Page 22 of When Ben Loved Jace (He Loved Him #2)

Tim shakes his head. “I’m not talking about raw pasta. This was the frozen kind, cheese and all. Instead of putting it in the oven like a normal person—”

“It was going to take an hour or something crazy like that!”

“— or the microwave,” Tim continues, “Ben decides to dump it all in a pot of boiling water. And when it became obvious that he ruined it, he tries to hide the fact by covering the slop in the sort of cheap powdered parmesan that comes out of a can, except it wasn’t the right color, so he tried mixing it all with cayenne pepper. ”

“It was the only orange spice I could find in the cabinet,” I murmur while blushing.

“Did you eat it?” Eric inquires innocently.

Tim goes rigid. “Yeah,” he admits. “At least… I tried to.”

“He always liked my cooking,” I say dismissively, even though it’s an outright lie.

Tim’s gaze softens. “I definitely liked the way you took care of me.”

For whatever reason, this moves me way more than it should.

Eric clears his throat to dispel the tension. “Well then, this sounds like the perfect opportunity for Ben to show you what he’s learned since. Let’s all cook together! ”

That’s exactly what we do. Tim decides we’re having chorizo street tacos.

For all his boasting, he just takes care of the meat.

I only have to quarter a lime and slice up radishes.

Eric impresses me the most. He makes corn tortillas from scratch in between helping guide us where needed.

Cooking together is a great way of breaking the ice.

By the time we all sit down in a cozy dining room lined with hutches and art, I feel completely comfortable in Eric’s presence.

“So how did you two meet?” I ask as we begin the meal.

“Well,” Eric replies, “from my perspective, it all began the day two frat boys showed up at my front door.”

“You’re in a fraternity?” I ask Tim before holding up a hand to stave off his reply. “Never mind. Why am I even surprised?”

His expression is difficult to read. “Actually, it all started earlier than that,” he says to Eric. “If you’re cool with telling him.”

“I suppose that is an important detail,” Eric concedes.

“You see, such visits were something of an annual event for me. This particular fraternity would send their members out to former alumni, seeking donations for whatever fundraising initiative they had that year. Curiously enough, the culprit always seemed to be a leaky roof. Was there ever any truth to that?”

“If the frat house had leaks,” Tim replied, “I never noticed them.”

“So you used to be a member of the same fraternity?” I ask.

Eric nods. “What seems like ages ago. For me, it was a heady era of self-discovery. I’d always known that I was attracted to men and had indulged that inclination on occasion.

Such things weren’t as easy back then. Gay men would meet in the strangest places, which was thrilling, but I wanted more.

Then came the fateful day when a young man tried cruising me in a cinema.

To my great annoyance, because it wasn’t an adult theater or anything tawdry.

Handsome as he was, I was more interested in seeing the movie.

” Eric laughs at the memory. “Michael was persistent though. And I was quite taken by his dark wavy hair, which he wore long.”

I notice how Eric’s eyes dart to Tim before returning to my own.

“Michael suggested we go somewhere private. I had more pressing desires, so I proposed we get dinner instead. He agreed, but only after some coaxing on my part, because people like us had to be especially cautious in those days. You should have seen his face when I told him what I was really after. I wanted a relationship. A romantic partner to share the rest of my life with. That might not sound revolutionary to you, but at the time, it was almost unheard of.”

“My thesis touches on this!” I say in excitement. “Would you mind if I use you as a source?”

Eric nods his head. “I’d be pleased to help!”

“Tell him about the fraternity,” Tim says, reaching down to pass table scraps to Chinchilla which she licks directly off his palm. I’m glad I didn’t see that before we began cooking!

“Ah yes. Michael and I had actually met before, albeit briefly. He was a failed pledge at the fraternity I was a member of. As our relationship progressed, I ensured that his second attempt at joining was successful. Living under the same roof provided more opportunity for us to be together, although we always had to operate in secrecy. I fell madly in love with him.” A youthful flush spreads across Eric’s cheeks.

“I’d had fleeting crushes on other men before, but this was something new.

And I believed that he loved me too, despite him seeming incapable of expressing that as freely as I did. ”

Tim is glowering now.

Eric notices, hesitating before he presses on.

