Page 57 of His Country
Aiden must have drifted off. He woke with a start when the front door slammed. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he looked up to see Ethan leaning against the door, lips quirked in a smile. He looked a little tired, his jeans dirty and a stain that looked a lot like slobber running up one of his arms. He lifted up Aiden’s hat—picked up off the stable floor where he’d dropped it—and hung it on a hook by the door.
Pushing himself up, Aiden licked his dry lips and waited for his brain to reboot. “Is everything okay?” he asked as he checked to make sure he’d removed his shoes before dropping his feet on the coffee table. He had, but his old socks probably weren’t any better.
“Yeah,” Ethan said as he moved into the apartment, kicking his shoes off. He padded toward Aiden, crowding him against the back of the couch with a hand on either side of his hips. “It’s nice to come home to someone.” He kissed him soft, there and gone before Aiden even had a chance to enjoy it. He chuckled when Aiden chased his lips.
Flopping beside him, Ethan sighed. He scooted down so he could comfortably rest his head on Aiden’s shoulder. “I had so many silly little fantasies about coming home and seeing you here. All sleepy with your socks on and—” he stopped himself as he looked down at Aiden’s dingy socks. Reaching forward, he tugged the sock over so one of the holes slipped over his big toe. “It’s just nice.”
Aiden wriggled his toe. He tried to imagine Ethan sitting here, feet up and a paperback open on his lap as he got lost insilly little fantasiesabout Aiden. It was enough to make him choke up.
“I’ve never really…I don’t think I allowed myself to think about this.Fantasizeabout what life could be like.”
Ethan just nodded, like he understood. Or maybe like he didn’t, but he accepted it. Accepted Aiden, and his broken, backwards way of getting here. To a place he should have been all along.
“Well,” Ethan said as he sat up, squeezing Aiden’s thigh. “How about I make dinner? Making memories is a whole lot better than fantasizing.”
Aiden couldn’t argue with that, so he followed Ethan to the kitchen. He hadn’t spent any time learning how to cook anything more than the basics, enough to keep himself fed. His mother would probably have had a fit if she saw how often he used a microwave, but Aiden was beginning to think she didn’t really have much of a leg to stand on when it came to him.
They chatted while Ethan made hamburgers. Between lamenting that it was too cold to grill and teasing each other on their preferred beer, Aiden noticed a fancy envelope on the counter. Feeling nosy, he pulled it closer to see embossed cardstock. The foil glinted in the kitchen light; script so elegant it took Aiden a moment to read it.
“They finally set a date?” he asked, gesturing to the invitation.
Ethan’s face fell as he glanced from Aiden to the invite. “Yeah. Summer. Hoping to avoid the rain.”
Nodding he slipped the invite back into its fancy textured envelope. “Billy always liked the wildflowers. Should be pretty—good for photos, I guess.” He pursed his lips. “Never been to a wedding but Isaac likes watching the wedding dress shows. They’re always talking about pictures.”
After a moment of poking at the meat, Ethan relaxed. Like he was afraid seeing the invite would set Aiden off. Which was fair. Honestly, Aiden was surprised it didn’t. But when he lookedat the fancy invitation with it’s impossible to read writing and filigree, all he felt was ambivalent. He was happy that Everett and Billy were getting married. But what did it matter? They belonged to each other body, mind, and soul the moment they locked eyes over a summer bonfire. Far as Aiden was concerned, they’ve been married for a long time.
But it’s what they wanted, and he was glad they could have it. Aiden shoved the envelope away, leaning on his elbows so he could rest his chin in his hands. Ethan looked at him over his shoulder, making a face at him when he noticed he was staring. He’d washed his hands, but he was still wearing his stained pull over and his hair was messy from where he’d been wearing a headlamp.
For once, Aiden was happy right where he was.
They sat on the couch to eat. Ethan turned his TV on to some reality show about a veterinarian that just seemed to make him angry.
“Well, no shit, I could give people massive discounts if I had an entire TV show subsidizing my clinic,” he groused as he ripped pieces of his burger off to feed to Sugar. “Like, I’m not hating on the guy, but people see this and think veterinarians who can’t do that are money grubbing assholes.”
Aiden side eyed him. “You have a spit stain on your shirt and live in a one-bedroom apartment above the clinic. No one thinks you’re doing this for the money.” He chewed his burger, laughing as Ethan glanced down at his shirt as if he just now noticed. “Besides, you spend your free time at the Rolling J starting a mutiny against low level government officials.”
Ethan shrugged. “That was mostly to impress some cute farm hand.”
“Did it work?”
He waggled his eyebrows. “You tell me.” He lowered his plate for Sugar to lick clean. “Besides, that’s all wrapped up in redtape. They haven’t officially told us to go fuck ourselves, but they haven’tnoteither.”
“You said it could take months.”
Ethan shrugged. “By then the resort will be built.” He set the clean plate on the table and sighed.
Aiden joined him. “You should be proud of the work you did. Maybe it won’t work, but at least you know you tried.” He elbowed him lightly. “And besides, if official channels don’t work, there’s always arson.”
“Who are you?” he asked, incredulously. “What? First step: coming out. Second: felony?”
“Third: world domination. Obviously.”
Ethan laughed, head tossed back and hands holding his stomach. He looked good like that. With his eyes scrunched up so tightly they disappeared and his hair falling messily over his face. His lips were parted, canine teeth looking sharp in the glow from the TV. Aiden found himself transfixed. He knew Ethan was handsome, but seeing him like this? Carefree, in his element, after feeding him and his dog? It made himwantso fiercely that for a moment his chest ached.
With a start he realized he didn’t have to hurt. He could do more than want. He could have. All he had to do was just…take it. With both hands, no hesitation. Reach out and take what was being offered.
Ethan stopped laughing when Aiden crawled into his lap, hands looping around his neck. Ethan’s hands settled on Aiden’s hips, eyes wet from laughter. Aiden played with the soft baby hairs at the nape of his neck.