Unbreakable (Unrestrained 4)

“Hey, old man,” he said when we were finished. He laughed and slapped me good-naturedly on the back. “I whooped your ass. Usually, I have some competition.”

“I’m still your boss,” I said with a grin.

When we were on our way out of the health club, and on our way to our favorite diner for breakfast, he turned to me when we were at a stoplight.

“So, you want me to do some digging about Kurt and Dawn?”

I nodded. “Discreetly. I don’t want to cause any more problems between Dawn and Kate.”

“Is there a reason Kate’s concerned about this?” Dave asked as we found a parking spot a block away from the diner. “I thought she and Kurt had a thing once. Is Kate upset?”

“Kate’s worried about her mental state,” I said and shrugged, trying to decide how truthful I could be with Dave. We’d been friends for a while but I liked to maintain some kind of business relationship with him. “Dawn tried to break us up back when I first started to see Kate. Dawn’s slightly unstable emotionally. Kate’s worried that Kurt’s the wrong kind of guy for her. He’s pretty wild, from what I’ve heard, which was why Kate and Kurt broke up…”

“Okay,” Dave said. “I’ll make certain inquiries…” Then he grinned at me. “Discreetly.”

“Discreetly,” I said and nodded. I didn’t smile back. I wouldn’t put it past Dawn to do something irrational. I didn’t know Dawn personally, but everything told me that she was rigid and overly-involved in Kate’s life, even for a best friend.

We had brunch and talked about foundation business and then I said goodbye and drove back to the apartment. When I entered the foyer, I saw Kate in the living room with a cup of coffee, the paper in her hand.

“Hey,” I said and went over to her.

“Hey,” she replied and lifted her face up to me. We kissed and I stroked her cheek, smiling at her. She looked so comfortable with her feet tucked under her, the paper in her hand, a cup in the other. “Did you eat?”

“A bagel and cream cheese. You and Dave did brunch?”

I plopped down on the sofa beside her. “Yes, and we talked foundation stuff and he beat me very soundly at racquetball.”

“Poor Drake,” she said and made a pouty face before leaning over to kiss my cheek. “You’re out of practice. I’ve kept you away from your usual pastimes.”

“I chose to stay away from them,” I said. “I felt bad saying no to Dave again, so I felt I had to go today.”

She nodded and then hesitated, frowning.

“What?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Nothing.” She turned back to her newspaper.

Then I realized she probably wanted to know whether I spoke with Dave about Kurt and Dawn.

“I asked Dave about Kurt and Dawn.”

She turned to me, her eyes wide. “You did? What did he say?”

“He didn’t know much, except that Kurt and Dawn were together at the fundraiser. I asked him to discreetly make certain inquiries…”

She made a face of uncertainty. “What did he say to that?”

“He said he’d ask around, but do it carefully. I told him you were worried about her because Kurt was pretty wild. I think he understands.”

“Good,” she said and sighed, as if it had been weighing on her mind. “I don’t understand why she’d be with him, considering the way she felt about you.”

“Epiphany?”

“More like conversion on the road to Damascus, except on the road to BDSM…”

“Dave will be careful,” I said, hoping I was right. He could be direct at times, but he was smart. I hoped he understood that this was delicate. I didn’t want Kate to be friends with Dawn again, because I didn’t trust Dawn. I thought she was too unstable and judgmental. But I didn’t want Kate to worry, either. I wanted to be there for her, be her shoulder, her sounding board.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exactly as we wanted, lounging on the couch, reading the paper and drinking coffee and talking about our dinner with the O’Rileys. When it came time to get ready for dinner, Kate looked reluctant.