Heated Beat 02 - Lucky Man Read Online Free

being a normal bloke for once. Think I got away with it.”
    “And the rest?”
    Finn scowled. Danny and Jack hadn’t crossed paths, but he knew Jack would’ve noticed the extra pair of shoes by the door. The notion irked Finn. Until that moment his time with Danny had felt like a precious secret, untainted by the real world. “Don’t start. How often do I have to listen to you and Will shagging?”
    “I’m not complaining, mate. Just curious. You never let anyone stay the night.”
    Finn shrugged before he remembered Jack couldn’t see him. Jack’s statement was kind. Finn never let anyone stay because he never brought anyone home. Never wanted to. Home was his sacred place… his safe place, when he wasn’t climbing the walls by himself. “He was nice.”
    “Did you tell him?”
    “Yeah, I rolled over right after he fucked me and said, hey, guess what? I’m a fucking—”
    “All right, all right.” Jack cut in before Finn could get truly annoyed. “I’m sorry, okay? I just want you to be happy.”
    Finn’s grunt was noncommittal, but Jack let it go. They were good friends… good enough to know when an awkward conversation had run its course. Jack rang off after reminding Finn to keep an appointment that had been stuck to the fridge door since the beginning of the month—an appointment Finn was hardly likely to forget.
    Still, he drifted to the kitchen to check it anyway. Paranoia was a lifestyle choice. Why worry when he could just fucking look? And there it was: Monday 2:30 p.m. Nurse Stutby . Same as it was every bloody month.
    Finn started to turn away. An out-of-place card stopped him in his tracks. He frowned and plucked it from the fridge door. The nondescript business card had nothing but a mobile number printed on it, and was probably Jack’s, but Finn hadn’t seen it before, he was sure of it, wasn’t he?
    Finn turned the card over and over, searching for a clue that wasn’t there. The logical side of his brain slowed to a crawl like it always did when doubt clouded his mind. If the number was meant for Jack, it had been there for twenty-four hours, and Finn would’ve seen it that morning or even the night before. True, he’d been distracted by an extended one-night— two -night—stand, but the card was white… and almost all of Jack’s music contacts used funky black cards. A tiny detail, but Finn had learned the hard way the small things mattered.
    He took the intriguing card upstairs and left it on the bedside table while he remade his bed. It taunted him. He stared at it for far too long before he turned his back on it and stomped off to the shower.
    It was still there when he came back, towel around his waist, hair dripping. He skirted around it, averting his gaze while he dried off and pulled on a pair of softly worn jogging bottoms, but when he slid into his empty bed, his resolve ran out.
    He turned out the lights and lay down. He’d often found his nerves less potent in the dark. He punched the number in and waited for it to ring, figuring he’d hang up if the voice at the other end wasn’t the one he wanted to hear. Irony struck him. How many times had he done just that? Turned his back on the wrong kind of voice?
    Too many to count. He closed his eyes and searched for his happy place. For once he didn’t have to look too far….
    “You missed a bit.”
    “Hmm?” Danny glanced up from the sudsy sink. Since their late lunch, he’d seemed in a world of his own.
    “The tin. Look.”
    Danny frowned at the grease-streaked roasting tin. “Is this where you sing me a line from the Fairy Liquid advert?”
    “I’m not drunk enough for that game anymore.” Finn leaned over Danny’s shoulder and pressed their cheeks together. Danny felt warm and solid, and though he sensed Danny was gearing up to leave, he didn’t want to let go. “Still beat you, though.”
    Danny chuckled. He’d tried to catch Finn out all the way home from the gig the night before, but to no avail.