Reservations

“Now, what are you asking?”

Thane quickly moved the phone back an inch or two, ignored the instant headache, and sat on the edge of his sofa, still staring at the screen. “I’m on my alumni messaging app—I think that’s what it’s called. It’s a community in Secret. Did I say that right?”

“Sort of,” Dylan said, sounding somewhat confused. “Keep going.”

“Okay, so I’m catching up with a student and he keeps calling me Nathaniel—”

“Who’s Nathaniel?” Dylan asked, cutting him off.

Thane never strayed off course. “Is there a chance he can’t see my whole name? Or is he just being annoying?”

“I don’t know. Hang on. I’ll call in for you.” He heard Tristan begin to whine in the background and that made Thane smile as he used the mouse pad to click back to Levi’s profile picture. How had he missed the opportunity to take a few shots of Levi before he’d messed things up so badly? If he ever got the chance again, he’d absolutely get as many photos as he could.

“Babe, tell him to use Secret’s live chat option to find his answers,” Tristan said from a distance.

“I can get the answer for him faster. Hang on, Thane,” Dylan yelled from even farther away.

He heard Tristan’s irritation too clearly for the guy not to have picked up the phone, “You know I was working my way to gettin’ lucky tonight.”

“Well, don’t stop on my account,” Thane encouraged. For the first time in days, a genuine grin spread across his face as he got to his feet and began pacing across his small living room floor.

“I only stopped on your account,” Tristan shot back defensively. “You know, he lives a five-hour plane ride from me—”

“No. You told me he moved to California.” Thane cut off that lie before Tristan could even fully get it out of his mouth.

“He did, but he lived away from me for so long, we have a lot to make up for.”

Thane laughed straight out loud. Tristan had effectively justified his lie in good form. Very well done. He’d have to give that a point in Tristan’s favor.

“Hey, tell me, how’s Julian? I haven’t heard from him in a while.”

Tristan had all the answers tonight. The thought of the irritating Julian was the buzz-kill that abruptly ended his good time. With a deep sigh, Thane stopped in front of his window, looking down, absently watching snow cover the town he loved.

“Tristan, I’m straight up telling you Julian’s a pain in my ass.”

Now it was Tristan’s turn to bark out a laugh. “I bet. He’s unstoppable.”

“You have no idea. He runs off every manager I have, then he takes that job and incorporates it into his. He’s got his nose in everyone’s business, and dammit, he never misses a beat. He’s a workhorse. It’s all he does,” Thane said, his brow slowly furrowed as he thought about his words. Work was truly all Julian did, and why did that feel off all of a sudden?

“Makes it hard to fire him,” Tristan added, drawing Thane’s attention back to the conversation.

“Damn straight.”

“Tell Thane,” Dylan said, his voice close to the receiver, “if his profile’s set to private, all anyone can see is his first name from the school record and his school status of three options: student, faculty, or alum. The application’s designed to be a helpful communication tool, not a full social media site.”

Ah. Okay, that explained it. Levi didn’t know who Nathaniel was. “Tell him thank you,” Thane finally said.

“Next time do live chat,” Tristan teased, yet sounded completely sincere at the same time.

“Why would I ever do that? This was so much simpler. Goodnight.” Thane disconnected the call before Tristan got the chance to hang up on him and went back to the sofa. Levi’s picture was still taking up the entire screen.

He wasn’t sure how he felt about this now. The little high he’d gotten when Levi had responded so quickly began to fade. They hadn’t had a coming together. They were technically still at deep odds with one another. Shutting the laptop lid, Thane decided he needed time to think. Like Julian had said several times, Levi didn’t need him creating more chaos in his life. Not right now. On that thought, Thane picked up his wine bottle and glass, taking them to the kitchen. He needed to really consider his actions, each and every one of them, before moving forward.

He trotted down the stairs, dropping his robe over a chair, and his pajama pants on the floor beside his bed. He crawled on top of the mattress, pulling the blanket over his body as he reached for his Levi-scented pillow. Several minutes passed as he stared out the window at the heavy snowfall. Thane guessed the decision was made.

On one level, it did make him a bit of an asshole. His past relationships revealed his patterns. He’d lose interest in Levi rather quickly, ultimately hurting him more in the end, but unfortunately, that didn’t seem to matter. His heart wanted Levi like it had never wanted anything before. And he did see differences in this situation compared to previous relationships with men he’d dated before. For the first time ever, his attraction wasn’t just sexual desire that pushed him to pursue. He wanted Levi to be a part of his day-to-day life, and he also found he wanted to help Levi. He wanted Levi’s warm body to be what he snuggled up with at night, and he wanted Levi to have someone there with him so he didn’t have to bear all those burdens alone.