Chapter 10

 

Two Days Later

 

Just five days into the week long reunion, Levi was still sulking. Casen didn't understand it, since he was the one in the wrong, but he seriously thought he'd been hard done by, somehow. It made no sense, even after Tam and Mack had attempted to talk him round. Casen refused to speak to him a second time. If his first warning didn't make an impact, nothing else would.

Hearing what Darren had suffered as a child had been horrifying, but it also made him respect the kid so much more. The youngest of them all, Darren didn't shy away from life or love; he knew what real pain and heartache were, but he embraced life because of that, in spite of it.

Turning over in bed, he stared at the ceiling, wondering what to do with himself. He was angry with Levi, sad for Darren and felt bad that Lachlan and Giovanni were spending most of their days trying to keep Darren occupied and smiling. Grayson and Tam had tried to keep out of it, while attempting to convince Konnor that he didn't have anything to feel guilty about.

“Turn over,” Tam whispered from beside him.

Casen looked over at his husband in surprise. He was not in the mood for sex, especially of the 'turn over' variety. It was a pleasant surprise to see Tam locking his fingers and cracking them with a good stretch. “You're actually offering me a massage? Doth my ears deceive me?” he teased, since he was usually the one offering up that kind of 'happy ending'.

His husband chuckled and gestured for him to turn over, which Casen willingly did. Lying on his front, he folded his hands under his head and tried to relax.

“This is a one-time deal. You know I'm too ham-fisted to really do this well,” Tam complained, though that wasn't really true.

Truthfully, he loved Tam's massages, but knew that his husband was far too exhausted and ached everywhere after a hard day's work. So why ask him to do more after all that, just so that Casen could indulge in something he could pay to have done at the local spa? Not that he did that often. But Mack had been sweet enough to buy him a day at the spa for his birthday last year and, good God! It had been wonderful.

“I'm going to talk to Levi today. Alone,” Tam explained, as his fingers dug lightly into his shoulder blades.

Casen sighed in delight, glad that Tam was going to tackle the awful things Levi had said. He was the only one who would have any chance of getting through to his best friend, so it made more sense for him to try before anyone else did. “What are you going to say?” he wondered, not sure what might make Levi see sense.

“No idea. I figure I'll let him talk first, then react to whatever he says.” Tam's fingers kneaded up his neck and both thumbs drifted back down again, up and down, slowly and with just enough pressure to be enjoyable but helpful.

“You're good at that...reacting,” he teased.

“Very funny.”

“The most important things we say can never be scripted,” he confessed, since that was the truth of it.

Tam was always best at saying the most amazing, wonderful things that could never possibly be pre-planned.

Casen closed his eyes to the warm, soothing touch of Tam's hands on his lower back and contemplated possible outcomes. As far as he could see, Levi had a bug up his ass about something completely unrelated to Darren or the reunion, but he was using this get together to air his grievance in the worst way.

For a few minutes, there was nothing but blessed peace and quiet, then someone knocked on the door, ruining it.

Tam sighed heavily, clearly as disappointed as Casen was, despite immediately leaving the bed and moving to the open the door. Turning onto his back, he almost told Tam they should have pretended to be sleeping and let the person go away. Then Mack walked in, looking like he'd been in a punch up.

“What happened?” he asked, sitting up in shock.

Mack waved his concern aside, but it was no good. His eyes welled up and he sniffed. “I think Levi and I just broke up,” he said, turning to look at Tam as he pulled the sleeves of his jumper over his hands.

Casen patted the bed and prayed that Levi hadn't given his brother that sore eye; it would be a real shiner in just a day or two. If Levi was responsible, he'd be lucky to walk out of this cabin in one piece. “Who gave you the shiner?” he asked, needing to know that before anything else.

His twin walked over to sit beside him, sinking so low that he could lean his head on Casen's arm. “I did.” He sighed and shrugged. “I slept on the armchair because he was being such a prat, but when the alarm clock went off this morning, I went to turn over and fell off,” he explained, then looked up and offered a weak smile. “I promise; it's not okay for anyone to hurt you and it's not okay for anyone to hurt me, either.”

He nodded his acceptance of that, only because he trusted that Mack could never lie to him convincingly. “So why do you think you're not together anymore?” he wondered, now that he knew the eye wasn't the reason for that statement.

Mack lifted his left hand and revealed a slip of paper. As Casen took it to read the words, his twin explained; “I woke up to find this on the bed. The bastard's gone home without me. Says he's not wanted and all that shit.” His tone made it clear what he thought of that, but all Casen could do was look up at Tam for help. He didn't understand what was happening or why.

Before he could say anything to his husband, he turned and stormed out of the room.