Spencer Cohen Series, Book Three (The Spencer Cohen Series 3) (4 page)

The dinner function was held in the grand ballroom at some fancy golf club, and we fit right in, pulling up in Peter’s latest model two-door Audi. He handed the keys over to the valet and held his arm out for me to take, exactly as we’d planned.

Clearly, hiding his sexuality wasn’t a consideration for Peter. He was distinguished and confident and held his chin high as he walked into a formal work dinner with a man on his arm. Every other couple I saw consisted of a man in a tux and a woman in an evening gown of some design and colour. But no one looked twice at us, except to extend a warm welcome to Peter and a polite smile to me.

He introduced me as “his friend” and after a few short pleasantries were exchanged, we were seated at a round table with six other people. Peter sat on my right, and a lovely lady by the name of Rosa sat on my left. She was the wife of an employee so, like me, she had no idea who anyone else was.

We made small talk while the room filled. When Peter put his hand on my arm and whispered, “Zach is here,” I followed his line of sight and recognised the guy from photos I’d seen on Duncan’s Instagram.

We watched as Zach chatted and laughed with the colleagues at his table. When he scanned the room and found Peter, and therefore me, he gave nothing away but a small smile and a nod.

Throughout the course of the night, I noticed Zach look our way a few times. He had his phone out during the night, but if he was texting Duncan, I simply couldn’t say.

After the main course, I excused myself and went to the bathroom. I locked the stall door behind me and pulled out my phone. Andrew had replied to my text hours earlier.
Possessive Andrew only comes out when he needs to. Like Bruce Banner. Only not as green.

I smiled at my phone and quickly replied.
You can go Hulk on me anytime you like. Night is boring as hell. CEOs making shit speeches and telling not-funny jokes. It’s painful. Rather be in bed being Hulked by you.

I slid my phone back into my pocket, flushed the toilet just for show, and went to the wash basins. Zach was waiting for me. He was a skinny guy with too much hair and long, spidery fingers. He was certainly not threatening. He seemed… nervous?

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi.” I proceeded to wash my hands and dry them, waiting for him to speak.

“I saw you’re here with Peter?”

“Yes.”

“He’s a nice guy.”

“He is. Do you work with him?” I asked, knowing they worked in different divisions but needing to push the conversation along.

“No, no,” he said quickly. “He’s um, he was seeing a friend of mine.”

“Oh.” I was surprised by his honesty. “Is that Duncan? He told me about the break up.”

Zach nodded. “Yeah. Duncan’s not a bad guy; he just graduated and started working at the clinic and has a different life now. I guess he just wanted something different? But I’m happy to see Peter with someone new, I have to say. I always liked him. He’s a nice guy. Genuine, ya know? And Duncan kinda threw it in his face. I was sorry he did that.”

I nodded slowly. “Peter is a good guy.”

Zach stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Anyway, I just wanted to say that.”

I gave him a smile. “Thanks.” Seeing this as my opportunity to ask questions, just as Zach turned to leave, I said, “Um, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Is Duncan interested in getting back with him?” I had to play the part. “I’m just wondering if I have competition, that’s all.”

Zach smiled sadly. “Nah. He’s been so busy fucking everything that looks twice at him. He said he’s done with monogamy—or whatever he called it—for good. I wish he wasn’t—I worry about him—and Peter was so good to him.” He sighed. “Duncan has a track record of leaving behind a trail of broken hearts.”

It was pretty clear that Zach was one of them. “Oh.”

He laughed and shook his head a little. “Yeah.” Then he brightened. “Anyway, tell Peter I said hi and that I’m glad he’s moving on too.”

“I will.”

He turned and walked out, and I was left with the horrid task of telling my client it was game-over.

I took my seat, and Peter lifted the linen napkin from his lap and neatly folded it on the table before him. “You spoke to Zach.”

“I did.”

“And he told you Duncan wasn’t interested in a reunion.”

“He did.”

Peter stared at nothing before him, then blinked a few times before nodding slowly. “I assumed as much.”

“Peter,” I started.

“It’s fine. He always was a—” He stopped short of finishing that train of thought. “Once he made up his mind, that was it. I should have known.”

Oh, man. He looked like he’d just had the wind knocked out of him. “Wanna get out of here?”

He sighed loudly, took one last look around the buzzing room, then looked at me. “Yes.”

I said a quiet goodbye to Rosa, collected my jacket from the back of my chair, and waited for Peter to do the same. He never said a word to anyone except to the valet, who quickly produced his car.

“I would offer to drive,” I said getting into the passenger seat, “but you don’t really want me to drive your car. Steering wheel’s on the wrong side of the car, for a start, not to mention driving on the wrong side of the road.”

Peter almost smiled.

“I can’t drive you, but I can suggest a bar that has great Scotch.”

He smiled ruefully now. “I’m not one to drown myself in sorrows and liquor. My father did enough of that for the both of us.”

For whatever reason he said that, I had a feeling it was information he rarely shared. His distinguished mask had slipped a little, proof that Duncan’s final rejection hit him harder than he let on. I didn’t want him to be alone right now. “Let me buy you a coffee then.”

He seemed to think it over for a moment before giving me a nod. “You’re not letting me get out of it, are you?”

I smiled at him. “No.”

We found a diner on Santa Monica Boulevard about a ten minute drive from my place, and seeing they didn’t have tea on offer, I ordered two coffees. We sat in a booth seat, and it wasn’t long until the waitress brought them to our table. It wasn’t anything fancy, just diner coffee, straight black. “You don’t like coffee,” Peter said when she was gone.

I gave him a kind smile. “I’ll suffer through it. Anyway, if I add enough sugar, I can’t taste how horrible it is.”

