Chapter 3

Lachlan headed for the sofa in the back of the room, sat down and patted the seat beside him, watching Konnor closely as he trudged over, not sure what to do with himself. He hated seeing him so conflicted.

“Konnor, listen to me, okay?” Lachlan insisted, waiting for Konnor's uncertain nod before going on. “What happened between us was unavoidable. I was oblivious to flirting and other people's interest in me, just because I never knew how it felt to be interested in anyone. And you were scared of losing our friendship, which makes total sense,” he claimed, a million soothing words unable to do what honesty could. “When you hooked up with Tam, you did it to hurt yourself, because you thought you deserved it. You never knew him; not really. That hurt both of you, in the long run.”

Konnor looked surprised and opened his mouth to argue, so Lachlan pressed his hand over his lips to stop him.

“It's not an accusation, sweetie. It's just the plain truth. Neither of you made an effort to really get to know each other.” Lachlan smiled at him, consolingly, while Konnor sat back and stared at the wall ahead of him. “Logically, things were never going to work out between you and me, or you and Tam, because we weren't being totally honest with each other. No relationship can be built on a foundation of lies. You know that,” he reasoned, watching him carefully to make sure he didn't overstep the mark.

His friend smiled sadly and nodded, apparently agreeing to his words.

“Yes, you hurt Tam. You hurt me, for a little while, too,” Lachlan went on, not giving him a chance to argue or butt in. “But we both hurt you just as much, if not more. Like I said before; no one was entirely blameless in either situation. But, when it came to Casen, that was a different kettle of fish,” he admitted, giving a little warning to remind him that he and Grayson really had been unreasonable.

Casen had politely ignored the matter ever since, but it had been nearly three years and that was too damned long for them to bottle it all up inside. Whether Konnor and Grayson's original apologies were good enough or not, Lachlan didn't know. He had no idea what Casen or Tam thought of the whole thing, but he would find out. If only for Konnor's peace of mind.

“Sweetie, we all know and accept that Grayson was scared of Casen getting hurt,” he promised, as that wasn't in dispute. “But he's not a baby. He's serious, shy and not one to strike up a friendship with the campus troublemaker, unless he sees something special in him,” he said, glad to see Konnor smiling faintly, as though he approved of those qualities. Which he should; they made Casen a compassionate, sweet young man, who had been brave enough to save Tam from his own living hell.

“Casen was nearly twenty when this all started. He was older than I was when I met Cormag.” Lachlan sighed, shaking his head. Sometimes, he felt as though he was the only person seeing sense. “I know Casen better than I know Tam, but you know what I do know? No one should ever come between true love. And that's what those two have. Sure, you were looking out for his best interests and everything worked out in the end, but you and Grayson did things the wrong way, for the wrong reasons,” he admitted, refusing to sugar coat the truth.

What Konnor most needed was honesty and friendship; both of which required some hard truths.

“I also know that you never really cared about Tam's side of things. And that's understandable; you both hurt each other, but you were angry enough not to see his side of it back then,” Lachlan continued, trying to get it all out in one go. “Only Tam and Casen can answer your fears; only they can tell you if you've been forgiven or if they've simply been burying their heads in the sand about this. But you have to decide what you want to do about it, before it gets to that,” he reminded him.

Konnor ran his hands over his face, looking exhausted.

“If you can open up to Tam and Casen about why you acted the way you did, when they got together,” Lachlan continued, knowing how important it was for them to all put their past behind them, “you might be able to heal this ridiculous festering wound you guys have left open for three years!”

His best friend laughed and shook his head, though he didn't say anything about Lachlan's exaggerated metaphor. “I think I could be ready for that. If you're with me,” he said, quiet and subdued, as though it was a secret.

Lachlan's cheeks flushed as he sank a little further into his seat. “God, I love hanging out with you.” He sighed in contentment and grabbed his hand to give it a squeeze.

“Yeah, me too. I've really missed this,” Konnor confessed, nudging his head into his arm.

Lachlan was happy to sit there for a few hours, until he had to leave to pick Cormag up at work. These were the moments when he cherished their relationship the most. These were when he realised how great the void had been in his gut and his heart when he and Konnor weren't speaking.

Sometimes, the pain was still so raw when he thought back on that time, that he couldn't believe just how many years separated this intense, close friendship they shared now and that excruciatingly long time of no contact.

He never wanted to feel that pain again.