Page 11 of Rico

Brian stormed out the door before Rico could say anything more.

“Fuck,” he muttered, running a trembling hand down his face. He hadn’t yet gotten around to telling Evan that piece of his personal history. In fact, he hoped they would’ve been a lot farther into their relationship before he needed to confess his past. Now, he wondered if he’d ever get a chance. The last thing he wanted was to see the disgust in Evan’s eyes that he just saw in his son’s.

“Guess he found out about your arrest and didn’t dig further to find the truth.” Rico turned to face Jeremy Smith, a retired SFPD detective who witnessed one of the worst weeks in Rico’s life. The now gray-haired man hadn’t been involved in the rape case but learned about it after another horrible event Rico lived through. “I heard the yelling from the bathroom. Otherwise, I would’ve stepped in and set the kid straight.” His voice carried throughout the bar, letting everyone else know that Rico wasn’t what he’d just been accused of being.

“Thanks, Jer.”

“You’re dating his father?” When Rico nodded, Jeremy placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Talk to the guy—he’ll understand. And if he doesn’t, he’s an ass.”

Feeling numb, Rico nodded again, then returned to the receipts and began piling them up in random order. Just thinking about telling Evan what happened years ago had Rico’s stomach threatening to rebel against the sandwich he’d eatenfor lunch. He was so afraid Evan wouldn’t give him a chance to explain or believe him when he did.

Six

“R

ico, is everything okay? I’ve left a few messages. Please call me when you get a chance.” Evan disconnected the call and sighed in exasperation, hating that his voicemail sounded desperate.

After he had to cancel their date on Thursday, he thought everything was okay, but when he called Rico on his break, he got the man’s voicemail with no callback. Evan shrugged it off, thinking the bar might have been busy. But when he left another message on Rico’s voicemail the next day, asking if they were still on for that evening, he received a text back saying Rico needed to cancel, but with no further explanation. It was now Sunday morning, and Evan still hadn’t spoken to him. He only got the occasional text saying Rico was busy and couldn’t take time from the bar to see Evan.

The disappointment rolling through him physically hurt. Even though his relationship with Rico was new, he honestly thought they had something good developing between them. But it seemed like he was getting the brush off now, and he didn’t know why.

“Morning.”

Evan looked up from the kitchen table to see Brian stroll in. The boys slept over at Evan’s place last night because Susan had gone on another date with the new man in her life. When Evan spoke to her on the phone yesterday, she sounded happy. It made him smile because that’s what he wanted for her, but after hanging up, a flash of jealousy went through him. He thought Rico was special—what they had was special—but was it just a fling and wishful thinking on Evan’s part?

Maybe he’d go to the Cock & Bull later to see if he could corner Rico there and find out what was going on. Had Evan done something wrong? He didn’t think so.

God, this sucks. The first guy you actually want to date—like seriously, date—and you start falling for him, and then things go to shit.

As Brian sat at the table, Evan tried to paste on a smile. “Good morning. How’d you sleep?” A lazy shrug was his answer. Getting to his feet, he opened the refrigerator. “Bacon and eggs or pancakes?”

“Bacon, eggs, and pancakes?” Mark said hopefully as the fourteen-year-old appeared in the doorway. “Hash browns, too, if you have some.”

Evan laughed. It’d been a long time since he was a teenager, eating everything in sight, but having two growing boys meant he had to keep the fridge and pantry stocked for whenever they visited or spent the night. “Three hungry-man specials coming up.”

Pushing the MIA Rico from his mind for the moment, Evan gathered the ingredients he needed to make his kids a big breakfast.

The pounding on his condo door gave him a headache, and Rico wished whoever it was would just give up already. His hopes were dashed, though, when he heard the lock disengage, and Scout pushed the door open, then closed it behind him. He was dressed in jeans, a Turner Continental T-shirt, and sneakers, which meant that today, he was free of any obligations that required him to wear a suit, or at least dress pants and a TC polo shirt.

Rico scowled at him. “I gave you a key for emergencies only.”

“This is an emergency,” he replied dryly, dropping down on the couch across from the recliner Rico spent the day sulking in. “You see, the man who’s like a brother to me is fucking up the best thing that’s ever happened to him, and I need to know why.”

“What are you talking about?”

Scout frowned. “Alex and I stopped by the bar, and Gino told us you’ve been home sick the past three days. Then, before I have a chance to say ‘What the fuck?’ because you didn’t say anything to me about being sick, Alex gets a phone call from Evan, asking if he knows if you’re okay. He’s worried because he hasn’t been able to get you on the phone. And when he tried to stop by, he couldn’t find you at the bar, and you wouldn’t answer your phone when the concierge called to see if it was okay for them to send him up. So, tell me, brother,what the fuckis going on?”

He rolled his bloodshot eyes and sipped the beer he cracked open a few minutes earlier—his third of the day. “It wasn’t working out. End of story.”

“Bullshit, Rico. This is me you’re talking to. You floated around on cloud nine for two weeks—something I’ve never seen you do—and now, suddenly, it’s over? What happened?”

Rico considered lying to his best friend, but he owed it to him to be honest. “His kid stopped by the bar the other day and warned me off his dad.”

Scout’s eyes narrowed. “What? Why’d he do that?”

“He doesn’t want his father dating an accused rapist.”

“Aw, fuck. He seriously said that?”

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