Page 41 of Heart Me Up
“Promise me you won’t do anything right now. No texting them back. Call one of them in the morning and ask what all this means.”
I grunted and went back to staring at the phone. Amy gave up and left.
How dare he?Hadn’t we talked about getting tested so we could go bare? Didn’t that imply exclusivity? But a week later he met Malcolm and decided he was the better option?
Alarm bells were going off somewhere in the back of my brain, but I was too tired and too angry to pay attention.
Well, fuck them both.
I texted Craig back, then shut my phone off and walked as fast as possible out of the building.
Chapter18
Craig
I satat the kitchen table with my phone and an empty coffee cup. I’d seen Foster’s text when I’d gotten up to pee around 5am. There was no getting back to sleep after reading that.
Foster: I guess this is goodbye. I hope you two are happy together.
He’d sent that piece of overdramatic bullshit around 3am. At least the text message chime hadn’t woken me up. I kept hoping to see an emoji to tell me he’d been joking, but there wasn’t one.
I’d debated calling Foster as soon as I’d seen his message, but I was sure he’d been up that late because of work so he’d be sleeping now. And I needed to talk to Malcolm.
I had no doubt Malcolm had caused this somehow.
Lisa would be proud, I mused. I hadn’t once wondered whether I’d done something to make Foster believe Malcolm and I were together.
But I was damn curious what Malcolm had texted to Foster to cause him think that.
So first I was going to discuss the situation with Malcolm. Calmly and without yelling. And next I was going to yell at Foster for being an idiot.
Around 6:30am I heard Malcolm’s crutches in the hall. He used the bathroom, then came out into the living room.
“Shit, do you always get up this early?” he asked me.
“Depends on when I need to get to work. But today is a special case.”
I let Malcolm get some coffee. When he was about to sit down, I asked him, “Do you have your phone with you?”
He paused, raising an eyebrow before fishing it out of his pocket as he lowered himself into a chair. “Why? Is there something I need to see?”
I wanted to leap across the table and grab his phone, but I managed to restrict myself to tapping one finger on the tabletop. “I’m interested to know what you texted to Foster yesterday.”
Malcolm grinned at me. “What? He told you about my little joke? Sorry, but I couldn’t resist.”
I spun my phone around and shoved it at him. He squinted at it, then pulled some reading glasses out of his other pocket. Putting them on, he blinked at the text. “He’s kidding, right?” I just stared at him, so he unlocked his phone and frowned at it. “He didn’t respond to me.”
“What did you text him, Malcolm?” I kept my voice calm, but it was an effort.
“When you showed up at Foster’s place I texted him that I thought the cat sitter was hot. Like a joke, right? I’d seen a photo of you on his fridge, so I knew you were dating. And when you asked me to tell Foster we were going to your house, I, uh… said you were taking me home with you.”
“So you thought it’d be funny to imply that you and I were going tofuck?” So much for not yelling.
Malcolm held up his hands. “It was a joke! The Foster I know would never think his boyfriend would throw him over for somebody he just met.” He looked angry and confused.
And he had a valid point. I was irritated as hell at Malcolm for his stupid frat boy humor, but I was furious Foster would think I’d… what? Gone to his house to feed his cat and hopped on the first stray dick I saw?
I sighed. “We’ve only been on a couple of dates.”
