Page 15

Shane

T here’s another loud knock right as I reach the door. Whoever this is needs to chill the fuck out. Who bangs on someone’s door like they’re the police when they’re just a delivery person?

I open the door ready to chew this person out for not only beating on the door but waking Charlie from a much-needed nap. I was about to drain the water and carry him to his bed when this asshole banged on the door.

When I get the door open, I stop in my tracks when a very angry Matt appears. His face is red, eyebrows are furrowed with a clenched jaw. I’ve never seen him like this.

“Hey, man. What’s up?” I ask as I grab the bags from his hands.

He snaps out of whatever was going on when he hears my voice. He blinks a few times and shakes his head like he’s trying to clear it.

“I’m good.” He bends down to grab the bags at his feet and when he stands back up, he’s back to looking like the Matt I know.

“Whose place is this? Is it a cute little twink with questionable taste in clothes?” he asks with his usual goofy smile, pumping his eyebrows.

What the fuck is happening?

My head is spinning from his one-eighty personality shift. Titling my head, I lead him into the kitchen.

We put the bags on the island, and I start putting the groceries away while he walks around Charlie’s place.

“This is nice for on-campus living. Too bad the view sucks,” he says looking out the glass doors. As I finish putting away the groceries, I stand in the walkway with my arms crossed over my chest.

“What?” He turns to me still smiling like he wasn’t just banging on the door like a caveman and looking like he was ready to beat my ass.

“What’s going on Matt? I didn’t know you had a job. Not that I care but you never mentioned it to anyone.”

He shrugs off my words and walks past me to the kitchen. “I needed the extra cash and took the first job I saw.” He leans against the island, completely relaxed.

That still doesn’t explain the obnoxious knocking and red face.

I hear Charlie cough and remember that he’s not keen on people being in his space.

“Okay, man. If that’s what you’re going with, so be it. But I’m sure you have more deliveries and shit to do, so you should probably get to it.”

“Is he in there?” Matt ignores what I said and walks towards Charlie’s door.

I quickly cut him off and push him back towards the front door. I reach around him and open it, shoving his big ass through it.

He laughs. “Alright, alright. I’m going. I’m not a cock blocker like Ryder.”

“No, but you’re loud as shit which will have the same effect.” We bump knuckles. Right before he turns, I grab his shoulder. “We’re going to talk about this later. I don’t like what I saw when I opened the door.”

His smile falters for a second, but then he nods. “Whatever you say Papa Bear.” He whacks me in the chest with the back of his hand and takes off.

Fucker.

I close the door and turn to the kitchen. I pop two bagels in the toaster then mix up some scrambled eggs. While they cook, I cut up some strawberries and set them on two plates. When the bagels are done, I spread garden cream cheese on them and place them on the plates along with the finished scrambled eggs. As I turn to bring them to the table, Charlie’s watching me from his door.

“Hey.” I walk over to him and kiss the top of his damp head. He looks at the plates and his stomach lets out a loud grumble. His cheeks turn pink as he looks away. I chuckle and nudge his arm with mine. “Come on birthday boy, let’s eat.”

We walk to the table but he continues to the couch instead. Taking his lead, I follow and sit next to him, handing him his plate. His nose does that adorable scrunch thing as he looks at his food. He picks up a strawberry and nibbles on it as he sets his plate on his lap.

I grab my fork and dig into the eggs. As I’m bringing a bite to my mouth, I look over at him to ask if he wants to watch anything when I notice he’s staring at my plate licking his lips. We have the same food on our plates so I’m not sure what that look means.

He looks down at his plate as his stomach lets out another grumble. He looks up at me biting his bottom lip.

“What’s wrong? I only seasoned them with salt and pepper if you’re worried about spice. Or I can make your eggs a different way if you’d like.”

He nods but then shakes his head. He sets his plate on the coffee table and heads to the kitchen. Not sure if I should follow, I stay sitting and wait to see if he needs my help. I hear the fridge open then hear him gasp. I’m about to go in there when I hear it close, and he walks back in with ketchup.

