Page 44 of Coming Clean

Stop getting excited. Itdoesn’t matter that he called or what he said. You need to stayaway from him.

The problem was thatdespite what had happened, Jeremy longed to see Connor again, togive him another chance. Would he ever learn?

The smell of bacon luredhim downstairs even though he wanted to crawl back into bed. Heslid into a seat in the breakfast nook. David was at the counter,dipping bread into an egg mixture to make French toast.

“Thanks for saving me lastnight,” Jeremy said.

“You know I’ll be there foryou, no matter what.”

Jeremy was so lucky to haveDavid as a friend. “I don’t want to take that forgranted.”

David turned and flashedhim a bright smile. “I don’t think you do.”

“Connor called when I wasdancing. That’s why I turned my phone off. I didn’t mean to worryyou.”

David nodded. “It’s okay.I’ve worried you plenty of times.”

Jeremy smiled as heremembered some of those times. “That you have. Like the time youdecided Susie Blankenship—”

David held up a hand. “Ifyou value our friendship, you’ll never mention that incidentagain.”

“Fair enough but I can’tpromise not to remember it.” Just the thought of that night madehim laugh despite his throbbing head.

David ignored him.“Coffee?”

“God, yes.”

David filled a mug andhanded it to him.

“I could kiss you,” Jeremysaid.

David screwed his face up.“Eww! Try to contain yourself.”

Jeremy grinned. “I will ifyou’re lucky.”

He sipped his coffee whileDavid placed French toast, scrambled eggs, and sausage links ontheir plates. It was a long-standing tradition that when one orboth of them got hammered, the least hung-over party made breakfastthe next morning. Occasionally, they took their hangover cure witha medicinal Bloody Mary, but today it looked like Jeremy would haveto make do with orange juice.

As soon as David setJeremy’s plate in front of him, he started in on it, feeling betterwith every bite. When he finally slowed down, he took a few sips ofcoffee and looked at David, heat creeping into his cheeks. “I knowI thanked you already, but I was in over my head last night. Ihaven’t been that naïve since college.”

David scowled. “I couldn’tbelieve you even talked to that jerk.”

Jeremy tried to figure outhow to explain. “I was—”

The doorbell interruptedhim.

“You want me to see who itis?” David asked.

“No, I’ll go.”

Jeremy was feeling mostlyhuman again, but he was unprepared to see Connor peeking throughone of the long, narrow windows beside the door. His stomachfluttered. Hope? Dread?

Tell him to goaway.

Hell no. Invite him in andget rid of David.

Jeremy imagined himself ina cartoon, with an angel and a devil on each shoulder. But whichvoice was which?

CHAPTER FOURTEEN