He stepped in front of Luke, blocking the stairs.
“Move!”
Kent continued to walk down slowly.
“Move, dammit, or I’ll shove you out of my way.”
Kent backed against the wall and gestured for Luke to go first.
Thumping down the stairs, Luke burst out the front door. “Nico!”
He searched left and right, but no Nico. Where did he go? How could he have disappeared so fast?
Kent brushed past. “Guess I’m not the only one who’s single again.”
Luke reached for his phone, but of course he’d left it upstairs. Racing back to their apartment, he grabbed his phone. The call went straight to voicemail.
“Fuck!” He pounded out a text. When he hit send, he waited, but it didn’t show as delivered. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”
How did Nico get away so fast? Never mind that, where would he go? Pushing everything else aside, he focused on what Nico would do. The bakery was closed. He wasn’t here. That left . . .
Luke: Hey Elisa. I’m worried about Nico. My ex surprised us right as we were gonna eat and N ran out. If you hear from N, let me know please?
Thank God Elisa knew the truth about them. Except . . . where the fuck did those emails come from?
He opened the email from Nico and scanned the headings. They came from his work email account. But how? He never sent those. Kent must have doctored them.
Checking again, he saw the time, 11:10 a.m. Pulling up his phone list, he saw the call from Coury at 11:03. He returned the call at 11:09, right after Kent . . .
“Son of a bitch.”
Chapter Eighteen
Nico
Elisa: Where are you?
Nico: Getting shitfaced at Woody’s
Elisa: Woody’s is on 13th? Right?
“This is from that guy over there,” the bartender said, sliding a drink toward Nico.
Nico didn’t bother to look around, just pushed the drink back.
Last thing he wanted was someone coming on to him. “Tell him thanks, but I’m waiting for my boyfriend.”
He had no idea who that would be or when he’d meet this ‘boyfriend’, but he was waiting for him.
Nico took a sip of the bourbon and soda he was nursing.
He probably should go to a straight bar. There all he had to do was avoid looking at the girls and no one would care.
Someone dragged the neighboring stool out. “Two bottles of water, please.”
“You came.” He knew she would. The bartender returned, and Nico slid a ten across the counter. “I got these. She’s my sister.”
She nudged one in front of him. “You know you need to alternate to avoid getting sick.”
“Thanks.” He pushed the tumbler aside and took a drink of water. “But I’m not drunk. That’s my first one.”
She sniffed his drink. “Good. This smells like straight bourbon.”
Nico snorted. “I asked him for a splash of Coke, and he took me literally.”
“Sorry, boo, I had just gotten out of the shower when you texted me.”
“It’s okay. I know you have stuff to do.”
“Nothing is more important than being here for you.” She pulled him into a one-armed hug. “What happened?”
Nico choked back a sob. “Luke . . . Kent got dumped and he shows up at our door with his luggage. I told him he wasn’t welcome, and he said Luke told him he could stay.”
He still couldn’t believe it. Didn’t want to.
“And?”
“I told him he was full of shit. Guess he expected that, ’cause he asked me for my email so he could send me the proof.”
“Proof?”
“An email chain from their work accounts. Luke said he could stay. When Kent asked if I’d mind, Luke said he’d talk to me, and I’d be fine.”
Elisa sucked in a breath, and he nodded. “I know. He promised me yesterday he wouldn’t bring him around. That’s what hurts the most. He said he wouldn’t. But first time dickwad asks for help . . .” He shrugged.
First time Kent calls, Luke forgets his promise to Nico and sides with Kent.
“Oh, boo.” She sniffed and started to cry. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you.”
“No.” He pulled her closer. “You didn’t do that. I did. I wanted to talk to him. You just gave me the nudge I needed.”
She shook her head against him. “I did it. You said this would happen, and I told you it wouldn’t.”
“It’s okay.” It wasn’t. Not even close. “Better I know now.”
Elisa leaned back and cradled his face in her hands. “Always the strong one.”
Only he wasn’t. One wrong word, and he’d be bawling on her shoulder. “I need a favor, E.”
“Anything.”
“I can’t go back there. It hurts too much.” In two hours, it went from being the happiest place he could remember to the worst.
“You can stay with me until the wedding.”
“Thanks, E. You’re the best.”
Luke
Luke awoke after a patchy, worry-filled sleep to the empty space where Nico should have been sleeping.
Wherever Nico had gone last night, he hadn’t come back.