Page 84 of The Making of Jonty Bloom
“I think so.”
“Who’s he?” Willis asked.
“A guy I went out with on a few dates. He wasn’t…my type. He’s sent me other stuff. Handcuffs, a dildo, a bag full of used condoms.”
“Eww.” Willis mock-wretched.
“I think the police will charge him now. If he gets put under a restraining order, it should make him leave me alone.”
“Fucking hell, Jonty,” Mike said. “You told me he was pestering you, but why didn’t you tell me how bad things were?”
“Because it was my problem.”And you have Willis now.Jonty was sort of surprised Mike hadn’t told him.
“Right,” Mike said. “Let’s get to work. And be careful. I’m Australian. I know more than I want to about snakes.”
THEY HAD EVERYTHING PACKED WITHINan hour. Jonty didn’t have much, but by the time his furniture and bike were in the vehicle, there was barely enough room for the boxes and for him. He crawled over the passenger seat to the place where Devan had sat what seemed like weeks ago.
“Everything can stay in the van,” Mike said as they set off. “While we’re not busy, I can use the other one. If you don’t find a place quickly, we’ll store your things in our garage. So what happened to your posh guy, Jonty?”
Jonty’s heart twanged like a tight violin string. “Myposh guy? He’s not mine.”
“You didn’t bond over your near-death experience?” Willis asked.
“That’s about all we had in common.”
“You can sleep in our guest room,” Willis said. “Don’t leap at the first place you find.”
“Thanks.” He hadn’t expected that.
“Leap at the second.” Willis turned and smiled.
Which Jonty thought was the true indicator of what Willis wanted even though he was smiling, but he wouldn’t be staying any longer than he needed to.
“Damn it, Mike,” Jonty said. “You told me Willis was up for a threesome.”
Mike laughed. Willis didn’t.
That was the only humorous comment that Jonty could manage. When both Mike and Willis said nice things about his sea glass art, Jonty barely responded. He was shocked by how quickly everything had fallen apart.
Once he was in the guys’ house with his bag of essentials, he refused an offer of food and went straight to the guest room. It might be early, but he wanted to curl up somewhere safe.
DEVAN SEETHED ALL THE WAYback to the hotel. He’d finally found a reason to smile and now he was angry again. Though Jonty had made him see sense. Ravi and Griff were welcome to each other. Let Griff put up with Ravi’s moods and strange habits! They were both as spoilt as one another. Interesting to see how that would pan out.
He was still torn over whether he should have stayed outside Jonty’s place, but there was no knowing how long he’d have had to sit there waiting, and the sooner he got rid of Ravi, the better. If Ravi accidentally or deliberately blabbed about what Devan did for a living, the whole deal could come unstuck. McAllister had asked for it to be kept quiet, and Devan wanted to work something out for Jonty before he told him he’d soon be minus a job, assuming it came to that.
There’d also been something in Ravi’s tone that had worried him. Bad news about Griff? But wouldn’t his parents or one of his siblings have been in touch if that was the case? Unless they didn’t know.
His phone rang as he headed into the hotel and he stopped to answer it. Thiswasthe call he’d wanted to get. Well, one of them. He’d have preferred it to be a call from Jonty.
“Devan Smith.”
“I was going to let you stew for a couple of days,” McAllister said. “But my family are all for me selling, so get your people in and make me an offer.”
“That’s great. Thanks.”
“I’d like to emphasise that I want this kept strictly confidential. If the deal goes ahead, I’d want to tell the staff and permanent residents myself.”
“Of course.”
