“How old are you?” Marc asked.
“I’ll be thirty in a few weeks.” Marc didn’t say it, but he was thinking it, Jarrett knew. If Marc looked five years older than his real age, Jarrett probably looked ten years older than his. His youth had vanished as Marc’s had. “You said you didn’t want to come here.” He prompted Marc to continue.
“David got into debt. He liked gambling. It had happened before, and he, ah, usually found a way to pay it off.” He looked shifty, and Jarrett had to wonder in what ways David had used the advantage of an attractive, young, compliant lover to help him pay his debts. “But eventually there was just too much, and they were coming after us. I tried to leave him then. I’d wanted to for a long time.” His voice shook. “I was scared. I had nowhere to go. But I had to ta
