Love Me Tomorrow (18 page)

“You thought you were going to lose your one and only constant.” Jake nodded, signaling that he understood. “What she had, pneumonia with sepsis, it’s nasty stuff and with the added complications of heart failure—a whole lot of people die from that every year, Levi.”

“For days I sat in the waiting room of that hospital as a revolving door of her dancer friends and a plethora of exes came and went.”

“I can’t believe no one from the hospital noticed you were alone all that time and called someone to be with you.”

“Oh, I left often enough, leaving at night when one of her girlfriends did, so it looked like I wasn’t on my own, and then waiting in the main lobby the next morning until I spotted another of her friends coming into the hospital who I could follow back up.”

“That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard, Levi.”

“I learned very early on that there was no one I could count on, but me. Things were better after we relocated here. Money was tighter, as Ruby couldn’t manage to hold onto a job for very long—she either got fired due to that free spirit of hers or because she fell ill too often. That’s how she eventually ended up on disability.”

“I guess what I appreciated about your mother is that she always says what she means. So different than the home that I grew up in, where no one said what they meant.”

“I can see that.” Levi smiled.

“It’s so odd to me that no one has taken you off the market before now,” Jake said, propping himself up with a pillow he snagged from the top of the bed. “I think you’re so great, as you well know by now.”

“I work a lot, and that tends to squash any time for meeting people.”

“That why you started dating Angelo?”

“You mean, ’cause he works for me?”

Jake nodded, trying to hold back the snarky grin and failing miserably.

He decided not to answer, which seemed the safest bet since he wasn’t actually dating Angelo for real.

“What about you and Victor?” Levi asked. “What made you fall for him?”

“He had a massive ego, which I mistakenly took for confidence.” Jake smirked when Levi laughed. “Two totally different things, but also, he listened to all my sad stories and never judged me, which was refreshing.”

“I kinda did that, huh?”

“You were angry and you lashed out, Levi. Considering I wasn’t completely honest with you, well-meaning motives or not, I kinda led you on, so you had good reason to be pissed.”

“I guess.”

“Allow me to apologize for my parents, by the way. That dinner… so humiliating. Growing up, I felt like a tool trotted out during election years to obtain votes for my father, who pretended to love his gay son, all the while telling me what a disappointment I was.”

“Why do they disapprove of what you do so much? I think it’s a really noble thing, being a paramedic… seeing people in the absolute worst moments of their lives?”

“Because being a paramedic isn’t special enough for a Freeman, naturally.” Jake sighed. “Saving lives wasn’t okay unless I was going to go to medical school and become a doctor. All Harold cared about was how it would look to voters. Of course the son of a bitch wasn’t above using my career path during his campaign to try and connect with the ‘working man’ voter.”

Levi cringed, completely able to understand why that would piss Jake off.

“I finally had to threaten him in order to get him to stop pimping me out like he was proud of who I was, when nothing could be further from the truth.”

“Let me guess, that’s when your relationship went south?”

“Yep, nail on the head there, buddy. That was a few months after I’d met Victor. I was convinced he’d break up with me once he found out that connection with my parents had been permanently severed. He knew the relationship was strained, because he’d asked a lot of questions when we first met.”

“Well, yeah, but that’s kinda natural when you first start dating someone.”

Jake shook his head. “Totally normal, but growing up in the public eye makes you paranoid and suspicious of strangers. So often people only tried getting close to me because they thought they could get something out of it. And in my experience, too many personal questions were usually a sign that a guy liked the idea of my family more than they liked me.”

“That just seems crazy to me, Jake, you’re…” Levi trailed off, realizing he was about to say too much. “…neat.”

“Um… don’t strain yourself trying to come up with an adequate adjective or anything.”

Levi shot him a nasty look. “You were saying what about your
boyfriend
?”

Jake sneered at Levi. “That it turned out Victor didn’t care about my family after all. He has always been extremely motivated—determined to make a success of himself or die trying. If I were a daughter, Victor would have been exactly the type of man my father would have wanted for a son-in-law. He grew up poor, worked hard, studied hard, and got accepted into an Ivy League school on a full scholarship. Victor is a self-made man—a fantastic back story that would’ve played well to the masses were it not for the fact he was playing hide the sausage with me.” Jake laughed under his breath, as if suddenly realizing he was getting worked up. “Shit, I’m sorry, Levi. You can’t possibly want to hear about this stuff.”

“It’s cool.”

Jake cringed, and Levi could tell he’d done a sucky job selling it.

“Guess the moral of our combined stories is that you and I have unhappy childhoods in common.”

“Lucky us,” Levi said sarcastically.

“Being with Victor, that was never a money thing for me, though.”

Levi was surprised by that statement. “Did I ever give you the impression I thought otherwise?”

“No, of course not, another friend mentioned it to me a few weeks back. Guess I’m a little sensitive about it.”

“Does that mean there’s some truth to it?” Levi asked, laughing when that panicked expression came back over Jake’s face.

“Stop fucking with me, asshole,” Jake said.

“I’m cold.” Levi shivered slightly. “Think I’m getting under the covers.”

He removed the ear bud and handed it to Jake, who turned the music off and placed the iPod on the nightstand. Levi could feel Jake’s eyes on him as he slipped off his T-shirt and slid under the covers.

Levi watched as Jake got into bed. “Sorry if I pried too much with all the questions.”

Jake laughed, pretending like he could barely see Levi across the wide expanse of mattress between them.

“This bed is massive.”

Levi scooted a little closer to the center as did Jake.

