Page 85 of Inevitable

Honestly, what did he bring to the table in their relationship? Only complications, it seemed. Two was okay. Three was unacceptable.

If he’d been a decent person, he would have already let them both go. Just like he’d always planned. Just like it was supposed to be.

He was startled out of his thoughts by his phone.

He slid his thumb over the screen.

“Hi.”

“Is Drew with you?” Ezra’s voice sounded distant over the street noise.

“What?”

“Drew,” Ezra repeated. “He was supposed to meet me, but it’s been an hour, and he’s not here. I don’t know. It’s not like him. Especially with the way things have been…”

“Where are you?” Bas asked.

“I’m going home. I stopped by his office, but there’s nobody there, and I don’t know where else to look. He’s not answering his phone. I mean, it’s Drew. He doesn’t just leave you hanging like that.”

Bas scrubbed his palm over his face, alert now.

“Okay. Let me think about it for a moment,” Bas said, trying to force himself to stay calm. “What day is it?” he asked. Lately every day had been blended into the next, so he’d lost track of time altogether.

“Friday,” Ezra muttered. He seemed to have stopped moving because he wasn’t breathing as harshly anymore.

“Maybe he’s having dinner with Sharon and Nick? He does that sometimes.”

“Sharon was in the office.”

“Okay, yeah, that’s not it, then.”

Bas’s eyes landed on the calendar he used as an in-his-face reminder of all his commitments.

The twenty-third of April.

Something about the date nagged at him. The realization came quickly enough. He’d ignored the date for the last decade or so, but he couldn’t really ever forget it.

“The anniversary,” he said. “It’s his parents’ anniversary party tonight.”

“Fuck,” Ezra said. They were both silent for a little while. Bas tried to think of anywhere Drew would go. Surely he wouldn’t have gone to the party?

“Are you close to home?” Bas asked.

“About five minutes away.”

“See if you can find the invitation and see where the party is being held.”

The next minutes passed in silence, the only sound the occasional scratch of the phone moving against Ezra’s ear. Then a key being turned and a door opening. Thumps in the background, which Bas figured was Ezra removing his sneakers.

A few more moments of silence, and then Ezra was back.

“It’s in some kind of a restaurant downtown.” Ezra’s breaths were too loud in Bas’s ear. “Do you think he went to the party?” he asked after a second.

“I don’t know, but I have no other ideas. I’ll go and check it out.”

“I’ll meet you there.”

“No,” Bas blurted out.