Chapter Ten
Declan
When I was closing my last file so I could head home to get ready for dinner at Trent’s, I got a picture text from him. It was a pan, but the contents were completely burned to a crisp, so I sent a text back.
Me: What the hell is that?
Almost immediately, he responded.
Trent: It was supposed to be the veggies for this soup I know Evan loves… Help!
I frowned for a minute, then responded as I left my office.
Me: I’ll be right over. Leaving work now.
I pocketed my phone, waved to Caleb and Reese, then headed to the elevator to leave. As much as I wanted to go home and change, I figured Trent would appreciate my help more, so I headed straight there after making a quick detour at the liquor store for two bottles of wine.
When I knocked on his door and he answered, he froze and blinked at me. “You really came.”
I made a face at him. “You asked for help.”
“I know, I just…” He trailed off, then seemed to shake off his surprise and moved aside to let me in. After he shut his door, he said, “I think I’m just gonna order pizza.”
I looked at my phone to check the time. “We still have over an hour before he gets here. Let me see what you have.”
Trent sighed, but led me to the kitchen. “I sorta gave up after I burnt everything.”
I looked through his pantry and fridge and found enough ingredients to make a good stir fry, so I got to work.
Trent was leaning against his counter watching me. “What are you doing?”
“Saving your ass.”
“I’m the one that’s supposed to cook for you.”
I shrugged. “I like cooking, and this way your brother still gets a home cooked meal.”
“Can I at least help?”
“It’s your kitchen.”
He huffed. “Tell me what to do, asshat.”
I grinned at him. “Start slicing the veggies while I mix the sauce.”
He gave me a mock salute and walked over to the pile of vegetables I set on the counter. After a minute, he said, “Thank you.”
“No big deal.”
He mumbled something under his breath that I didn’t catch.
“What was that?”
He glanced at me with wide eyes. “Nothing,” he said a little too quickly.
I snorted. “Uh huh. ‘Nothing.’” I rolled my eyes.
“So, uh, Evan is… a lot to take in,” he randomly said a few minutes later.
“What does that mean?”
“He has ADHD, so sometimes it’s hard to follow him because it seems like his mind is going a million miles a minute. He’s like a little bundle of energy.”
Trent seemed nervous or anxious. I didn’t know if it was because he was waiting for my reaction to that or because his brother would be here soon. I said, “Okay, whatever.” I scooted closer to him and elbowed his ribs. “You know it’s going to be alright, right?”
He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. “Yeah, I know. It’s just… he literally disappeared three years ago, and I had no idea if he was even alive or not. The police never found him, if they even tried, so it’s just…” He sighed and washed his hands, then turned to face me as I threw the veggies in the pan. “What if he doesn’t show up? I’m afraid to get my hopes up.”
He rendered me speechless for a moment. “So obviously, I can’t say for sure that he’ll show up since I don’t even know him, but I highly doubt he would’ve come here after so long, then just stand you up today. But… if he doesn’t come, then… I guess you and I will have a nice dinner, we’ll watch a movie together, and if you want to go searching for him or call the police or whatever, I’ll help you out. We’ll figure it out, okay?”
“You’d really be willing to help me with all of that?”
I set the spatula down and leaned against the counter beside him, pressing my shoulder against his. “Of course. I’ll help you any way I can.” I shoulder-bumped him, then moved back over to the stove. I didn’t know why, but in that moment, I felt like I would help Trent with anything—like I wanted to help him. Being around him made me feel lighter in a way I hadn’t felt since I was a kid. I finally felt like I could trust him a little, at least enough to know that he wouldn’t pull the same crap as before. He seemed to like spending time with me just as much as I liked spending it with him. I wanted to help him any way I could, and I felt like he’d do the same for me if the roles were reversed.
“Hey,” I said a minute later, “watch this for a minute so I can run to the bathroom.”
Trent nodded. “Sure.” He took the spoon from me with a smile.
I grinned back before making my way to the bathroom. After taking care of business in there, I headed back out toward the kitchen, but something on the couch caught my eye, so I walked over there instead. There was something pink sticking out from behind a throw pillow, so I grabbed it, then wrinkled my nose. “Uh, Trent?”
“Yeah?” he yelled from the kitchen.
“Did you have a girl over or something?”
