The Wrong Man (10 page)

T
HE
PEOPLE
-
WATCHING
from my store window was worth the high rent on any given day, but particularly on Saturdays. Melrose Avenue bustled with serious shoppers and looky-loos intent on taking in some of the best boutiques, galleries, and bistros in Southern California. Tourists were sure to bump into a Hollywood star or two dressed incognito to blend in with the crowds in baseball caps and huge sunglasses while everyone else did their best to get noticed in skimpy shorts and tightly fitted tees. Usually they didn’t just pass by. I had an extra employee or two on hand to assist with the heavier-than-normal weekend foot traffic. Whether or not there were a ton of customers in the store, the atmosphere inside was energetic and fun. I was grateful for the distraction of silly conversation to keep my mind off the bizarre events of the previous evening.

When Luke and Michael walked in at lunchtime, I knew my reprieve was short-lived. It was only a matter of time before my best friend grilled me for details. I greeted them with a wave but gave my attention to the client I was helping choose the perfect shade of blue fabric for the custom pillows she wanted to order. While Mrs.
Shelton labored over aquamarine or ocean oasis, I stole a
surreptitious glance at Luke and his man. They looked good together. And happy.

Luke’s eyes sparkled with laughter as he looked up at his handsome boyfriend. Michael was a few inches taller than Luke and had dark hair, brown eyes, and beautiful olive skin. He was lean and muscular. I didn’t know much about soccer, but he certainly looked
like a professional athlete. Michael used his hands to point
something
out, and Luke leaned into his space. They had a tendency to move in tandem and find excuses to touch one another frequently. They were clearly in love. I admit I’d been leery of Michael at first. There was an intensity about him I found a little disconcerting. Except with Luke. When they were together, he softened a little and smiled more often.

“Mrs. S, take your time perusing the fabric samples. There’s no hurry.”

“Thank you, Brandon. I’m thinking the aquamarine, but I just can’t decide.”

“It’s a tough one. I know. I’ll be right back.”

I made a beeline toward my friends, greeting them both with a warm hug.

“Give me a few more minutes to solve the great outdoor-fabric debate, and I’ll be ready to go. Where to, boys? Did I mention I’m famished?”

“Anything is fine by me. I’m hungry too.” Luke leaned into Michael and kissed his chin sweetly. “See you later, hon.”

“You aren’t joining us?” I gave Michael my best “I’m disappointed” look and caught Luke rolling his eyes at me.

Michael chuckled lightly. “Sorry, Brandon. You’re on your own. I won’t be there to buffer the relentless line of questioning from Detective Preston here. I’m heading to the Valley to meet my mom.” He let out a resigned sigh before kissing Luke. “Wish me luck.”

After Michael left, Luke pivoted gracefully to face me with a determined look in his eyes.

“Finish up with your customer, Bran. I am dying to hear about last night.”

I nodded. Resistance was futile. But maybe Luke could help me make sense of my confused state of mind. Lord knew I was having a hard time doing it on my own.

T
WENTY
MINUTES
later we were seated at a booth for two at a trendy new café within walking distance of the store. The ambience was old-school diner meets contemporary hip with modern lighting and décor. The second the boyishly cute waiter left to place our order, Luke leaned across the table on his elbows, cradled his chin in his hands, and stared at me with big expectant eyes. I took a sip of my iced tea and made an offhand remark about it tasting stronger than usual.

“You like it that way. Quit stalling and fill in the blanks, please. Hell must have frozen over when you agreed to dinner with the devil.”

“‘Dinner with the devil’? Don’t you think that’s
overdramatic?” I took another sip and instantly regretted it when I felt a freezing sensation across my forehead.

“Yes, in fact it’s highly
melodramatic
. But those were your exact words at graduation, Bran. Granted, that was twelve years ago, but you were pretty emphatic about your feelings toward Jake then. What’s going on?”

“I want to say ‘nothing, no need to worry,’ but I’m… I’m a little confused. Don’t get me wrong. Dinner was innocent enough. At least it started that way. He was thanking me for watching Mack and—”

“You mentioned that.”

“Yeah well, then we ran into Trevor and his new man, and things went from strange to downright weird.”

