Oliver opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by the sound of Matt’s phone. Bailey took his card and left as Matt considered ignoring Parker’s call. He couldn’t, though. He needed to talk to his agent.
“I have to get this,” Matt told him before he answered with a “Hello?”
“Hey, I take it everything is good?” Parker asked.
There was no real emotion in Parker’s question. Matt didn’t fault Parker for it. He knew his ex-boyfriend and current agent cared about him; that just wasn’t how they’d ever really worked. “Yep. Good to go. I feel more relaxed already.” It was actually true.
“Good. I have a proposition for you. I’ll email you the information, but I know how you are with that shit. It’ll take you a month to respond to it. There’s a job coming up in LA. They want you for it. It’s a simple spread for a magazine, but it’s in two weeks. I’m not sure how long you planned to stay, but I thought that might work out for you. You’ll be rested and recuperated. You won’t have to hurry home.”
“Are you trying to get rid of me?” Matt teased him, even though the truth was they had a lot to work out. At least, he did. He lived in Parker’s apartment. They had to figure out what would go on with work. Or that was another thing Matt had to make a decision about, at least.
“No. You know that. There’s always room here for you. I’m just…we need to figure out what you’re doing. Is this a permanent vacation? Are you done working? Just slowing down on the job?”
This didn’t surprise him. Parker was fierce when it came to his work, as he should be. But still, “It’s only been a couple of days since I left.”
“Say no if you’re not ready. I just thought I’d offer. They want you but if you can’t do it, you can’t do it. I just thought it made sense considering you’re already there.”
Matt glanced at Oliver as though he would have the answers for him. As soon as he did, Matt forced his eyes to dart away. He didn’t need Oliver or anyone else to make his decisions for him. “Send me everything I need to know. I’ll check it out and get back to you tonight but yeah…unless there’s a big reason for me not to do it, I will.”
“That’s my boy,” Parker told him. “Have fun with lover man.” Parker hung up the phone. Yeah, they definitely should have broken up long ago. They were better off as friends. That much was obvious.
“Everything okay?” Oliver asked. His voice was filled with concern that was typical of Oliver.
“Yeah, it was Parker. He has a shoot for me to do in LA in two weeks. You okay with being stuck with me that long? If you want your house back—”
“You just want me to ask you to stay with me.” Oliver winked at him.
It was the only answer Matt needed.
“Now that we have that settled, let’s go. I’m taking you to Sprinkles for dessert.”
Matt pushed to his feet and tried to ignore the weight that suddenly sat in his gut. Two weeks. He’d be ready to get in front of the camera again in two weeks. It was time he got over it.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
There was something going on with Matt when it came to his work, but Oliver couldn’t put his finger on what it was. He’d looked nervous as hell when Bailey spoke to him at the restaurant the other night. He’d become tense and rigid when he spoke to Parker on the phone about the upcoming job. He wasn’t happy. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out, but there was more to it than that.
He also knew there was no way in hell Matt would just come out and tell him. It had been in the back of Oliver’s mind as they’d gone about their week, which had actually passed by smoothly.
Oliver wrote like hell every day, the words forming in his brain faster than he could type them out. Their trip to the Getty had been exactly what he needed.…Or hell, maybe it was because things had felt normal between him and Matt since then.
They’d had cereal for dinner twice—Matt complaining that Oliver was going to make him get fat and cause him to lose his job. They’d laughed and watched movies and spent their evenings together. It was good to have Matt back. It was good to spend time with his friend again.
Speaking of Matt, Oliver made his way to the open door of the guest room. “Jesus, does it always take you this long to get ready? You’re worse than Chance.”
Matt popped his head out of the en suite. “I’m not taking a long time. Am I taking a long time?” Oliver cocked a brow at Matt before the man added, “Fuck you.”