He won’t look at me as he opens it and drowns his eggs in the red goop.

Gross.

He picks his plate up and mixes it so the eggs are unrecognizable. Ok, so he really likes ketchup. Noted. He sits back and devours his eggs like he hasn’t eaten in days.

“Want me to put something on TV?”

“Doesn’t matter.” He shrugs and takes a huge bit of his bagel.

I pull out my phone and turn on my Spotify playlist. Zombie by Bad Wolves comes on. Charlie looks at me with an approving look and a soft smile. Taking that as a good choice for music, I set the volume low and put it on the coffee table.

He nods his head along to the beat as he continues eating. He eats all his eggs, three bites of his bagel, and one strawberry before he sets his plate on the table and sits back holding his stomach. It’s not enough for a guy his size. I’ll just have to be here more often to make sure he eats.

Once I’m finished eating, I collect our plates and bring them to the kitchen. He follows, still holding his stomach. I toss the plates in the trash and start washing his one pan. As I’m washing it, I can see him out of the corner of my eye opening the cabinets and looking at the new contents.

As I’m drying off my hands, I turn to see confusion marked on his face. The space between his eyebrows has a single crease while his head is tilted and he’s biting the corner of his lower lip. It makes him even more adorable.

I walk over to him, smooth the line with my finger and pull his lip from his teeth with my thumb, letting it linger there for a second. His tongue comes out and pokes my thumb making a shiver run down my back. He looks up at me with those golden-brown gems as he sucks on the tip of my thumb. My breathing picks up as he steps closer to me, taking more of my thumb in his mouth. My dick thumps against his hip when he bites down.

“If you don’t stop, we’re going to have a repeat of earlier,” I say breathlessly.

He lets my thumb go slowly. He rises on the tip of his toes and leans in. He grips the sides of my head and pushes his lips to mine. He keeps his tongue in his mouth making for a sweet kiss. As he settles back on his feet, he takes a step back, flushed.

“Thank you for the food. You didn’t have to buy me any of it. I would have had Lily take me or something…”

“It was no problem. I felt bad for not staying by your side in the store, so this is my way of apologizing. I didn’t know what all you eat so if there’s anything here you don’t want just let me know and I’ll take it home to that human vacuum I share a condo with.”

He lets out the sweetest sound. His laugh. It has both of his dimples coming out and all his teeth on display.

His laugh makes me laugh and I never want it to end.

Once we settle down, he looks more relaxed than I’ve ever seen him. “Do you have any plans for today? Did Lily set anything up for your birthday?”

“No. I usually spend my weekends here. I don’t like going outside campus and that’s where she practically lives on the weekends.” He shrugs.

“Well, that doesn't sound like fun, especially on your birthday. Unless that’s what you’d rather do? I’d love to take you out to some of my favorite spots around Chicago. They aren’t widely known places, so they aren’t too crowded.”

He’s biting the corner of his lip again as he thinks about what I said. He looks at the closed door that has all his art stuff in it. Not wanting him to feel like he needs to choose between me and his art, I walk to the door and open it, holding out my hand for him.

His cold fingers slide between mine a second later as we walk in. I flip on the light and I’m instantly drawn to the tiger again. It’s so breathtakingly beautiful. It doesn’t even look like a painting. The realistic side looks like he took a picture of a tiger and put it next to the rainbow side.

Still holding my hand, he sets up a chair next to the window and points to it. I take the hint and sit as he opens the curtains, letting in the bright sunlight. He moves things around until he’s sitting in front of me with a large easel and a blank off-white board. He unrolls a pouch that has a bunch of pencils in it and pulls out two, setting them on the table next to him. He looks up at me and tilts his head to the left and then to the right.

Biting his lip, he stands up and walks over to me. “Sit comfortably. Slouch if you want. Spread your legs or cross one over the other.” He steps back as I relax into the back of the chair. “I’ll be right back.” He rushes from the room.

O-kay.

