. He was several steps behind with a flashlight clutched in his hand as he trudged over sticks and branches and headed directly down a path straight to…
Huh, how fitting. Hell.

Under no other circumstance would he ever be hiking through the beach scrub at eight thirty at night.
Hell. No.
This was not his idea of a fun time. It was actually, pretty much, his worst nightmare. Not that he would ever tell Derek that.