Which Way the Wind Blows

Chapter 10

Chris gaped at her with his mouth opening and closing like a fish. She knew? She knew about Warren? The room suddenly seemed too hot for him and his mouth felt dry. He swallowed hard then took a huge mouthful of his coffee. But the liquid was still too hot and he groaned as he burned his tongue. Victoria looked amused at first but then her gaze took on concern and she jumped up and grabbed a clean glass from the drying rack, filled it with cold water and quickly handed it to him.

“Take a drink,” she said urgently. “Don’t kill yourself!”

After gulping it down he gave her an incredulous look. She said she’d known from the start, too. Why hadn’t she mentioned that before? And what was she now planning to do with this information? Oh my GOD! What if she tells my father? All of these thoughts assaulted him at once and he began to feel a headache coming on.

Victoria shook her head sympathetically as she resumed her seat. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, bringing her cup of coffee to her lips. After she took a small sip and put it down, she looked Chris squarely in the eyes … and he didn’t know just how astute she was until this moment.

“I never thought you two belonged together,” she began. “It always boggled my mind how you stayed a couple so long.”

“Huh?”

“I mean, look at you two!” she went on undaunted. “Two more opposite people don’t exist, I’ll bet!”

“What the hell?”

“He’s so shy and reserved … even his wardrobe screams, ‘Leave me alone!’”

“Hey!” Chris shouted at her suddenly. “There’s nothing wrong with Warren!”

“I agree,” she replied with widened eyes. “He’s way, WAY too good for you!”

Chris gaped at her again.

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“Hey, you guys!” Lauren called as she and Tom walked into the café while Warren and Jake were eating. “I thought it was you two!”

“You found us!” Jake grinned as he gestured to the two empty chairs at their table. “What brings you here?”

“His stomach!” she poked her fiancé’s abdomen. “Plus I was hoping I could cheer him up!”

Warren looked the big blonde over. He had a deep frown etched into his normally jovial face. “What happened?”

Tom sighed as he dropped heavily into his chair. “Kee met up with an old classmate last night.”

Warren and Jake exchanged confused looks when the big man didn’t elaborate and Lauren leaned over to pat his arm before looking at each of the men and shrugging.

“He doesn’t like said classmate very well,” she explained. “Let’s just say he doesn’t like him at all, in fact.”

“He tried to out my best friend,” Tom glared at her. “Do you know what probably would have happened to Kee if I hadn’t kept them away from each other?”

Lauren shook her head and Jake raised his eyebrows. But all Warren could do was remember the guy he spoke to last night. Joe something or other. He hadn’t mentioned his last name, but then he’d been upfront about being interested in someone else so Warren hadn’t even asked. He knew this man had to be the one Tom was talking about. Joe had spent most of their conversation staring at the table where they sat. But somehow, he didn’t feel Tom would welcome the information so he kept it to himself while he sipped his iced tea.

“Kee saw him at the bar last night?” Jake asked.

“Yeah,” Tom bit out through gritted teeth.

“So then it stands to reason that he’s probably gay himself.”

“How can you be sure?” the big blonde man demanded as he took a menu offered to him by the waitress. Lauren did the same with a sigh.

“He was at Kelly’s and he hit on a man?” Jake wore an innocent smile but Warren detected the teasing light in his eyes.

“He spent most of our elementary school life and all of our high school career trying to figure out how to get Kee to admit he was gay in order to collect on a bet,” Tom huffed. Then he muttered his order to the waitress and snapped his menu closed before turning back to Jake and Warren. “His best friend back then, an even bigger asshole, if one exists, aided and abetted his efforts. His showing up now couldn’t be a coincidence. At least I got Kee to see reason last night.”

“Was that before or after you extricated yourself from Jason?” Jake smirked.

“Jason?” Warren asked.

“Tall, Asian guy,” Jake said softly. “Tight leather pants, nice ass, with a penchant for threesomes.”

“Uh … okay then.”

