Gone for You (Wild Side 1)

“Of course you will,” Oliver said honestly. He hated the truth that he had to admit but if he didn’t, he would never get past this. He would never get over Matt. He saw now more than ever, that he needed to. “You always run the second something gets tough. It’s what you do best.”

Matt stared at him, grinding his teeth so hard Oliver could see his jaw lock. Then, without a word, he turned and went for the stairs.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Oliver ran his finger along the edge of his glass. It was Friday night. Miles and Chance sat beside him at their table. People danced, lights flashed, music pumped through the speakers as it did every Friday night, but it felt muted to him. Like his pulse didn’t beat with the life around him the way it usually did. He didn’t like it. That the completeness he always felt spending time with the two men beside him just wasn’t there. He was always at ease with his friends but tonight? Tonight he just felt like shit.

It had been a few days since Matt left. Oliver assumed he was back in New York but considering they hadn’t spoken to each other, he didn’t know. Every time Matt had left Los Angeles in the past, he’d always let Oliver know when he was safe in New York. Maybe that was silly but it was one of those things that had never changed through the years.

Oliver glanced at Chance, who bobbed his head to the music. Next, he turned his head toward Miles, who was busy watching a go-go dancer a few feet away from them.

Oliver hadn’t said anything to Miles and Chance about his fight with Matt or the fact that Matt left. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that they wondered where Matt was and they would mention it. He would give them until five…four…three…two…

“What’s wrong, baby boy?” Chance nudged him softly in his side, and Oliver chuckled. He’d known it and despite how he felt, he found some comfort in that. In his friends and their relationship.

“What’s so funny?” Chance asked.

“Nothing. I just know you guys well.”

Miles sighed beside him. “And we know you well. Let me guess, Matt left? Likely at the last minute?”

Oliver dropped his head against the back of the bench seat. He didn’t have a choice. They’d have this out. There wasn’t a chance they’d let this slide and the truth was, he would be just as determined as them if the situation was reversed so he decided he should just get it over with now. “Yes, he did.” He looked Chance’s way. “We were fucking, by the way.”

“What?” Chance lurched forward. “Why didn’t I know that shit? I’m always the last one to know everything.”

“Because you’re better at trying to mind your own business than I am,” Miles answered and then added, “get up.”

“Huh?” Oliver asked even though he’d heard what Miles said. He was staying in this seat. He was fairly safe where he was.

“I said get up,” Miles repeated. “Let’s go. We’re not talking about this here. Let’s go to Chance’s.”

Chance lived in the heart of West Hollywood, not too far from Wild Side. They could walk to his place in less than ten minutes, and it was probably smart. They would do this one way or another and it would be a lot less embarrassing getting scolded at Chance’s place than it would at Wild Side.

Dare was behind the bar tonight. He gave them a sexy smirk when they approached him. “You heading out early tonight?” he asked.

“Yeah, our boy got his heart broken,” Chance replied.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Chance. Thanks a lot.” Oliver’s life would be a whole lot easier if he could hate them. He tried really, really hard sometimes.

“He’s pretty enough to break any man’s heart.” Dare winked at him. Apparently, it was pretty fucking obvious he was gone for Matt.

“Well, any man but me,” Dare continued. “Austin has me on lockdown.”

Everyone except Oliver chuckled, then Miles took over like he did so well, saying they needed to go. They cleared out their tab with Dare and then headed down Robertson before they hung a left and went to Chance’s apartment.

He lived in a small, one bedroom. He could afford much more than what he had but that was the way Chance worked. In some ways, he was more high maintenance than Miles or Oliver, but in others, he was the simplest of them all.

The second they were enclosed inside his place, Oliver walked over and sat on the red couch that he wouldn’t let within a mile of his house. Who the hell had a red couch? But it fit Chance perfectly. He was more the typical, quirky artist in ways Oliver and Miles weren’t.

“I fucking told you, Ollie. I told you to be careful when it comes to Matt. But did you listen? No. And before you rip open your jacket to reveal your hero cape, it’s not because Matt’s a bad guy; he’s just not the right guy for you. I knew this would happen. I fucking knew it.” Miles crossed his arms, looking at Oliver as though he was a child instead of a grown-ass man.