“Perfect for the couple who wants to ensure they never have to touch one another,” Jake said, using a game show host voice as if he were attempting to use that as a selling feature.

Levi laughed, feeling bad that he was so willing to throw in the towel on a potential friendship with Jake. How short-sighted could he be? They were from totally different backgrounds, yet despite that, they had a lot in common.

As if he’d been able to read his thoughts, Jake said, “So does all the nudity and personal tragedy stories mean that we’re going to try being friends, now?”

“I suppose,” Levi said nonchalantly.

“Well, try to contain your excitement, Levi, sheesh.”

Levi let out a belly laugh, placing a hand over his tummy.

“I really want you in my life, you jerk, so try and pretend as if you’re excited about that as well.”

“Okay.” Levi cleared his throat and did a fist pump into the air. “Friends… yeah!”

Jake smiled. “That was pathetic.”

“Hey, I’m still shocked I’m rewarding your crummy behavior by becoming friends with you.”

Jake rolled over onto his side, facing Levi. “Thank you for overlooking my shortcomings.”

“The will be no coming, short or otherwise,” Levi said, rolling onto his side, facing Jake. “That’s rule number one for this new friendship.”

“There’s rules for our friendship already? We just became friends like one minute ago!”

“Well, you and I are going to be friends with conditions.”

“Hmm… That sounds less fun than friends with benefits.”

“Will you please be serious?”

“What, I’m excited, damn it, I have a new best bud.”

Levi scoffed. “Whoa… best buds? I think you’re jumping the gun there, pal.”

Jake started snickering, trying to keep himself from laughing out loud over Levi’s gullibility.

“Un-puff your ego, Freeman.”

“How dare you!” Jake said, pretending to be shocked. “I am not puffy.”

“We should go to sleep while we’re ahead.” Levi rolled over, dramatically rustling the covers and punching his pillow as he resituated himself.

“Lemme guess, night terrors?” Jake asked, snickering when no response came from the other side of the bed. “Dude, that was funny with all the pillow punching and whatnot.”

“There’s nothing in
my
bed that frightens me,” Levi finally said, smiling to himself.

“Yikes. So the new boyfriend’s got a teeny-weenie then, huh?”

“Oh my God, could you be any more inappropriate?”

“Is that a serious question?” Jake asked.

“No!” Levi insisted. “God, no.”

“You just seem like… I mean… I just assumed you were a bottom, so…” He trailed off, watching Levi turn back over out of the corner of his eye.

“We are so not talking about sex.”

“No sex talk? Like ever?”

“That’s right.”

“But friends are supposed to talk about sex,” Jake reminded him.

“Yet this feels more like an interview tactic.”

“You’re a very suspicious individual.”

“Of course, it would be
my
problem.”

“You have issues talking about sex, I understand, no judgment.”

“I don’t have iss—” Levi stopped mid-sentence and took a deep breath. “I love talking about sex, okay? I would totally talk about nothing else if I could, but—”

“Awesome, I’m a top, though I can be versatile, however I don’t really enjoy getting fucked all that much. It’s okay, you know, just not my preference.”

Levi sat up in the bed. “
Major
over-share.”

“What? You just said—”

“You didn’t let me finish!”

“If you’re ashamed about being a bottom, that’s okay Levi. I know some guys have issues admitting that they enjoy getting fucked. It goes back to those silly gender roles, all that man’s-gotta-be-a-man BS. But I’ve always thought it took more bravery to allow another man inside me, you know?”

“OMG, please stop talking.”

“Dude, I’m your friend now, and friends don’t judge.”

“Said the man judging me for being the type of guy who won’t admit to being a bottom.”

“So you are a bottom,” Jake said excitedly, before settling back down.

“I am a bottom,” Levi said, longing for another mini bottle of vodka. “A great big cock whore from
way
back.”

“That’s cool,” Jake said, as if he’d not just made a huge ordeal about getting this information from Levi.

“Can we go to sleep now?” Levi asked.

“Sure, totally.”

Levi scooched across the bed and turned off the lamp next to his side of the bed, sighing his relief when Jake did the same. This entire evening had been one of the oddest Levi had ever experienced in his thirty-one years on this planet, which was fucking saying something considering he’d grown up with Ruby.

He sighed, wishing he hadn’t thought the f-word, then recalled the whole cock-whore comment and decided that wasn’t very nice language, either.

This whole no-cussing thing was really freakin’ hard!

The most frustrating thing of all was the undeniable fact that Levi would have given anything in that moment to have Jake wrap him up in his arms as they each drifted off to sleep. Levi had missed that part of being a couple more than the sex—though he apparently needed to work on getting more of that as well, considering he was currently getting an erection for absolutely no reason.

He forced his eyes shut, wishing he wasn’t going to bed irritated, not to mention frustrated, sexually and otherwise. Wishing that he would stop making fucking wishes as well, considering none of them ever seemed to come true.

He sighed, exhaling dramatically.
God damn it, I just cussed again.

Chapter Eight

The Rainbow Palace sat atop Wilde City Tower, on the eightieth floor. The ceilings stretched nearly twenty feet high, taking up what were technically the top two floors of the Art Deco skyscraper. The restaurant doubled as a nightclub, featuring a stage and dance floor in the center of the room with dining tables radiating out on all sides like smaller planets orbiting the sun. A monstrous crystal chandelier hung in the center of room, glittering in the natural light that poured in through the windows.

Levi stood staring out the massive ten foot high windows which offered breathtaking panoramic views of the cityscape. Its popularity had waned several times over the years, but the Palace always managed to come back stronger than ever, setting trends and forever harkening back to eras long gone but not forgotten.