“Jasper, hi.” I swipe a hand across my cheeks before I move to him. His eyes follow the movement and I take a sick pleasure at the way they narrow in concern. “What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t getting back until tomorrow.”

“They didn’t need me for the last day of the conference so I was able to leave early.” He glances over my shoulder, but when he looks back at me, it’s as if everyone else disappears and I’m the only person he sees. “Are you okay?”

“Just a little drama with my dad, nothing new.” I go for nonchalance and force a smile onto my face. However, when Jasper’s frown deepens, I realize my efforts were for naught. “He’s leaving now, so no worries.”

“Your dad? I thought . . .” He looks behind me again, but this time when he does, his entire demeanor changes. His shoulders snap back and the lines around his mouth tighten. It’s a version of Jasper I’ve never seen before. Even when he was throwing up and miserable, there was still a light, happy-go-lucky vibe about him. And now that’s gone.

“What’s wro—” I begin to ask, but stop short when Jasper speaks over me.

“Connor.” There’s a nervousness to his voice that I’ve yet to hear from him. “What are you doing here?”

Connor?

All right. This is too much now. What the fuck is happening?

“Jasper! My man.” Connor either doesn’t hear the anxiousness in Jasper’s voice or he ignores it. He leaves my dad standing there with a still-irate Collette in front of him. “Long time. How’ve you been?”

Connor grabs Jasper’s hand and does one of those man handshake/hug things where he slaps Jasper on the back. I wasn’t wrong, Connor is a couple inches shorter and his frame is noticeably thinner than Jasper’s when they’re standing beside each other. It’s almost hard to focus on anything other than the extreme handsomeness in front of me. If I had my camera with me, I’d be snapping away. But beneath the general optics of two hot guys, one in a suit, one in shorts and a tee, something else is happening. None of the rigidness leaves Jasper’s frame as Connor bombards him with this gesture. If anything, he becomes more tense.

“I’ve been fine.” Jasper keeps his answer short and sweet, not giving anything away. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Andrew brought me in, he wanted me to meet Drew.” Connor looks away from Jasper, and when he spots me, his eyes soften as if he regrets this scene as much as I do. I don’t want to think it’s sweet . . . but it is. “Unfortunately, he didn’t clue me in on the full situation, so now we’re leaving. Aren’t we, Andrew?”