never been more glaringly obvious that he didn’t have friends. All of his friends had always been more of Vivian’s than his. With her gone, clearly none of them gave enough of a damn about Andrew to even text him, much less call him.
You can call them yourself, Logan’s sardonic voice said in his head.
Andrew groaned and flung an arm over his face. Even his inner voice sounded like Logan these days. He was hopeless.
His phone’s ringtone made him flinch. Andrew sighed, thinking it was probably Aunt Rebecca again. He fished his phone out of his pocket and glanced at the Caller ID, just in case.
It was Shawn.
After a moment’s hesitation, he answered.
“Hey,” Shawn said, his voice a little tense.
“Hi.”
“Um, how are you?”
Andrew’s eyebrows went up. Really? “I’m fine, thanks,” he said.
A pause.
“You’ve been kind of AWOL, buddy,” Shawn said at last, answering his unasked question.
“I’m enjoying some peace and quiet,” Andrew said. “Is there any reason you’re calling me?” You wouldn’t call me if you didn’t need something from me.
“Uh, yeah,” Shawn said, his tone hesitant.
Andrew smiled bitterly.
“Ian Caldwell’s woken up from his coma,” Shawn said.
Andrew stared at the ceiling, completely indifferent to the news. “And? What do you want?”
“Derek would like your advice on how to proceed,” Shawn said.
Andrew snorted, skeptical. “He does? Since when?”
“All right, no, but you know how proud he is.” Shawn sounded fond and a little exasperated. “I know he feels guilty for landing the company in this mess, and he’s determined to fix everything himself, even though it’s out of his area of expertise.”
That sounded more like Derek Rutledge. A control freak. An arrogant dick.
“I’m afraid he won’t be able to crush Caldwell with the force of his personality,” Andrew said, very dryly. “I had the pleasure of dealing with Caldwell a few years ago. He’s as assertive as Derek.”
“I know.” Shawn sighed. “Which is why I need you to talk some sense into Derek. He’s been talking to some lawyers. Please tell Derek he should try to make peace with the guy instead of going to war with him.”
“Why me? He sure as hell cares about your opinion more than he cares about mine.”
“Yes,” Shawn said. “But he trusts your expertise in this matter. He trusts you to run the company well. He knows how capable you are.”
Andrew opened his mouth and then closed it, not sure what to say.
“Then why isn’t he the one calling me?” he said after a moment.
“I already told you why. He thinks it’s his fault, and he’s determined to…”
There was the sound of the lock being activated.
Andrew stared at the door handle as it turned, his heart starting to beat faster and his palms going clammy.
The door opened, and Logan stood in the doorway, looking at him with a strange, fixed expression on his face.
Shawn was still saying something, but Andrew couldn’t hear it anymore, his pulse thundering in his ears and his world narrowing to Logan’s dark eyes. There was something hard in them as Logan locked the door and walked toward him slowly.
Andrew wet his lips. It felt like every cell in his body was trying to jump out of his skin, and it took every bit of his strength to remain still on the bed.
Logan sat down beside him, still gazing at him strangely.
Andrew couldn’t fucking stand it anymore.
He grabbed Logan’s hand and jerked him closer. Logan fell on top of him awkwardly, crushing the breath out of his lungs, but Andrew didn’t care. He wrapped all his limbs around him, nearly moaning from how good it felt. Finally. He was here. Finally.
“Andrew?” said a muffled voice from his phone—the phone he’d dropped on the bed.
“I think you were in the middle of a conversation,” Logan murmured, mouthing the side of his neck before sucking a hickey there.
Andrew shivered, whimpering. He buried his fingers in Logan’s hair, pulling him closer. Tighter. Need you closer. “Huh?” he said breathlessly, pushing Logan’s dark sweater off and running his hands greedily over the warm, smooth expanse of his back, kneading the firm muscle. “Missed you,” he whispered before he could stop himself. “Need you.”
Logan shuddered. He nipped his way up Andrew’s neck and across his chin. He paused, their panting mouths hovering an inch apart. Andrew licked his trembling lips again, needing so badly he was literally shaking with it.
Fuck it.
He grabbed Logan’s head and yanked him down into a hungry kiss. God. Although it was their first kiss, it felt like they’d done this hundreds