Object of Desire by Dal Maclean

Author:Dal Maclean [MacLean, Dal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay, mystery
ISBN: 9781935560555
Publisher: Blind Eye Books
Published: 2018-03-21T16:22:18+00:00

16

After the flat foor closed behind Will, Tom got up, shoved the crumpled blue linen of his trousers into the laundry basket where he wouldn’t see it and determinedly washed the sex from his skin. Then he went right back to bed, John beside him, though it was still early.

He tried to focus on positive things. New plans. The opportunities the Armani contract had just opened up, the elevated attention it was going to bring, the suddenly attractive idea of moving to New York, as Mel always insisted a top model must.

But his thoughts refused to be ordered; it was like trying to catch eels in his hands. Because Will’s musk was still on the sheets, and Tom’s body was still singing. So after a while he just lay there, and let himself worry and regret, mentally stumbling through the wreckage of the closest thing to a love affair he’d ever had.

The sound of his mobile woke him from the shallow sleep he’d finally managed to court around three a.m. It took a few seconds to fumble the phone from the bedside table to his ear.

“Tom.” Nick’s tone was pure relief, and Tom’s first bleary response to it was a vicious blast of irritation with himself for failing to screen the call. Then, hard on its heels, reflexive guilt.

Because that raw, unedited reaction told him far too much of what he’d been trying to hide from himself, as well as everyone else. That though he forced himself to see Nick still as the man he’d come to care for, something uncivilized inside him now bridled around him, as if all their previous intimacy had been an illusion, and Nick was a pushy stranger, taking liberties.

Tom couldn’t even judge how much of that was because of David Burchill, and how much his feelings for Will.

“Are you there?” Nick sounded less relieved, and more impatient. In fact, he sounded frantic.

“Yeah. Sorry,” Tom muttered. “Just woke up.” He looked at the clock on his beside table. 6:43 a.m.

“Where were you last night?” Nick demanded.

Tom pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it, as if he could convey his dazed disbelief. Nick knew better than to ask that, and especially not in that tone, like a cartoon wife waiting by the door with the rolling pin raised. And to wake him up to ask? “That’s not…”

“Were you with anyone?” Nick shouted. “Where were you?”

Outrage swamped bewilderment. Fuck Nick’s feelings, then.

“I was with Will. We were here.” He closed his eyes, memories and emotions swirling around inside him like clothes in a dryer, flying around, out of his control. He couldn’t think about Will.

There was a short pause. “When did he leave?” Nick’s tone was curt, almost wounded, but still demanding.

Tom scowled at the wall. “About nine,” he said. Clipped. Resentful. Unsure why he was even replying. “Maybe nine thirty…” His doorbell rang. Escape. “And I have to go,” Tom said, with no regret. “There’s someone at the door.”

“Tom! Listen!” The bell sounded again, longer and more persistent.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.