Well, this was progressing in a manner that Dean hadn't quite anticipated. Three weeks spending wondering if he'd even wanted this to go anywhere and he wasn't sure it was going to end well, but at least he could say he'd tried to at least sort it out. Dean was many disreputable things, but he wasn't careless with people, especially people like Dempsey.

"Invitation's still open." Dean shrugged, finishing off his butt and snuffing it in the stone of the terrace. He had that weird sort of knot in his stomach again, same as the night he'd last seen Dempsey. It was annoying and frustrating and impossible to ignore. It was setting his teeth on edge. Dean didn't do attachments, he didn't get involved, but looking back, that's exactly what he'd done with Dempsey under the pretense that it was all superficial and superfluous, until it had crumbled. Still, he tried to remain unaffected, like he would do it for anyone, even if he wasn't sure what was going to happen next.

Dean hated not knowing.