Take This Man (16 page)

He
finished the introductions, addressing the man. “This is my lady, Elyse.”

“Pleasure
to meet you,” Jason told her, in a voice guaranteed to melt a woman’s panties.

Wow.
The guy had it all, great looks, incredible voice, and impeccable manners.
Again Elyse looked at Adam and nodded at the martini glass in his hand.

“That
for me?” she asked, taking it from him and downing a healthy swallow. She
needed alcohol, and quickly.

Elyse
was too intent on getting her buzz back to pay much note to the next bit of
conversation, but as it turned out, Adam and Jason Devereaux were not complete
strangers. They’d been in high school together.

“Same
class, even,” Adam said. “Not that we ran with the same crowd. Jase here was
one of the popular guys—football team, student council, yearbook committee, all
that.” Was there a tinge of jealousy in Adam’s voice?

If
Jason objected to being referred to as “Jase”, he was polite enough not to show
it. He shrugged the rest of it away, as though it didn’t matter. “Who remembers
that far back?”

“What
crowd did you run with?” Elyse asked Adam.

“Oh,
I was so far out in Loserville I didn’t even have a crowd. School for me was
just a place to mark time ‘til the last bell rang. Jase, here, though—it was
different for him. All the guys wanted to be his best bud, and all the girls
wanted to date him.”

Jason’s
smile was thin. “Like I said, a million years ago.”

“He
was smart as hell, too, not a dumbass like me. He’s a lawyer now, you know. It’s
pretty wild, running into you here, after all this time.”

“Yes.
I work in Albany now. I happen to be back in town for a few days.”

To
steer the conversation away from the past, which seemed to make Jason
uncomfortable, Elyse questioned him about where he lived now and the kind of
law he practiced. In turn, he asked about her life, what she was studying in
college, and the conversation progressed from there. Adam was mostly silent, rubbing
her back, and getting more drinks for them as the night wore on.

Time
flew, and as she consumed more cranberry and vodka, Elyse felt smarter,
funnier, and sexier. Her initial nervousness disappeared, and she found herself
loosening up and enjoying herself. She touched Adam, running her hand up and
down his leg, snuggling against him, kissing his jaw.

At
the same time she was flirting with Jason, smiling and laughing at his remarks,
even growing bold enough to reach out and touch his hand from time to time.

Suddenly,
Adam decided it was time to go.

“I
don’t wanna go,” she complained. She was sexy and beautiful and funny, and
Jason liked her, and she was having a good time. She waved her hand around the
bar to the other customers who had suddenly gone blurry. “They’re not going.”

Adam
helped Elyse to her feet as she blinked, unable to focus. Her vision was fuzzy
and everything seemed to tilt to one side. Laughing, she tilted her head the
opposite way to straighten things out.

“How
are you getting home?” she heard Jason ask.

“We
took a taxi here,” Adam answered. “But I’m not sure I’ll be able to pour this
one into a cab.”

Elyse
snickered. Pour her? Like she was a vodka and cranberry? Adam was so funny. How
come she never noticed how funny he was before? “It’s not my fault,” she
explained, starting to hiccup.

“No,
it’s my fault,” he answered, his tone dry. “I forced you to have six drinks.”

She
frowned, wobbling on her feet. Six drinks? No. It was only three, wasn’t it? Or
maybe four. “They were too strong,” she insisted. “You should have told them
not to make them so strong.”

“Okay,”
Adam agreed in the mild tone one used to placate a drunk. That made Elyse mad.
She wasn’t drunk. She was happy and sexy and beautiful. She was with two hot
guys.

“Let’s
go. Can you walk?” Adam asked.

“Of
course,” she replied, pulling herself up with dignity. What a silly question.
Certainly she could walk—she had two legs, didn’t she? She looked down to check
they were still there. Yep. Of course she could walk.

She
took two wobbling steps and tumbled into Jason, who caught her before she fell
to the floor. “Whoops,” she snorted, snickering to herself.

