You know I’m not. And that’s not how I want to be for you.” His hand tightened
on Patrick’s, and Patrick—even though he suspected they were about to address
the elephant in the street—had no desire on earth to pull away.
“Look,” Lee
said. “While we’re chatting like this, I’d like to say something about last
night—”
“There’ll be
time later for that, okay?” Patrick said quickly. Too quickly. He didn’t know
why he stopped Lee—surely he wanted to talk about it as well?—except for
embarrassment, talking about their night together in the middle of the street.
Or did he just not want to hear what Lee would say, in case it confirmed
everything Patrick had told himself? He wasn’t sure how he’d cope with rejection
at the moment. He was already an emotional mess as far as last night was concerned.
“And you don’t need to worry about it.”
“I don’t? I mean…
what?”
“It was just one
night, one moment. One time. I understand completely. Of course I do.”