Love Me Again - Aiden Bates Page 0,1

head and grinned. “What do you want, Adey?”

He set the brown paper bag of food on my small dining table and walked to my kitchen to help himself to plates. “Might as well be civilized, right?” he called over his shoulder. Then he glanced around. “Shit, dude, when Mom goes on interior design mission, she really goes on a mission. First my place, now yours?”

“Yep. She’s made the place look great.” Too bad I was about to leave it. I sat at the table and waited for Adrian to quit playing hostess and tell me why he’d come to see me in the middle of the day when I was absolutely hard at it, working from home.

Or so I’d like him to believe.

When he returned with plates, he set them on the table then backed away, his eyebrows drawn together in confusion. Then he snapped his fingers. “Shit, yeah. I left the soda outside the door. Be right back.”

I turned my attention to my wrapped burrito, unrolling it from the paper and setting it on my plate. The aroma drifted tantalizingly to my nose, and suddenly I didn’t care why Adrian had turned up unannounced. He could come to see me every day if he brought me my lunch—especially from Los Amigos.

He sat down and teased the paper from his own burrito, entirely quiet and focused completely on his fingers.

I nudged his foot with mine. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Uh, not bad. How are you?” After he spoke, he took a huge bite of his food and started to chew very slowly. It would be a while before he could answer any more questions.

It was unlike Adrian to be so quiet, but I waited him out. He’d obviously come for a reason. He finished chewing and swallowed. Then he lifted a napkin from the bag and wiped his mouth and fingers.

He heaved out a sigh.

“What’s up?”

Adrian was the only one who knew I was thinking of leaving, and for right now I needed him to keep it between us. There were usually no Caldwell secrets, though, so this would have to be hard on him.

“I’m sorry I asked you not to tell anyone about me looking for a place somewhere else.”

He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. That’s kind of why I came, though. None of it matters anymore.” He paused and glanced over my shoulder toward my small balcony. “You don’t need to leave, Leo. Shayne’s not going to be around.”

I didn’t react, even though my heart thundered my blood through my ears.

“Have you spoken to him recently?” Adrian asked his question gently, but what the hell kind of answer was he expecting?

“No. No reason to.” I shook my head and blew out a small sigh. Speaking to Shayne ever again would be too soon.

“He got a job he’d been waiting on and he’s gone to film a documentary. Looks like he could be gone a while.”

I huffed a small sound of pleasure. Good. Shayne suddenly being back not only in Lakeshore, but pretty much as part of my life, had been a great big punch in the jaw from the universe.

Ever since I realized he was back—and that Adrian had gone and gotten involved with his brother of all people—and Shayne had finally realized the guy who looked completely different than the way I used to look was actually me, I’d been actively avoiding him. I didn’t need my life to get complicated by that guy all over again.

“Good,” I murmured, just so I actually said something to Adrian rather than leaving him to sit in silence.

Shayne being gone meant I wouldn’t have the constant danger of accidentally running into him and reliving the day he broke my heart and shattered any bit of self-confidence I was still trying to nurture.

I pictured Mom, her hand still on that Rolodex. Every one of those therapists on the other end would tell me my refusal to deal with what Shayne did was bad for me, but I was happy to kick that can down the road a little while longer.

“Don’t go.” Adrian leaned toward me over the table, his hand suddenly resting over mine. “You don’t need to deal with Shayne anymore, so please don’t leave us. Caldwells belong in Lakeshore.”

I grinned a little. Adrian still did the baby brother thing really well.

“Look,” he continued. “I’ll talk to Kane and see what he thinks we can do to help. Chances are, even if Shayne comes back between jobs, he’ll be gone often. According to