Adam
and Jason assisted Elyse across the room, one man on either side, maneuvering
her through the tangle of customers to the front door. She leaned her head
against Adam’s arm, and then Jason’s. It was nice, between them, feeling their
warmth and strength.

The
cool air outside caressed her face and sobered her up a bit. Adam was saying
something.

“Let’s
get a room. We can go home in the morning.”

****

Adam
and Elyse stared at each other without speaking. Water splashed in the
bathroom.

“You’re
right. I didn’t say no.” They stared at each other in a silent stand-off. “But
it was just a game, wasn’t it? Why don’t we play a game right now? Truth or
dare.”

“This
is not a fucking game,” Adam said.

“But
you like games. Come on, Truth or Dare.”

The
answer came immediately. “Dare.”

“Yeah.”
Elyse gave a short laugh. “How I’d know. Truth’s a little too scary, isn’t it?
Okay, whatever. I dare you to tell me why you proposed the threesome two years
ago.”

Adam
was silent for a long time before he finally spoke. “What do you want me to
say?”

“I
want you to tell me how you really felt about me. I thought we loved each
other. But maybe I was wrong. Maybe you figured I was some freaky bitch who was
up for anything. Just another piece of ass.”

His
throat worked. “No. I never thought that.” He took a breath. “It was a mistake.
I hated when he touched you. I wanted to stop it.”

Elyse’s
heart fluttered. “Why didn’t you?”

“Why
didn’t
you
?” he asked in return.

“Pardon
the interruption.” Jason stood in the open doorway to the bathroom, hollow-eyed
and pale. He addressed himself to Adam. “Far be it from me to barge in on a
private discussion, but since I am an interested party, you might say, there is
something I don’t think Elyse has shared with you. I’m a flaming queer.”

Adam’s
face went blank. He looked from Jason to Elyse, and back again. Elyse waved her
arm in a defeated gesture and sank onto the edge of the bed.

“When
did you decide this?” Adam asked at last, his voice low and rusty.

“It
wasn’t a matter of deciding,” Jason answered. “It’s something I’ve known since
I was a boy.”

Adam’s
gaze sliced toward Elyse, who looked away. “But you dated girls in high school.
Hell, they all wanted to be with you.”

“I
dated them, and I even fucked some of them, but I was only going through the
motions. I wasn’t about to out myself, and be subjected to gay-bashing by the
local cretins. I didn’t come out until I was well away from Summit.”

Adam
directed another accusing look at Elyse—
why didn’t you tell me?
A look
of discomfort crossed his face as he further considered Jason’s revelation. He
moved his hand vaguely to encompass the three of them. “So even when we were
all…”

“You’re
referring to our little ménage?” In spite of his indisposition, Jason managed a
smile. “I wasn’t lusting after you, don’t worry. Or you.” He looked at Elyse. “No
offense.”

She
lifted a shoulder. “None taken.”

“For
somebody who claims he wasn’t into it, you put on a pretty good act,” Adam
said, his tone gruff with anger.

“Look,
all three of us were there for our own reasons. I had just been informed by my
lover—my
male
lover—that he was getting married, but he saw no reason
not to continue our relationship in secret. I said fuck that. We had a huge
blow-up, and I went off to drown my sorrows. That’s why I was at Baby Jane’s
that night, and I let you two pick me up. I wanted to get my cheating ex off my
mind, and give him a great big
fuck you
at the same time. That’s my
story. You two are going to have to hash out your own.”

Adam
glared at Elyse when Jason retreated back to the bathroom. “I guess you knew
all about this from the jump.”

“Pretty
much, yeah. He told me.”

“Aw,
man.” He shook his head in disgust. “I’m out of here.”

“What’s
the matter?” Elyse taunted him. “It scares you, thinking how you shared a bed
with a gay guy?”