“We were happy, for a while. And perhaps that is why we grew careless. My own parents knew the truth and were accepting enough. I even brought Michael home to meet them. He was going to return there with me over the winter break, but before that could happen, our fraternity held its annual Christmas party. The weather was terribly cold. I still remember how beautiful the snow was—how it seemed to blanket the world in silence when we snuck out back to be together.”

Eric’s expression becomes pained. “It all seems so foolish now. The backyard of our own fraternity house! What a heedless risk to take, but we’d been drinking, there was a charming gazebo in the far corner, and I never could say no to Michael.

As you might expect, we were caught in a rather compromising situation by one of the guests.

She fled in shock, so Michael and I hastily circled around to the front of the house to let ourselves in.

We parted ways there, mingling with others so as to have an alibi, but for me it was too late.

The woman had seen clearly enough to identify me, which she did publicly.

The party ground to a halt as the news spread.

All eyes were on me, and I wasn’t prepared to deny the allegations.

Part of me didn’t want to. Why should I be ashamed of the same love they indulged in so recklessly? "

"I agree," I say, my throat tight. I can’t bring myself to look at Tim. “What did Michael do?”

Eric takes a deep breath. “He held his tongue, even when the accusations became insults. To be fair, I claimed to have been with someone who had already left the party, wanting to protect him. But when they quite literally threw me out, Michael joined them. He was no less gentle as I was unceremoniously picked up against my will and tossed to the curb like so much garbage.”

That brings back painful memories of my own. The table is stifled by silence, until I break it.

“I’m really sorry,” I say.

“Think nothing of it,” Eric says generously.

“It was a trying experience, yes, but many happy years followed. I met the love of my life soon after. Curiously enough, if not for that harrowing night, my life would have taken a very different course. I would have missed out on so much that I now adore.” He places his hand over Tim’s, patting it supportively before withdrawing.

“Anyway, my name lived on in infamy, and I became something of a laughing stock to the fraternity who—decades later—sent me one of my dearest friends.”

Tim manages something close to a smile. “I wish there’d been a different way of getting there, but I’m so freaking glad we met!”

“That’s what this story is really about,” Eric says, picking up another taco. “Let’s continue there.”

“All right,” Tim says with a nod. “Well, every year the fraternity would send a couple of guys to Eric’s house, usually with some loaded tip for getting him to donate like, ‘Be sure to tell him that we named the gazebo in his honor’ or whatever.”

“I would always insist they add a golden plaque,” Eric interjects with good humor.

“You weren’t laughing about it the day me and Travis showed up.”

“No, that’s true.” Eric’s mouth becomes a flat line. “I was in a foul mood.”

“Travis was my roommate at the fraternity,” Tim says, chewing his bottom lip a moment while staring at me. “We were uh… I don’t know how to describe it anymore.”

“Involved,” Eric suggests.

“Yeah.”

I think of the country boy I saw on Tim’s phone and know it must be him.

“We didn’t get set up before coming out here,” Tim continues.

“I think our frat leader needed the money pretty bad that year. So we thought it was a normal visit with just another alumni. Eric invited us in, and we started talking art, because I couldn’t believe the stuff he had hanging on the walls here. He has amazing taste.”

“How kind,” Eric says. “I was very impressed by your knowledge.”

“Thanks. But when the subject of money came up, Eric gave us an earful. And it wasn’t a subtle version of the story like you just heard.”

“I wanted them to know I wasn’t ashamed of being a gay man,” Eric explains, “and that knocking on my door each year to mock me would never change that.”

“I thought of you,” Tim says, glancing at me before he swallows.

“How proud you always were. The way Eric stood up for himself that day was badass. Travis didn’t take it so well.

He figured the frat brothers were on to us, and that’s why we were sent out here.

So he went running off, and Eric was totally confused.

So I told him the truth. About me and Travis.

I guess I wanted to make him feel a little better about all the shit he’d been put through, like the world was somehow better now. ”

“I was moved,” Eric admits. “I cut him a check, making him wait while I did so, when all he wanted was to chase after his friend.”

“I was driving,” Tim says with a shrug. “I knew Travis wouldn’t get far.”

“What happened then?” I ask, surprised by the way my heart is racing.