Northern Rebel Daring in the Dark - By Jennifer Labrecque Page 0,125
support Simon, not act like a jerk.”
“Well, I guess if Simon doesn’t like it you can always kiss it and make it better,” Elliott said with a sneer.
Simon had a fairly good idea of how much willpower Tawny employed to ignore Elliott’s comment. Doubtless, flaunting her and Simon’s night in Elliott’s face was tempting, especially considering Elliott had brought his new lover along. But apparently she’d been sincere when she’d said she hadn’t slept with him to get back at Elliott. Instead she ignored his gibe.
“How did you get here so quick?” she said. “There’s no way you got here in that amount of time from the gallery.”
“My apartment’s only a couple of blocks away,” Richard said, letting the cat out of the bag.
Simon felt sucker-punched. Certainly he was a sucker. Elliott hadn’t been locked in at the gallery. He’d used him. Lied to him and used him. Their friendship had weathered the occasional row, but never would he have believed Elliott would lie to him. He stopped outside of the café entrance, restraining Elliott with a hand on his arm.
“Thanks, Richard. I’d love for you to buy me a cup of coffee,” Tawny said, very much tongue in cheek but obviously trying to get Richard to give Elliott and Simon a moment of privacy.
Elliott glanced at Richard. “Please. Do it for me.”
“Well, since it’s for you,” Richard said, giving Tawny a look of distaste. He reluctantly followed her into the café.
“Were you ever locked in at the gallery?” Simon asked with quiet fury.
“Yes. It does go into lockdown mode.”
“For how long?” Simon’s anger rendered him nearly speechless.
Elliott shoved his hands into his pockets and looked abashed. “About an hour. The security-system people talked me through disarming it.”
“Was this before or after you asked me to break your news to Tawny?”
“After. Definitely after. I swear to you, Simon.”
He felt marginally better—if Elliott wasn’t lying. For fifteen years they’d been as close as brothers, and in less than a day he no longer knew if he could trust Elliott. He no longer knew the man before him. The man he’d loved like a brother couldn’t have betrayed his fiancée, wouldn’t have left Simon to clean up his mess. “Yet when you got out of the gallery, you didn’t think you needed to come over to Tawny’s?”
“You were already taking care of it. I thought it would be best to let her sleep on it. I didn’t know she’d be sleeping on it with you.”
Simon’s anger dissipated as quickly as it had swamped him, leaving exhaustion in its wake. He hadn’t used Elliott, but he had betrayed him to some extent. Simon realized he’d come across as something of a sanctimonious bastard. Two women in scrubs walked past and he waited until they were out of earshot.
“Elliott, you put both of us in that position. Do you know she’s afraid of the dark?”
“Of course I do. We were together for six months.”
“Then why did you tell me to leave her there alone? That struck me as rather callous.”
Elliott shoved his hands into his trouser pockets and avoided Simon’s eyes. “Things have already been a bit rocky between us. I told you we haven’t been setting any records in the bedroom—” Right, and Tawny’d pretty much said the same. “She says I whine and that I’m self-centered.”
“You do and you are.”
Elliott looked at him then. “I might a tad, but she’s so damned bossy.”
“She is.” Simon considered it part of her charm. It rather naturally came with the territory. She was also smart and gutsy and brave as hell. He thought about walking down those seven flights of stairs without even a candle. He didn’t harbor any fears of the dark and it had been rather creepy for him. But Elliott still hadn’t gotten to the point. “And what’s that got to do with you asking me to abandon her in the dark?”
“I don’t know. I knew things weren’t good between us, but I didn’t want to think about her being alone with another man, even if it was you.”
“A case of wanting your cake and eating it, as well?”
“I’m a self-serving bastard,” Elliott said.
“In a nutshell, yes.”
“You didn’t have to agree with me so quickly.”
“You merely said it before I could,” Simon said.
“I think I went a little crazy tonight.”
“Are you rethinking your decisions?” Simon asked.
“Not Richard and Tawny. I just regret the way I’ve handled it all. I made some very bad decisions tonight and I’m not sure how to fix