Meanwhile, Chance has problems that need to be resolved, and this is where I am. (Please remember that this is first draft, unedited ms)
Chance in Hell
copyright Aug. 2013 Lee Brazil
"I
think it's best, don't you?" His brow wrinkled as his cell phone beeped
and he reached for it. Anyone else might have missed the hesitation, the dread
in his eyes as he checked the caller. I wasn't just anyone. I'd known Cannon
long enough and well enough to recognize the fear behind his actions.
He
swallowed and put the phone away without answering it.
"Something
wrong Cannon?"
"Just
a guy who won't take no for an answer."
"Oh
yeah? Want me to have a word with him?" The offer was out before I
realized how it would look, me warning guys off my ex.
"Would
you? In fact, maybe you could do me a favor with that. It's this guy I met at …um…"
His cheeks flushed and he swallowed again. Sin dropped a coaster and a second glass
of whiskey in front of him and sauntered away in silence. Maybe the double
rejection had wounded his vanity. "Look, your friend introduced us, and we
went out a couple of times, but I'm not interested in a relationship and this
guy just doesn’t want to hear it." He held the phone out to me, and I took
it.
I
glanced down at the number, but it wasn't one I recognized. I hit talk and
listened to the phone ring while watching Cannon twitch nervously in his seat
and gulp the blasted whiskey. Something had him on edge, and it hardly seemed like
the reaction to a persistent suitor.
"Masters."
"Look,"
I didn't bother choosing my words wisely. In fact, it felt great to just let
the anger and emotion roll out. "He's not interested in seeing you, and if
that's not clear enough to get you to stop calling, well I've got any number of
other options than talking to make my point."
"Who
is this?" The deep graveled voice was cultured and powerful, the voice of
a man who expected to be obeyed, respected, and xxx. "Why do you have
Cannon's phone?"
The
hell was a guy like that harassing Cannon for? "This is Chance DuMont, not
that it matters. When a man says no, he means no. That's all there is to it.
I'm just the kind of friend who makes sure that pricks like you understand
that." Cannon's face turned white and he trembled as he picked up the
glass and drained it. He waved the glass in the air for a refill, staring
steadfastly at the row of bottles on the shelves.
After
a brief silence, Cannon's would be boyfriend spoke again. "Is he there? Give
him the phone."
"He
doesn't want to talk to you." Interestingly, Cannon's head turned and his lips
parted. I almost heard a whispered protest, but then he pressed them so tightly
together that a thin white line formed around his mouth. He gripped his glass
so tightly his knuckles whitened as well. Hmmm.
"I
don't accept that. Ask yourself why he won't talk to me himself Chance."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And that is pretty much as far as I've gotten. Somehow, removing the third wheel form this relationship is harder than it should be, probably because I quite like Cannon, and I wasn't at all sure for a while there whether Chance would end up with Rory or Cannon at the end. At this point, anything can happen. 