I took a deep breath and launched into my tale of the previous night’s hijinks. Luke’s eyes went comically wide when I got to the part where I asked Jake to kiss me. I burst into a fit of giggles at his expression.

“Whoa. Poor Brandon. No wonder you’re confused! First ex and most recent meeting is awkward to say the least.”

“Ain’t it the truth?” I paused when the server returned with our lunch.

“Well, you can get back to normal now, right?”

“Hmm.” I took a bite of my Cobb salad and looked at Luke. “How so?”

“Distant past and recent past collided, and nothing bad happened. I don’t even think hell froze over. That means you were confronted with one of your darkest fears, and you survived. Congratulations. You can officially move on.”

I gave him an incredulous stare and held it until he laughed, abandoning his salad to a fit of hysteria.

“Laugh all you want. Your oversimplification of the oddity invading my ho-hum life is a riot.” I’d been going for sarcastic but missed the mark dreadfully.

Luke sobered and fixed me with a pointed stare. “What else?”

“Huh?”

“Don’t play dumb. Something else happened. You’re keeping something from me.”

I sighed heavily and wiped my mouth with the napkin before attempting to answer Luke. “He kissed me for real when he took me home.”

“And that kiss was different than the one at the restaurant… how?” Luke cocked his head to the right, fork suspended in mid-air above his plate while he waited for my response.

“It was different because it was personal. It wasn’t for the sake of whatever nonsense was going through my head when we first ran into Trevor. It was a reconnection kind of kiss. And it was hot. Really hot.”

“As in maybe you’re interested in Jake Wes—”

“Hell, no! I’m not going down that path again. Ever. But I can see possibly being friends.”

“Oh.”

“That’s all you have? Oh? I’ve never once entered a
“friendship” with a man I’ve slept with, Luke. It’s a big deal to even think about
letting him back into my life. Even if it is to occasionally dog sit for
him.”

“Have you considered the fact you’ve never been friends first with guys you’ve been intimate with might be your personal “ex” factor? Sorry for the bad pun. Look, I’m not trying to be insensitive, but hear me out. You have a way of keeping people at bay, Bran. Not me or Mara, but…. You have trust issues. We all do to a degree, but I think you’ve kept friendship separate from sex in your relationships. Can you say you were really friends with Trevor? You always said the sex was great, but what about the guy himself?”

“Since he’s proven himself to be a total douche, I’m sure that’s a rhetorical question.” This time my sarcastic note rang true.

“Maybe having both is the key. I’m not suggesting for half a second you should strike up a friendship with Jake and see if an old romance can be rekindled. But the next time you find a guy you want in your bed, maybe you should ask yourself if you can bear spending any time with him doing, I don’t know, normal things.”

“Define normal things.”

“How about talking? And I don’t mean one-sided conversations like Trevor used to engage in. The man could bore anyone with his rigorous workout routine and the script he was hoping to do a reading for. But did he ever really ask about you?”

I shrugged and fidgeted on the red leatherette of the tiny booth. “I don’t want to think about Trevor anymore. It was fun while it lasted, but no, I knew he wasn’t ‘the one.’”

“Honey, the real one will come when you stop putting up walls and let him in. Until then, let it go. No more crazy rules about past, present, and future. Just let things happen as they will. If you want to be friends with Jake, be friends. Be open to possibility.”

“Is that a quote? Did someone famous say that?”

Luke chuckled and offered me a sweet grin. “No. Maybe. It’s just me telling you I think you’re feeling shaken up because all these unwritten rules of yours are being challenged. Throw that rule out of the book and start over again, Bran. A blank page. Anything is possible.”

When had Luke gotten so damn wise? I smiled tentatively as I decided he might have a point. Either way, I felt better having shared my woes with someone I
did
trust without question.

A
FEW
minutes before closing that day, I escaped to my back office to begin the arduous chore of going through receipts. Banking was never my favorite part of owning a retail business. Unless business was booming. And today had been good. I had a small smile on my face when Lorenzo gave a short knock and popped his head around the door.

“Hey, boss. You have a visitor.”

I looked up when I noted a guarded tone in my usually affable employee’s voice.

