Chapter Two

Adam stared at Matt. So many thoughts ran through his head. He’d wanted to talk to Matt a hundred times beyond the cursory chats in the laundry room and the quick conversations in the elevator. So why hadn’t he bothered to get to know his neighbor better? Why not hang out? He’d been afraid. Adam scooped the rice in his spoon and watched Matt shove the food around his plate. He should’ve known Matt would close off when Nick’s name was mentioned. Garig had been a sore spot for the both of them.

“How—how long have you and Nick...you know?” Matt asked. “Freshman year?”

“We’ve known each other since the first day of classes. We got lucky because we got along.” Adam placed his spoon back on the foam container. “He’s the best friend I’ve ever had.”

“Friends. Right.” Matt groaned. “Next time you talk to him, let him know...I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you tell him yourself?” Adam moved his container out of the way. He and Matt needed to clear a few things up before they did anything else. “You’re all upset. I bet if I got him on the computer, he’d be happy to hear from you.”

“Why?” Matt stared at him. “You’re his boyfriend. This is getting weird.”

Boyfriend? Adam processed what he’d heard and what he’d said. He’d mentioned the kissing experiments. Shit. “Okay, hold up.”

“What’s there to hold?”

“First, you’re holding something back, or you wouldn’t be so pissy. Second, your brother and I have never been together that way. We kissed because of a dare, because we wanted to get away from a couple of gross guys trying to pick us up at a bar and because we were drunk. The relationship never got past being friends. Does that help things a bit? I wouldn’t ask you over if I wasn’t sure I wanted you here.” He gritted his teeth to keep from talking but couldn’t not say the next few words on his tongue. “Your lack of faith disturbs me.” The movie reference brought a laugh from deep within him. He hadn’t been able to make silly pop culture references with his last boyfriend, and Nick hated the movie discussions.

“Not...boyfriends?” Matt still wasn’t eating, but he seemed to relax a bit.

“Not a chance. He likes blonds.” Adam shrugged. “So other than you thinking I had his dick in my ass, what’s wrong?”

“The fire. Those things are hard to contain and dangerous. If I’d have known you could talk to him, I—I don’t know what I would’ve done.”

“Probably bugged me until I could hook you up.” Adam shrugged again then glanced out the window. “I would’ve done it and happily. Now eat. The smoke isn’t getting any better outside, and it’s starting to rain dust and shit out there.” He gazed out at the crud flying through the air. “Did Alistair say he’d call or just fix the thing?”

“I don’t know,” Matt said between bites. “I didn’t ask. Probably should’ve.”

“We’ll give him another couple of hours then call. He might have the parts downstairs and is busy with something else right now.” He turned back to Matt. “I’m sure we can find something to do.”

“Probably.” Matt finished his food and downed the bottle of water. “Thanks. I’ve been living on baloney sandwiches.”

“Really?” Adam picked up the empty containers then discarded the refuse. “Feel free to raid the fridge. Whatever I’ve got is yours.” He grabbed a bottle of soda. “This is my treat for the day. I’m up to my eyeballs in referbs.”

“Referbs?” Matt swallowed the last of the water in his bottle. “You work on all these computers?”

“Yep. It’s my way of staying out of public without losing an income. People call me and drop off their devices at the shop on the corner. I work on them, usually a couple days’ worth of work, then take them back. The people think my friend, Clint, does the work. I don’t care. This way I don’t have to deal with people, and we both make money.” Adam opened three of the laptops. “The viruses can usually be wiped, but then I have to wipe the machine. The PCs are harder, but I make it work.”

“Nice.”

“What do you do? You never mentioned your job.” Adam tapped the keys on one of the laptops. “You’re a personal trainer, aren’t you?”

“No.” Matt managed a smile. “I work out every morning downstairs at the gym, but I’ve never been a personal trainer. You don’t want to know where I work.”

“Why? Are you a stripper? You’ve got the body for it.” Adam focused on the laptop. A mental image of a naked Matt filled his head. He suppressed the moan. He’d never seen Matt without a shirt, but he’d noticed him in plenty of tight T-shirts and those jeans. His mouth watered. He wanted to rip the clothes from Matt and explore his sexy body.