Carlos shook his head a bit."No, he has every reason," he said softly. Hadyn knew it; he knew Hadyn had been the one who'd gone to deal with the aftermath. Hadyn hadn't been in the thick of it, though. He hadn't seen Gael almost dying on that stage and watching Patrick threaten his friends. They were friends, if nothing else, Carlos thought, lifting his eyes to meet Hadyn's as he took a sip of the soda. As far as Gael was concerned, it could not be anything else. Not ever. That was on Patrick too.

He sighed, scrubbing one hand through his hair. The problem was that he was so good at playing by Gael's rules on the surface, but he didn't have nearly as rigid control over his heart. His heart had picked someone who was bound to hurt him, and bound to run away if he had any inkling that Carlos felt more than friendship. "Yeah," he said after a moment. "I care about him. It would be easier if I didn't." He dropped his hands back to the table and leaned back in his chair. There was a bit of a smile on his face, but like Gael's earlier - it didn't touch his eyes. "He'd much rather I didn't care," he said. "He'd much rather no one cared, I think. He doesn't trust love." It might be the worst thing Patrick Zeitlin did, Carlos reflected as he inclined his head. "I think he'd push away Sarah if she'd let him get away with it. Me? He hardly even knows me. I'm a hookup."