Wilkie stared. “You can’t be serious. It’s a ton of money, Ulric.”
“I didn’t ask for an opinion. How much?” Ulric must’ve growled that; Wilkie stiffened, looking wary. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Just show me the bill amount, please.”
Wilkie clutched his phone to himself. “It’s four-figures. You can’t possibly...”
Ulric made the check out for ten grand. Then he signed it and shoved it at Wilkie. “Take this to your mom. Cash it, pay the bills. Whatever.”
Wilkie glanced at the check and did a double-take. “This is too much.”
“You’ll have bills coming next month too, right? And the month after that? Just take it.” Ulric shoved his pen back into the pen jar, stalking out of the kitchen. What was the point of having money if it only made his heart hurt?
Wilkie hurried after him. “Don’t you need this money?” he asked, incredulous.
“No.” When Wilkie didn’t move from the living room, Ulric turned. “Aren’t you going to cash it?”
Wilkie hesitated. “I don’t know if my mom and dad will accept it, honestly. It’s way too much.”
Ulric sighed. Was Gage’s entire family like this? “Just make sure your sister gets better. That’s all I ask.”
Wilkie’s face pinched; he looked tearfully at the check. “I’ve never held this much money in my life.”
Ulric cracked a smile. He went over and ruffled Wilkie’s hair. “Get going. Before your brother comes home and throws a fit.”
Because that would happen. The moment Ulric handed the check over, he’d known that Gage would find out. And that Gage would be pissed. His stomach turned.
How long did he still have left with Gage?
He returned to his computer, trying to focus on his work. The whole time, his stomach kept tying itself into knots. In the end, he dug out a bottle of vodka from the kitchen cabinet and poured himself a few shots, just to get his nerves to calm the fuck down.
Ulric was buzzed, typing up a report for some new drugs being used in a clinical trial, when the front door slammed shut.
He wasn’t expecting it. But his instincts reared up, a growling animal under his skin that thirsted for a fight. To solve things, to get him out of this state of being nervous all the time.
He turned his office chair around, his heart pounding in his ears, waiting as the stairs creaked and Gage’s footfalls sounded through the hallway.
Then Gage stopped in the office doorway, his gaze blazing. A surge of recklessness rushed through Ulric’s veins. “Something wrong?” Ulric asked.
“Yeah.” Gage narrowed his eyes. “I told you not to help me. Why the fuck can’t you listen?”
“Why the fuck can’t you listen?” Ulric snapped, rising to his feet. He wanted a fight. This time, it wasn’t with sex in mind. “I told you I can help—”
“I don’t need your help.” Gage stalked in; Ulric saw the anger on his face. And he had the ominous feeling that this was the beginning of the end. “You keep going behind my back—”
“Because you keep refusing everything,” Ulric hissed. Because you keep rejecting me. When all I want is for you to spend time here instead of elsewhere.
“Yeah?” Gage’s eyes flashed. “Did it occur to you that you’re fucking betraying me every time you do shit without my permission?”
Maybe. But it wasn’t like Ulric was trying to buy Gage’s affections. He just wanted to get the pressure off this man so he could have some intimacy. Which Gage had been terribly stingy with lately.
“Why should I care when you’ve gone and gotten another job, anyway?” Ulric snapped. “I hardly see you anymore. It’s not like you’re around—”
“We’re just friends,” Gage retorted. “Or have you forgotten that, Ulric? I don’t owe you anything.”
That hurt like a punch to his gut. Was that all he was to Gage? Ulric tried to breathe. He couldn’t help remembering his mother’s words, that Gage would never love him for who he was. Gage had just been intimate with him because it was convenient. And Gage would leave, sooner or later. He’d find someone else prettier, better.
Ulric stalked up to him, shoving his front against Gage’s, trying to get the upper hand. Gage shoved back, his eyes narrowed, his mouth a thin line.
There wasn’t any fondness in his eyes now. Just anger.
Just like that, Ulric realized that the last few weeks had been a lie. They’d been intimate, but Gage’s promises—those had been empty. Gage had used Ulric just like he’d used all his other boyfriends, and maybe they’d lasted longer with him because they didn’t look like Ulric did.
Ulric was just a warm body that Gage had grown tired of. He felt so awfully heavy and round and ugly.
“You know what? Just leave,” Ulric said, the sick feeling in his stomach intensifying. If Gage really cared, he would come back.
Gage narrowed his eyes, turning away. “Yeah, maybe I should.”
He said it like he didn’t care anymore what happened to Ulric. Ulric watched with slow-growing dread as Gage stalked toward the door, ready to cast Ulric aside like he did with everyone else.
Ulric almost wanted to go up to him, he almost wanted to punch Gage and ask what the hell they’d been doing all these weeks.
Except it didn’t matter anymore, did it? No one in Ulric’s life ever stuck around. Mick had told Ulric he should lose some weight. Ulric’s mom never hugged him once this trip.
What was the point of trying so hard, when everyone ended up leaving him anyway?
Gage’s footsteps drifted down the hallway. Then the front door shut, and his car engine rumbled. He drove off.
Ulric sank into his chair, his chest so tight that he couldn’t breathe.
At least with Mick, Ulric had had an inkling that things weren’t going so well. Mick had never given him any promises. And with Mom, Ulric had grown used to her abandonment over the years.
Gage had promised to be his best friend. He’d held Ulric and told Ulric
