Chapter 2

“So are you coming or what?”Tom asked.“I got other people to call,you know.It’s tomorrow night,my place.”When Nathan didn’t answer,he added,“You’re gonna be there?Great.Let me pencil you in.”

Nathan sighed.There had been a time when he wouldn’t turn down a party no matter what.Yeah,I’m tired of being alone,but you know,I’m almost more tired of looking.There are too many damn toads out there in this world,and not enough princes.“How many people are coming?”

“Including you?”Tom asked.

“Yeah,”Nathan said.“Including me.How many?”Tom didn’t reply.“Tom?”

“Well,”his friend hedged,“adding in me and Cindy?Three.”

Nathan laughed.“Three?Oh,God.I am not—”

“Give me some time!”Tom cried.“I got calls to make,I’ll have this place packed,you’ll see.People spilling out into the lawn.The last big fling before winter,a harvest party,it’ll be huge.Come on,man,you haveto come.”

“Sounds like I’m a third of the guest list,”Nathan muttered.“I’ll think about it.”

“You’re coming,”Tom told him.“You don’t,and I’m telling Cindy what you said about that guy at Burger King.You’re talking about the young one,right?The skinny blond?”

“Don’t you dare!”Nathan laughed.“He’s not even old enough to drive…”

“Then you’re coming,”Tom said again.“Tomorrow.Be here by seven.You hear me?If you’re not,I’m picking him up on my way to get you.”

Before Nathan could argue further,the phone went dead in his ear.You can tell me I’m going.Nathan hung up the phone.But you can’t make me have fun.I ain’t staying long,my friend,and the first dumbass your girl pulls out of the closet for me,I’m outta there.

He closed his eyes and let the soothing sounds of“Comfortably Numb”wash over him.Why can’t I find the right guy?He had no problem finding all the other ones out there,but just anyone wasn’t enough.Was it so bad to want to wait for the best rather than just settle for anything that came along?

Most of the time he thought so,but right now?Alone in his room,his body beginning to ache for someone else’s touch,right now he wished he wasn’t so damn picky about guys.

Nathan knew the party would be a bust,but he still worried over what to wear and how he looked.Studying himself in the full-length mirror on the back of his bathroom door,he checked out his outfit…not too shabby.He wore a tight black turtleneck,very soft and smooth,like a second skin along his chest and arms.His dark blue jeans hung a little below his waist,cinched in place with a black braided belt,the legs rolled up into cuffs above his black clunky shoes.His hair swept across his brow in a perfect wave,with faint blond streaks shot through the dark length like a lingering remembrance of summer.I look amazing,and for what?Some loser Cindy’s picked out for me.

But suppose he was wrong?Suppose there wassomeone at this party worthnoticing,someone he took a liking to and wanted to get with?It was that maybe person he wore the diamond stud earring for,the thin gold necklace draped outside the turtleneck,the splash of musky cologne.He even checked his wallet before he shoved it into his back pocket,just to make sure he had a condom behind his license.Hell,who knew?He might get lucky.

Yeah,right.

He ran a hand through his hair.It pushed back from his face,then fell forward again like a curtain to hide his eyes.With an absent motion of his head,he shook the hair to one side of his face.He hadn’t gotten lucky in months.Why should tonight be any different?He wonderedif condoms had expiration dates on them.If they did,he thought it was about time to throw out the ones he had—how long did they last unopened,anyway?He wasn’t sure,but if he didn’t meet anyone at the party,he was coming home and pitching the whole damn box in the trash.

Tom had said to be at his place by seven,so that was the time Nathan left his apartment.Nothing like being fashionably late.Tom only lived a few miles away—he shared a house with Cindy in the west end of the city.Nathan’s apartment was on the south side,and he pulled onto his friends’street just around quarter after.Cars lined the sidewalks up and down thenarrow street,the party already well under way,and he slowed as he drove,looking for a place to park.

Tom’s house sat on a corner lot by a service alley,and Nathan managed to squeeze his car into a tiny spot on the lawn,just behind the house.But when he opened the door,he hit the car next to him.“Shit,”he muttered,rubbing at the tiny scratch in his paint as he glanced around.Music poured from the house;every room on the lower floor was lit.At least out here it was dark,and he was far enough away from the few people hanging around the back porch that no one could’ve seen him hit the other car.Nevertheless,his heart hammered in his chest as he approached the house,and when someone called his name,he almost jumped.“Nathan!”

It was Tom’s girlfriend,Cindy Prewitt,hurrying down the porch steps two at a time.She wore a pair of tight jeans that left little to the imagination and a fluffy pink sweater that made her look bustier than she was.Her long hair was pulled back into a blonde ponytail,the way she usually wore it,and her face glowed from sweat or makeup or both.

Shoot me now.Nathan rolled his eyes but when she came closer,he flashed her a bright smile and kissed her cheek.“I’m so glad you’re here,”she told him,taking his arm before he could object.“Tom said he told you seven—”

“I was running a little late.”Nathan tried to disentangle his arm from hers,but it was no use.She had his elbow in a death grip;she dragged him up the steps and into the house as if convinced he would run the instant she let him go.I just might.“Cindy—”

“I’ve got a tonof people I want you to meet,”she said,pushing through the crowded kitchen.Nathan caught a glimpse of liquor bottles set out on the table,faceted glass filledwith alcohol winking at him in the overhead light,and then he was being led into a hall swamped with people.Did Tom even knoweveryone here?Nathan saw a few letterman’s jackets from State,a couple of fraternity pins from Tom’s old,some girls in the corner he knew worked with Cindy in customer service,but all the faces swam together and made his headspin.I could really use one of those drinks back there.

Hip-hop party music filled the house,the bass so heavy and the beat so strong that Nathan couldn’t distinguish words from the rhythm that pounded like surf around him.The people in the hall jostled each other in some semblance of dancing,and the only way Nathan could move through them was by wiggling his hips and dancing along.He couldn’t hear the music so much as feel it beat in his chest like a second heart and throb in his head like blood through his veins.“Cindy!”he called out.