Page 10 of Primary Seduction
Trent
Trent had been searching for his watch when Max had rung. He ended the call and immediately called Samuel’s number. He was always more than happy to help when someone needed it, and Trent knew this was Samuel’s area of expertise.
“Samuel Walker.”
Trent laughed. “Do you even look at the phone before you answer? You’d know it was me if you did.”
“Hey, Trent. No, I don’t look at it although I probably should. It would save me time and again from talking to people I don’t want to.” Samuel huffed.
Samuel was two years older than he was and the eldest of the five of them. Carter came two years after Trent did, Luke three years after that, and then baby Ava four years after Luke. Carter went into law as well, just in a different area to Samuel. Luke was a personal trainer and Ava was a police officer, and in a coincidence turned out to be Logan’s partner. Small world.
“Yes, it would definitely help you out. Are you busy?” Trent asked.
“Not for you. What’s up?” Samuel’s voice took on a “take-on-the-world” tone he’d come to expect of his big brother.
“I have a friend who has a friend in need of advice.”
“Okay. Do you know what it’s about?”
Trent heard rustling and assumed Samuel was taking notes. “A potential custody case. I don’t have any more information to be honest.”
“Yeah, not a problem. It’s my speciality after all. Let’s see…” Trent could hear more noise on the other end of the line. “How about tomorrow, say four?”
“Can you pencil them in, and I’ll just double check the time is all right and let you know?”
“I’ll put it under your name. Teresa will know not to cancel it then.”
“Thanks, Sammy.” Trent used his childhood nickname for his brother only occasionally, a reminder of their younger years.
Samuel chuckled. “You’re welcome, T-man.”
Trent smiled. “I’ll speak to you in a bit.”
They hung up, and Trent called Max. Five minutes later, after Max had rung off to confirm with his friend, he’d rung back to agree the time, allowing Trent to accept the four o’clock timeslot. Max had also given Trent a name to pass to Samuel: Zak. He’d been a little shocked when Max had confirmed who it was, but Trent had not asked any questions. He’d passed the information to Samuel and told him he’d speak to him in a few days.
He resumed the search for his watch. Trent searched the lounge area and when that brought up nothing, he searched through the rest of the apartment. He knew he’d put his watch down before he went out the previous night—it had been itching him, so he’d taken it off for the evening. It was nowhere to be found. He hoped he’d not left it somewhere else as his dad had given it to him—it was a family heirloom.
He sat on the sofa and rubbed his hand over his mouth and chin. This wasn’t the first item that had gone missing; a few weeks ago, it was his cufflinks; he still hadn’t found them. Trent was beginning to get worried. With the missing items on top of the recurring headaches he’d been having, his mind immediately went down the dementia route. It sounded drastic, but he didn’t know what else it could be. He’d already been to see the doctor about the headaches. They’d said he was stressed and tired with work and had prescribed B12—supposedly to help with his memory and to give him an energy boost. Things were still happening though. Not long after starting on the tablets, Trent remembered he’d thought he’d taken too many tablets one day, and then the next day, there was the correct number again. Adding in hallucinations, he didn’t know what to think anymore.
He dialled Jocelyn. He wanted to catch up with her; he hadn’t been able to get hold of her for that last few days. It went straight to voicemail, and looking at his clock, he realised she was probably in class. Trent left a message asking her to call him when she had a minute. Ending the call, he hovered over Harper’s name, then dialled. He didn’t expect her to answer but he could always leave another message. As expected, she didn’t answer either so he left a brief monologue about how he missed her and would love to see her. Harper hated all the emotion mumbo-jumbo but if there was something wrong with him—he wanted to make sure she knew how he felt.
He looked at the clock again and debated whether to stay at home tonight. His headache made him nauseous, but he decided to grab a banana and some paracetamol and to go get himself spruced up. After all, this was going to be a huge party. Everyone involved had worked so hard, they needed this chance to relax a little.
****
An hour later, he was ready to go. He couldn’t remember whether anyone had said there would be food there, but he hoped there would be. He had nothing in his fridge that would do for a meal. He’d decided to drive to Crush—he’d had enough alcohol last night—and he didn’t want to make his headache any worse by having some tonight too.
He expected it to be packed. That night was a three-fold event for Crush: the grand opening of the Garden Bar, a usual Friday night and it was also Valentine’s night. If Crush wasn’t busy tonight, it never would be in his opinion.
And it was. He struggled to find a parking space anywhere near and had to walk about half a mile. The fresh air had seemed to clear his head, so he didn’t complain despite how cold it was. When he got into the bar itself, it was crazy; loud and hot even though it was freezing outside. He pushed his way through the crowd towards the bar, smiled at Charlie and ordered his one and only beer. After his first swallow, he turned and surveyed the customers; somewhere in there were Asher and Logan, he just had to find them.
He decided to look outside first and foremost, especially as he still had his jacket on. Trudging towards the open doors, he nudged past people, known and unknown, until he reached the relief of open air. Flapping his shirt to cool down, he glanced around to find any of his friends and spotted Max. He made a beeline for him, thinking the others would probably be nearby.
He saw when Max noticed him, but Trent didn’t see the guy next to him until he stood in front of them. If he had seen him—or at least their positioning—he would have steered clear. Max had one arm wrapped around a six-foot guy with blond, shoulder length hair and the bluest eyes he’d ever seen, and the guy returned Max’s embrace. The guy rested his hand on Max’s waist and tucked him close. Max was almost resting his cheek against the guy’s shoulder; they were that close.
“Hey, Trent,” Max said.
“Hi. Sorry I didn’t realise you had company. I’ll go find Asher. I thought he might be with you.” Trent turned to look around from his vantage point but couldn’t see anyone.
