Slippery Slopes (Winterhaven Series - Vol. 1)

Chapter 61

"This is so strange." Nikki sat at the end of the bar next to Lizzy and sipped her drink. "I seriously had no idea that Darren was into guys." She shook her head and laughed quietly. "Honestly, more shocking than that...is that he's in love with Rodney Castle. That's just...I don't know...hard to wrap my mind around. I feel like I'm in the twilight zone."

Lizzy nodded. "Yeah," she murmured. "I mean, I don't really know Darren personally, but that even blew me away. He seems like a pretty level-headed guy, so he must see something in Rodney that the rest of us are missing."

Looking at Lizzy, Nolan smiled. "Sometimes, the most unlikely people can surprise the hell out of you and turn out to be pretty cool."

She slipped an arm around him and kissed his face. "Clearly," she whispered against his cheek.

Drew twisted his beer bottle on the bar, only half-hearing their conversation. He cast repeated glances to the entrance of the lounge. He suspected Darren's outburst had been a spontaneous emotional reaction rather than a thought-out choice. That couldn't be good, not when it outed one's self. Coming out publicly needed to be a conscious, deliberate decision, because once "out"...trying to crawl back in the closet was pretty much impossible.

"Hey." Nolan leaned over and rested his chin on Drew's shoulder. "You okay, babe?"

"Yeah." Drew looked at him, smiled, and planted a light kiss on his lips. "Just a little concerned about what happened out there. I don't think he really meant to out himself in front of everyone like that."

Sighing, Nolan nodded. "I was thinking about that, too. I hope..." His words faded off as he stared past Drew.

Twisting around, Drew spotted Todd, Lane, and Jude entering the lounge. But no Darren. Even from a distance, he could tell something was wrong by the looks on the men's faces. When they approached, all three appeared distressed, eyes reddened and faces strained. Drew stood up slowly. "Where's Darren?"

Jude spoke first, a rasp to his voice. "He went upstairs to talk to Rodney."

Drew turned to Todd; the guy looked like he was about to break down. A residue of tears lingered in his distraught eyes. "What's wrong?" he murmured.

His throat working, a fresh well of tears began to rise up. He stared at Drew, started to speak, then suddenly Drew was enveloped in his arms as Todd hugged him fiercely—desperately. He buried his face in Drew's neck, his body shaking. Drew blinked, shocked, then recovered quickly and embraced him, holding him tight.

"Baby, what's wrong?" he whispered in his ear. The depth of emotion drowning Todd, caused Drew's eyes to sting as he hugged the man with all his strength. He glanced uncertainly at Jude who didn't seem shaken to see Todd hugging him. His gaze jumped to Lane who appeared to be holding it together only slightly better than Todd.

Lane cleared his throat and wiped his eyes. "Can we just call it a draw on the game?" he said thickly. He looked at Nolan—then took his hand and pulled him into his arms. "And just go upstairs." He kissed his head then pressed his lips to his hair, eyes squeezing shut. A rogue tear rolled down his face, and his breath shuddered. "Please?"

Todd's arms tightened around Drew. "I just want to be with you right now," he trembled.

"Go," Jude said quietly, a tremor in his voice. "I'll let everyone know the game is off."

Unclear on just what had caused this, Drew let the questions go for now as he murmured, "Okay." He gently untangled himself from Todd's arms and cupped his face, hesitated only a moment, then softly kissed his lips. "Whatever's wrong, baby," he whispered. "I'll do everything in my power to make it better."