“Who is it?”

“Trevor.”

Oh.

We stared at each other for a long moment. Lo glanced back toward the showroom but hovered in the doorway as though he was prepared to shield me from any unwanted confrontation. If I hadn’t been instantly agitated, I might have been amused at the thought of the much smaller man protecting me from my ex-boyfriend. Trevor was a good six inches taller and outweighed Lorenzo by at least thirty pounds. It was like a Chihuahua standing guard against a German shepherd.

“Want me to send him away? I’ll just tell him you’re busy.”

I shook my head and pushed back from the desk. Curiosity and a fierce dose of pride kept me from hiding behind my well-meaning employee. I could send the undesired guest away myself. I tugged at the bottom of my shirt as I rose and gave Lorenzo a reassuring half smile as I indicated, with an incline of my head, he could open the door.

“Thanks, Lo. I got this.”

Trevor stood facing the window with his hands buried deep in the pockets of his designer jeans. He turned when he heard my approach and offered a tepid grin. I wanted nothing to do with the man, but I couldn’t deny he was very good-looking. He was tall, lean, and had the chiseled features of a Hollywood leading man. A role he was more desperate to attain than I’d realized if his new liaison with Trey was any indication. I didn’t hate Trevor, but I hated being lied to. I wanted nothing more to do with him and couldn’t imagine what he could possibly have to say to me. Especially after last night.

“Hi,” he said licking his top lip nervously.

“What do you want, Trevor?” My tone was businesslike but not hostile.

“I… I want to apologize. For last night, for last month, for everything. I’m sorry, Brandon. I didn—”

“Okay.”

“Okay? What do yo—”

“Apology accepted. Thanks for coming by. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to close up and—”

“Wait.” Trevor stepped toward me and took hold of my hand. I snapped it away and gave him a hard stare.

“Trevor, I’m not inter—”

“I know. I…. Look, I’ll leave, but I want you to know I never meant to hurt you. I’m sorry about Trey last night. He shouldn’t have said….”

I crossed my arms and gave him my best “who do you think you’re fucking with?” look.

“It’s over. Done. I’m not sorry for last night, because although I didn’t want to hear I’d been tossed aside for someone with more connections, it’s probably better I knew the truth. So, thank you for apologizing but really, we have nothing more to say. Good-bye, Trevor.”

I spun gracefully on my heels and headed back toward my office. I felt his hand on my arm and turned angrily. “Wha—”

Trevor pulled me flush against him and sealed his lips over mine. I was too surprised to do anything. When my senses resurfaced a moment later, I did the first thing that came to mind.

“Ouch!” He let me go immediately. He gingerly ran a finger over his bottom lip as he eyed me in disbelief. “You
bit
me?”

“You asked for it. Go, Trevor. Good-bye.”

“Fine. I’ll go. I’m… just one more thing.”

“I’m not interested.” I pointed to the exit, mindful of Lorenzo’s presence and watchful gaze from the back of the store. At least there were no customers to witness the unexpected drama.

Trevor held his hands up in surrender and stepped away. “I’m leaving. But, Bran, I made a mistake. I’m sorry. I miss you, and if there’s any way, any chance….” He paused at the half open door and stared at me meaningfully. “I want you back.”

I watched him exit the store, but I couldn’t move my feet. I was speechless. What the hell was he thinking?

“Did you actually bite that motherfucker? Oh my God! Brandon, you are a savage!” Lorenzo laughed gleefully as he flew to the door to lock it after Trevor. He stopped when he saw the expression on my face. “Are you okay?”

I realized Lo hadn’t overheard Trevor’s parting words, and I certainly wasn’t interested in repeating them. I nodded slowly.

“I’m fine. Thanks, Lo.” I offered him a weak grin, took a deep breath, and walked back to my office. Banking suddenly sounded like a lot of fun. At least numbers didn’t lie.

A
FEW
days later, I received a text from Jake. It was mid-afternoon on a Tuesday and the first I’d heard from him since our Friday night “whatever you want to call it.” I stared at my phone and reread the message a third time.

Hi B-can M & I stop by? Are u free later? Beach.

My heart thundered traitorously in my chest as I typed my reply.