“What?” he yelled, then popped his head out the kitchen door and started laughing. “No, those are mine.” He went back into the kitchen without further explanation.
I stared at the lacey pink thing in my hand, trying to gauge whether he was being truthful or not. After a few seconds, I decided that I could totally see him walking around in lacey pink underwear, but I still yelled, “Are these really yours? And should I be scared that I’m touching them?”
I heard him laugh again before he poked his head out. “Do you really think I’d have a pair of girl’s underwear on my couch? I mean, really?” He chuckled and shook his head. “They must’ve fallen out of my basket when I was folding laundry last night. I usually watch TV while I fold.”
“So they’re clean?”
“Yep.”
“And you like wearing girl’s panties?”
He scowled at me. “They’re not ‘girl’s’ anything. They’re mine and I like the way they feel on my skin. They make me feel sexy.” He suddenly pulled his shirt up a little, showing off his stomach, for some unknown reason—not that I was complaining, because hello smooth, silky skin—then he pushed just the hem of his jeans down showing the top of light blue lacey underwear. Holy shit. I never before thought I’d think that was hot, but there was no denying the fact that my cock twitched, and my body heated up at the thought of Trent pulling his pants all the way down. I was going to have dreams about that blue lace, about Trent in that blue lace.
“Dec?”
I snapped my attention back to his face when he called my name. “Huh?”
He gave me a weird look before fixing his pants and shirt and saying, “Can you throw those in my bedroom?”
“Uh, sure,” I said, walking away and wishing I could stuff them in my pocket without him noticing.
What the fuck is wrong with me? Trent is my friend. Friends don’t picture their friend’s wearing nothing but lace panties. Friends don’t picture their friends naked. Friends don’t lust after their friends. And friends don’t give a shit what kind of underwear their friends wear, even if it happens to be sexy. Get it together, man.
I hesitantly walked into the bedroom—the only other door off the hallway—and paused to take it all in. There were clothes on every surface of furniture in there, and all over the floor, too. His closet door was open with clothes hanging out, and his bed, nightstand, and dressers were completely covered. It was such a stark contrast to the rest of his apartment that I stood in shock for a minute.
Finally, I cleared my throat and yelled, “Where exactly do you want these?”
“Uh, just throw them on my bed!” he yelled back.
I took a step into the room, then paused and looked down. I couldn’t make it to the bed without stepping on clothes, so I rolled the underwear into a ball and chucked it onto the bed, then exited the room, pulling the door shut behind me. When I walked into the kitchen, I said, “Did someone break into your bedroom?”
“What?”
“Your room, it’s a disaster. It looks like someone broke in and searched the place or a tornado went off in there or something.”
Trent frowned at me. “It’s just a little messy.”
“A little?” My eyes went wide in disbelief.
He scowled before turning back to the stove. “I couldn’t find anything to wear. So sue me for not being perfectly clean like you.”
“Dude, I think you have more clothes on your bed alone than I have in my entire apartment, counting Kade’s clothes, too.”
He sighed. “You just don’t get it.”
“Clearly.”
“Don’t be mean. You’re supposed to be my best friend.”
That made me smile a little. “Yeah, well, I didn’t know I was signing on to be the best friend of a slob when I signed the contract.”
“You’re such an ass.” He tried to sound mad, but he couldn’t hide the laugh that came out.
“Well, you knew I was an ass before you signed the contract. And you shoulda read the fine print.”
He chuckled and turned to me, holding up the stirring spoon. “You better watch it, I have easy access to food.”
“If you get food on my suit, I’m sure you have something in that monstrosity of a bedroom that I could change into. Take your best shot.”
Without hesitation, he flicked the spoon in my direction, but I saw it coming, so I hopped out of the way, laughing. He held up the spoon again, and I lifted my hands in surrender. “Don’t do it. I won’t fit into your clothes.”
“Shoulda thought of that before you challenged me.” He stepped closer to me with the spoon still raised.
“Don’t,” I said with a laugh.
“You’ll just have to have dinner in your underwear, that’d be a shame.” He ran his eyes up and down my body, making me shiver at the perusal. When his eyes flicked back up to mine, I thought I saw them filled with heat, but he blinked and it was gone, so I could’ve been imagining it. He grinned and took another step toward me.
“Trent,” I pleaded.