“After,” Tom glared at him. “And thank you oh so much for orchestrating that little meeting. Sicko.” He accepted his beer from the approaching waitress with a small smile then went right back to glaring at Jake when she left. “How, may I ask, do you know him, by the way?”

“He’s propositioned me a few times,” the other blonde shrugged. “Seems to think that one night I’ll actually change my mind.” He gave Lauren an apologetic look before adding, “I just thought it would save me a night of rejecting him if I just sent you to him instead.”

“Oh, I thought it was funny as hell,” she laughed.

“Oh, I just bet you did,” Tom grunted.

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“Excuse me?” Chris squealed.

“You heard me,” Victoria replied. “He was too good for you.”

Chris slumped down in his chair and sighed. He knew she was right, but he couldn’t believe she was actually saying it. He wanted to scream at himself for being such a wuss and not defending himself. But really, what defense did he have? None.

“Um …”

“Look,” she interrupted him. “Funny as this is going to sound, I’m not judging you. How can I? I’m just like you.”

Chris didn’t know what to say to that. He’d often thought they were alike before, but he’d thought of it as a good thing – back when he was so sure he knew where his life should be heading … and that Warren would be heading there with him, in some way. That was back a few weeks, when he was blissfully ignorant of anyone else’s feelings on the matter. He looked at Victoria in misery, not sure anymore if he was hoping that she would keep his secret from his father. At least she’d have the balls to tell him and save him the trouble. Because as things stood now, he didn’t think he could stomach a life married to her while he hid the rest of himself from his family.

“How much like me … do you think you are?” he asked quietly.

“A lot,” she snorted. “Like this whole thing your parents and mine have cooked up? You were going to go through with it to keep them happy, right?” she looked to him for confirmation and when he nodded she smiled sadly. “Me too. I didn’t want to make any trouble.”

“It seemed so important to me not to rock the boat,” he said. “But right now, everything about my family seems so … trivial.”

“I can see that,” she sighed. “I’ve been seeing it grow more and more since he left.”

“How did you know he was gone?” Chris’ voice sounded hoarse to his own ears.

“I know his next door neighbor. Or, the woman who used to live next door to him. She works at the charity. She mentioned that the nice young man who used to help her carry her groceries in moved and she missed his company.”

Old Mrs. Feltham? Chris shook his blonde head. He’d spoken to the woman once or twice when he went to visit Warren, but he’d never known she worked for Victoria’s family’s charity.

“Look, I never meant for this to happen,” he said. “I guess, I never meant for anything to happen.”

“I know. I did though.”

“Why, Vick?” he asked. “Wasn’t he hurting enough because of me? I mean, I’m not just upset because he’s gone now. I know he was right about everything he accused me of. Did you have to keep throwing our relationship in his face?”

“Yeah,” she said firmly. “But I never did it to be mean. I wanted him to leave you so that he could go find himself someone who deserved him. Someone who would love him, Chris! He needed to get a life, especially since you weren’t willing to give him one! Do you really think it was okay to assume he’d be perfectly fine with staying on the side after we got married?”

“I don’t anymore!” he protested. “And I’m sorry I ever did!”

“Look, we didn’t go into this relationship with our eyes closed. Neither of us pretended to actually be in love with the other. But Warren’s not like us.” She paused to give him a world-weary glance. “He’s good and kind. He just wants a normal lover, I think. He wants to be important to someone. You and I? We live by a different set of rules. And he doesn’t have a ‘family name’ to live up to,” she sighed. “God, I’m sick of it all.”

“Me too,” he whined. “Sick and absolutely fed up. I shouldn’t have to worry so much what other people think. I feel like I’m wasting my time letting my parents dictate what I should do, say and feel.”

“I know that feeling.”

“Victoria,” he reached across the table to touch her hand. “Do you think there’s any hope for me?”

“That depends. What kind are you looking for?”

“The most elusive kind,” he sighed. “A second chance.”