He laughed quietly as he absently stirred his cup, and slowly but surely, his smile faded away. “What did Zach say?”

I wasn’t going to repeat the whole “fucking everything that looks twice at him” line. Peter felt like shit enough as it was. “Just said he was happy to see you were moving on. He said he wished Duncan hadn’t hurt you, but he has a habit of leaving behind a trail of broken hearts.”

Peter smiled ruefully. “I knew that going in. I thought I was lucky to snare him. And I thought it’d be different with me. Famous last words, huh?”

“Don’t blame yourself. The fault is on him. You did nothing wrong. It just wasn’t meant to be.”

“Did Zach say that Duncan was happy?”

And that right there showed Peter’s kindness. He just wanted to know if his ex was happy. “He is.”

Peter sighed and sipped his coffee. “I thought he was happy with me. I should have known better. I mean, no young guy wants to settle down… they don’t want to
settle
at all.”

“Not all young guys,” I amended.

“Would you want to settle down? Not with me,” he added quickly. “But with your guy, what’s his name?”

“Andrew.”

“Would you settle for the quiet life with Andrew?”

“Two months ago I would have said no way. Hell, even one month ago, I’d have called you crazy. But now…? Well, now I’d have to say I would seriously consider it.”

Peter raised his eyebrows and nodded slowly. “He must be something special.”

“He is.”

“And you met him when he hired you?”

I had given Peter a brief rundown of my personal life, like I did with all new clients, when he’d first hired me. “I did.”

“So his ex didn’t want him either,” he stated, though it was more a shot at himself than at Andrew.

“Not exactly. I just helped Andrew discover he didn’t really want his ex back at all.”

“So, I’m your only failed statistic. That has to put a dent in your perfect success rate.”

I gave him a smile. “I still consider you a success. Now you’re free to move on to someone who will appreciate you for who you are.”

“Did you read that on some Dr. Phil slogan?”

“Not quite.” I laughed as I sipped my coffee, and Peter chuckled when I made a face.

He nodded toward my cup. “How is it?”

“Awful.”

It made him smile, and I considered that a win too. My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out to find a message from Andrew.
How’s your night going?

“I just need to reply to this. I won’t be a second,” I told Peter. I didn’t want him to think me rude
. Finished, and it didn’t end well. Just having commiseration coffee with Peter.

Oh. I’m sorry.

Where are you?

“Sorry,” I said to Peter, putting my phone on the table.

“That was Andrew?” he asked. “I can tell by the smile.”

I’m pretty sure I blushed. “Uh, yeah.”

My phone buzzed on the table, but I ignored it. “You can answer it, Spencer. I don’t mind,” Peter said, sipping his coffee.

Waiting for Yanni to come out of the Seven-Eleven on Santa Monica. He wanted root beer.

“They’re actually just down the road,” I told Peter as I texted out my reply to Andrew,
We’re in Ziggy’s Diner, just near South Bentley.

“Tell them to join us,” Peter offered.

“Nah, it’s okay,” I told him.

“Spencer, please. Tell them to come. Whoever
they
are.”

“
They
would be Andrew and Yanni. Are you sure?”

“I wouldn’t have suggested it otherwise. At any rate, the distraction would be welcome.”

Fair enough
, I thought. I selected Andrew’s name and hit Call. He answered on the second ring. “Hey,” he replied softly. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. Want to join us? You’re not far from here, right?” Then I thought maybe Yanni might not want to. “Would Yanni be up for it?”

I heard him ask, though it was muffled. “We’ll be there soon.”

He hung up, and I told Peter they’d be joining us shortly. “So, I finally get to meet your Mr Wonderful.”

That made me smile. “You do. Though there’s something you need to know about Yanni. He’s a real nice guy, but he’s had a rough couple of months, so he might be a bit standoffish. But don’t take it personally.”

I didn’t want to say any more than that because it wasn’t my place to do so. But the truth was, I hadn’t seen Yanni since we’d left him at Andrew’s parents’ house two weeks ago. Andrew had seen him a few times and said he was doing well but still had issues to deal with which was more than understandable.

And when he walked in, I almost didn’t recognise him. I noticed Andrew first, of course, and stood to greet him. I kissed his cheek, then turned my attention to the man behind him. Yanni looked a hundred times better than he had just two weeks before. His hair was cut and shiny, his eyes were brighter and without the darkened circles underneath them. He’d even put on a few much-needed pounds. “Yanni, you look good!”

He surprised me with a hug. “Spencer. I can’t thank you enough.”

Pulling back from him, I waved my hand at the table to the seat opposite where I’d sat with Peter. “Please take a seat. Peter, this is Yanni. And this is my Andrew.”

Andrew looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “
Your
Andrew?”

Wait, what?
“Is that what I said?”

He laughed and waited as Yanni slid into the booth seat first. Yanni sat opposite Peter, Andrew across from me, and I ordered two more coffees.

“And pie,” Andrew said.

“What kind?”

“Doesn’t matter,” he replied. “As long as it’s pie.”

Peter ordered some pie and Yanni did too, but I declined. “I can just have some of yours,” I told Andrew.

“Do you think so?” he asked, almost in a challenging way. “Does the James Bond suit make you braver?” There was a playfulness in his eyes as he slid his foot alongside mine under the table and tried not to smile.

I looked down at my tux. “I thought you liked my suit.”

Peter cleared his throat. “So,” he said, redirecting the conversation, “you’re Spencer’s Andrew.”

“Apparently,” Andrew answered, giving him a warm smile. “Yes. I am.”

“He talks a lot of you,” Peter said.

Andrew looked at me and tilted his head. “Is that right?”

“Only when warranted,” I declared, trying not to be too embarrassed. “Like when we were discussing people who can eat their body weight in food every day and still have the body of a god.”