He took another step and my eyes widened in terror. He’s going to smear food all over me. But he burst into laughter and chuckled out, “Oh my god. Chill out, I’m not going to.” He wiped his eyes as he snickered. “You should’ve seen your face.”
“Very funny.” I tried to sound annoyed, but I ended up laughing with him. “Come on, you’re gonna burn dinner.”
He huffed, then went back to stirring the food. “It’s almost done. I hope he gets here soon.”
“Me, too.” I smiled, then grabbed the spoon from him and hip checked him out of the way. “Let me finish. Go open the wine I brought.”
“Fine.” He hip checked me back before walking to the fridge. “Thanks for bringing this, by the way. I have one bottle, but I have a feeling that won’t be enough.”
“Why are you so nervous?”
He took a deep breath as he used the corkscrew to open the wine. “I just… I don’t know why he left, and I sorta feel like it’s my fault that he disappeared.”
“Why would that be your fault?” I turned and leaned against the counter so I could watch him.
“We had a fight right before he disappeared, and I thought… I thought he did something stupid.” He poured the wine into two glasses and passed me one, then looked into my eyes and I could see the pain in his. “I thought he… I was worried he killed himself or got himself killed. It took me a long time, but I came to terms with never seeing him again, you know? So having him stop by the other day,” he ran a hand through his hair, “felt like I was seeing a ghost.” He sipped his wine. “I’m worried that he won’t show up or that he’ll disappear again.”
He looked completely frazzled, nervous, and unsure. I hated seeing him like that. Normally, he was so happy and sure of himself; I hated that he felt so insecure. When he looked into my eyes again, I knew I had to do something to make him feel better, so I turned off the burner, set my glass down, grabbed his glass and set it down, then stepped close to him. He looked up at me with a question in his gaze I didn’t have the answer to. I had no idea what I was doing, I only knew I wanted to comfort him. So I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him into my chest. He was stiff and tense for a moment, but after I gave him a squeeze, he relaxed into me and wrapped his arms around my waist, resting his head on my chest. I put my cheek on his hair and whispered, “It’ll be okay.”
He nodded against me but didn’t say anything, instead, he moved his feet closer to me and held me tighter. I gently rubbed his back and took a few deep breaths, holding him just as tight. It felt… good having him in my arms. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d hugged someone. I took a deep breath, inhaling his apple-y scent. The longer we hugged, the better it felt, and the more I didn’t want it to end.
After a long time, he leaned back a little, but didn’t let go of me. When I saw his tear-streaked cheeks, I frowned and let go of his back to wipe the tears with my thumbs, but that only seemed to make him cry harder. He laughed embarrassedly and went to pull away, but I didn’t let him. I pulled him back into my chest and squeezed him tight.
He shifted a little, but only to tighten his hold on me, so I held him more firmly against me and moved my cheek against his hair a little. When the apple smell hit my nose again, I couldn’t help but whisper out, “Do you use fruity shampoo?”
He laughed a little hoarsely. “Yeah, apple.”
I smiled at that and took a deep breath.
He laughed again. “Did you just smell me?”
“Yep.”
He snorted, then leaned back a little to look up at me without letting go. “You starting to make a habit of that?”
I shrugged a shoulder, understanding that he was referring to that first time we’d hung out, and I’d smelled him on purpose. “You smell good.”
He smirked, then leaned his forehead onto my chest and whispered, “Thank you.”
I almost made a smartass comment, but I knew he wasn’t thanking me for telling him he smelled good, he was thanking me for helping him. So I pulled him tight against me again and whispered, “Anytime, Little Jalapeno Popper.”
He chuckled. “You’re too good to me, Cupcake.”
I grinned at that, but before I could respond, there was a knock on the door.
Trent took a deep breath, then pulled back and smiled a little at me. “I guess he’s here.”
He stepped back completely and I had to take a deep breath to compose myself at the loss of his small frame against my body. God, what’s wrong with me lately? A little voice inside my head kept screaming You’re lonely! You’re lonely! You’re lonely! But I didn’t want to acknowledge it.
Trent wiped his face and asked, “Do I look okay?”
He had a little eyeliner running under one eye, so I reached up and wiped it away with my thumb. I pretended not to notice the small gasp that fell out of his lips. I also pretended that I didn’t lick my own lips in response before I whispered, “You’re perfect.”