I scoot forward a little, so my ass is almost to the edge of the seat and spread my legs. I clasp my hands together and place them on my lap with my elbows resting on the armrests. I look up as he comes back holding my white Tampa Bay Thunder hat.

He tries to hand it to me, but I hold up my interlocked fingers. “Sorry, I’m comfortable.” I smile then chuckle as he rolls his eyes and puts my hat on backwards. When he turns, I adjust it so it sits where I normally wear it.

He connects his phone to the Bluetooth speaker on the table. So Cold by Breaking Benjamin comes on and as the intro plays, he starts drawing. He gets lost in what he’s doing and it’s such an amazing experience watching his face as he works. For the most part, he has an almost bored look, but I think it’s just what he looks like when he’s concentrating. He bites that lower lip again and again while scrunching his face. He trades one pencil for another, absorbed in what he’s doing.

I have no idea how long I sit here but when he sits back, rotating his wrist with a small smile on his face, I get up and walk over to him. When I go around the easel and see his drawing of me, I’m speechless. I thought he was just drawing me but he added the window, curtains, the corner of his table, and a cord that I hadn’t noticed plugged in behind me.

“It’s not finished. I still need to add depth with shading and the different textures. I don’t know if I want to keep it greyscale or add color. Maybe watercolors, I’m not sure.”

He looks at the drawing while he talks to me, the wheels still turning in his head.

“It’s amazing. I love it.”

His cheeks flush as he smiles at the drawing. “Thanks.”

Reaching down for his hands I pull him to a stand. “How about I take you out somewhere? I have the perfect spot that’s about forty minutes from here and I can guarantee nobody but us will be there.”

He looks down at himself. “Should I change?”

“You don’t have to, but it is still unseasonably warm outside.”

He nods. “I’ll go put something else on.” He drops my hands as he heads to the door. I look back down at the drawing, still amazed at how he was able to capture so much in what felt like a couple of minutes.

I walk to the window and close the curtains like he had them then shut off the light before closing the door behind me as I step out. Charlie’s door is open, but I don’t see him. I find him sitting on his floor in tight black skinny jeans and shirtless. He’s in the same spot I found him in this morning with the same blank look. He has a grey shirt in his hands that he’s twisting over and over.

I sit down in front of him and stop his hands with mine. I pull the shirt from his grip and bring his hands to my lips, noting how clammy they are. He blinks slowly. His breath hitches when he finally focuses on me.

“I-I’m sorry.” A few tears slide down his cheeks as he squeezes his eyes closed. “You d-don’t have to stay with m-me. I know y-you have b-better things to d-do.”

With his hands still in mine I pull him to me until he gets the hint and climbs in my lap. “Baby, I don’t want to be anywhere else. I want to spend the day with you. I want to be with you to celebrate your birthday.” I kiss the top of his head then lay my cheek on it. “Can you tell me what’s going on?”

He shakes his head and curls into a tighter ball on my lap. I rub his bare back, feeling the multiple scars under his tattoo. I look down and trace one of the wheels in the steampunk-style tattoo. It’s big. It starts at the top of his spine and goes down to his waist, spreading the width of his ribs. It has a big old-looking clock at the top with cracked glass that has Roman numerals with the time of ten ‘o two. The whole thing looks like it’s being ripped from his skin around the edges.

As my fingers touch one of the raised scars, he jerks upright and scrambles out of my lap. He quickly pulls the shirt over his head and stands up. It’s another long-sleeved shirt but this one is heathered grey with a skull design on it. He sits on the edge of his bed putting his socks on then pulls on checkered Vans.

Standing up, he walks out of the room without looking at me.

What is going on with him?

When I reach him, he’s sticking his phone and keys in his pockets by the front door. I slip my slides on and pat my pockets making sure I have everything and follow him out.

I grab his hand as we walk to the elevator. “I have to stop at home real quick to change then we’ll hit the road.”

He nods, not saying anything.

I let out a sigh as he lets go of my hand and steps into the elevator.