He
turned on her. “I don’t give a shit about that. I’m pissed off how you kept
saying you were
just friends
but you never came out and told me he’s
gay. You were having a fine old time, laughing your ass off, and keeping me in
the dark.”

“Yeah,
laughing my ass off,” Elyse snapped. “You might consider that it wasn’t my
secret to tell.” In her heart, though, Elyse knew there was more to it. She’d
wanted Adam to wonder about her and Jason, wanted that worm of doubt to eat at
him until it tore a hole in him.

Jesus.
Wasn’t she a vindictive bitch.

And
wasn’t he was a bossy, overbearing asshole.

She’d
been crazy to ever think they stood a chance.

Chapter
Twelve

Elyse
wasn’t sure how long she lay on Jason’s bed, her eyes closed. Sadness pressed
down upon her, its heavy weight rendering her inert. She couldn’t think, couldn’t
move. She wanted to cry, but her eyes were as hard and dry as stones.

The
bathroom door opened, and Jason’s feet whispered across the carpet. The bed
sagged as he sat beside her.

“Hey,”
he whispered.

“Hey.”
Though it was an effort, she opened her eyes. Jason’s face was yellowish, his
eyes hollow, his hair damp. A bath towel lay on his lap. “You look like hell.”

“Thanks,”
he responded. “You’re not so hot yourself, honey.”

“Hmmm.
Looks like I’m gonna need a place to crash tonight.”

“Well,
that side of the bed’s all yours. Knock yourself out.”

“Thanks.”
Though she stared at the ceiling, Elyse felt Jason looking at her. “I didn’t
know that before,” she told him.

“Know
what?”

“About
why you were at Baby Jane’s that night. I never knew it was because of Coop.”

“Well,
now you do.” Jason rubbed his face with the bath towel, and flung it over a
chair. He flopped back onto the bed, grimacing as he looked at the mini-bar
bottles lined up on the nightstand. “I was drinking my face off, trying to
forget about him.”

Elyse
thought about the night at Baby Jane’s. She rarely let herself do that, and
when she did it was in bits and pieces. It made her too angry, too upset, to
dwell on the memories. But now as her eyes drifted closed, those memories came
back as she tried to make all the puzzle pieces fit.

****

The
New Moon Motel was a few blocks away, close enough to walk. Once again, the two
men walked with Elyse between them. Adam’s arm was around her waist. Jason had
his arm through hers, the way a gentleman might escort a lady.

“You’re
so nice,” she told him. “You’re such a sweet guy. Isn’t he sweet?” she asked
Adam.

“Yep.
Real sweet.”

She
sensed a bit of jealousy in the shortness of the answer. “You’re sweet, too.”

“Okay.”

“No,
you are. Really. When you let your guard down and show people the real you.”

“Okay,
Elyse.”

Adam
picked up the pace, and the pointy toe of her shoe caught against an uneven
rise in the sidewalk, causing her to trip. “Oof,” she muttered, stumbling
against Jason.

He
caught her and glared at Adam. “Slow it down, man.”

Even
on the darkened street, with only the street lights for illumination, the
expression Adam wore scared Elyse. He glowered at Jason, as though he wanted to
punch him right in the face.

Then
he looked down at Elyse with regret in his eyes. “Sorry.”

“It’s
all right,” she stammered. “These shoes aren’t made for walking…”

When
they reached the motel, Elyse insisted Jason not try to drive home in his
inebriated state. It only made sense for him to stay in the room with them
until he sobered up. Jason agreed, and went to the front office to get them all
some coffee, but the brew had been sitting on the burner for hours, and was
totally undrinkable.

The
room was regulation dumpy, but Elyse had enough residual vodka in her system to
still feel like Venus on the half-shell. She kicked off her shoes and flung herself
onto the bed, crawling until she half reclined on the pillows, while Jason sat
in a corner armchair. Adam took a wooden straight chair next to a scarred
bureau.