Page 12

Shawn

M y phone sat on the table in the living room. I had no idea what to do now that I was stuck up here with Daniel. He wanted me to leave him alone, but with no idea when we’d get out of here or when anyone could get to us, it would be easier if we could get along. So I went and retrieved the device to get some advice.

Me: So... he didn’t take the news well.

Chase: Of course he didn’t.

Me: He locked himself in the room and I don’t know what to do from here.

The tiny dots that showed Chase was responding appeared and disappeared several times, but no message came. This sucked ass. How did you handle being trapped with someone who wanted nothing to do with you?

Five minutes later, the door to Daniel’s room swung open, and he came marching out.

“You mother-fucking asshole. You’re telling Chase I won’t talk to you? Are we in middle school?”

I wanted to laugh. He’d have steam billowing out his ears if he were any more angry. As it was, his shoulders rose and fell with each labored huff and puff of frustration.

“I don’t understand your issue. You’re the one who locked himself in a room when he didn’t get his way.”

Daniel rolled his eyes. “It has nothing to do with getting my way. I just want you to stay the fuck away from me. Do I need to remind you I didn’t want to even be here and then you lied by omission to get me up here early?”

His arms crossed over his chest, but he didn’t storm back to the room. This was progress. We were getting somewhere.

I rose from my seat, and when I moved closer to him, he didn’t budge. “Lied? I didn’t lie. You never asked. You know what they say about assuming?”

Daniel stood up a little taller. When we were almost chest to chest, his arms dropped to his sides, and he bumped into me. I stumbled backward, eyes shooting open at the sudden contact. What the hell was this?

“I didn’t assume shit.”

Then there were hands. They were back on my chest, pushing me until I fell onto the couch. Oh shit, was this guy about to haul off and hit me over this?

I scrambled, trying to get back up, but Daniel was faster. His thighs landed on either side of mine as he lifted his fist. He swung hard and fast, but not quick enough. I caught his hand just in time, rolling us so that we landed on the floor, with him pinned below me.

“Would you calm the fuck down?”

Daniel snarled, fighting the hold I had on his fist, shoving at me to get me off him. Nope, I wasn’t about to let him win. Especially if this was about to get physical.

“No. Let me go,” he huffed, bucking beneath me. And damn, if he did that again, my body was going to get all sorts of wrong ideas.

“I’ll let you go if you promise not to take a swing at me again.”

He glared. “I can’t make that promise and you know it.”

“Then it’s a no-go, my friend.”

Daniel growled, shoving even harder, this time succeeding in pushing us to the side so that he had the leverage to flip our positions. With him on top of me again, there was no way to stop my dick from thickening. It had been a while since anyone had been in this type of proximity to it, and I liked that Daniel was fighting me. It was exciting and gave me a thrill I wasn’t completely used to.

“I’m not your damn friend.” He jerked his hand back and punched me on the shoulder, then pushed me back onto the floor. His eyes were wide and wild above me. Little specks of gold danced in the brown and I really shouldn’t have been looking at what fucking color his eyes were when he was so close to decking me, but my hips rolled, dragging my hardening cock along his ass.

Those impossibly wide eyes widened further. He scrambled back, but not before I caught his wrist and held him in place.

“Is something wrong, Daniel?”

He was panting, worked up from our small fight, but he stopped trying to get away.

“Are you—are you... hard?”

I laughed. “Jesus. You’re squirming around on my lap and threatening me with a good time by trying to hit me.”

He scowled and tried to pull away again, but I didn’t let go of his wrists. “I swear to God, Shawn. Let me go or else.”

“Or else, what?”

It was at that moment that all the fight left Daniel. He sagged in defeat as his body went limp in my grasp. “I can’t—I can’t do this again.”

His words were enough to get me to release him. He rolled off me and slunk back to his room. He left the door wide open, but I could hear him moving around inside.

When I got off the floor and went to investigate, he was sitting on the edge of the bed, head in his hands. His shoulders shook and a small hiccup filled the air. Was he crying? Shit, I hadn’t meant to make him that upset. What did he mean he couldn’t do it again?

“Daniel?”

He looked up, those brown doe eyes red-rimmed. He wiped at them and his nose before lying on the bed and facing the wall. His usually shaggy hair was even more of a mess than usual.

This was dangerous, but he wasn’t telling me to leave him alone. Maybe I’d pushed him too hard. It was fun to push his buttons, but actually making him shut down had never been my intention.

My fingers itched. They wanted to run through his thick hair, to give him comfort, but I couldn’t tell if it would land us back to where we’d been in the living room, with me dodging fists. I’d done enough damage for now. As much as I wanted to find out what was happening, this was the time to give him the space he needed. I backed out of the room and shut the door behind me. Once it latched closed, I leaned against the wood and closed my eyes.

What the hell was that?

B acon popped and sizzled in the pan as I pulled a carton of eggs from the fridge. There was enough food here to feed an army, but I was feeding two. Maybe one at this point.

Daniel hadn’t come back out of the room last night and I hadn’t attempted to pressure him to do it. That unsettled feeling still swirled in my gut. What had made him so upset? What had he been talking about? The more time I spent around Daniel Morgan, the more he became a puzzle that I wanted to solve. Little pieces were starting to form a fuller picture, but not enough to give me the final picture. I wanted to know his inner workings, what made him tick, and why he hid so much.

By the time I’d fried two eggs and debated putting the rest back in the fridge, his door opened. His dark, shaggy hair was still a wreck, but as he padded his way toward the kitchen in nothing but his boxers and a t-shirt, I couldn’t help but stare at the man who was becoming this strange obsession.

“How are you feeling this morning?” I asked, cracking open another egg over the hot pan.

Daniel didn’t answer at first. He just laid his head down on the cool kitchen counter as he sat on one of the stools. Maybe he wasn’t a morning person? As much as I wanted him to talk, after last night, I wasn’t going to push him again. Instead, I pulled two mugs from the cupboard and poured fresh steaming coffee from the pot I’d made. I set the cup in front of him and pulled the creamer from the fridge and put it on the counter next to him. That got him to sit up and give me a small half-smile.

That little smile did something funny to my chest. Something fluttery and stupid that made me want to vomit. I didn’t do lovey-dovey shit. My experience with relationships was a quick fuck and maybe a repeat or two. There were no long-term commitments. But the way I wanted to dig deeper into his life, his world, and what was behind those chipped walls of his, made me question things. Why now? What made him stand out more than the others? What the hell made him so damn special?

I watched as he poured the French vanilla creamer into his mug and took a tentative sip. He hummed his approval before his gaze landed on me. “Any word on the pass?”

My heart sank. Of course he wanted out of here. Not that I could blame him. Daniel had made it more than clear that he wanted out.

When I said nothing, his face fell. I didn’t have good news for him. It had snowed even more during the night and it was still falling as we sat there getting ready to eat breakfast. If it didn’t stop soon, we’d be trapped here for a week. I would never trust a Seattle meteorologist again.

I plated up eggs and bacon and set them in front of Daniel. He was staring at the coffee in his mug and didn’t acknowledge the food. It stung a bit when he got up and walked to the window to look outside.

“Shit, it’s really coming down out there,” he mumbled so softly that I almost didn’t hear the words come out of his mouth.

“Daniel?”

He looked over at me, and at that moment, something shifted. His eyes were softer, the aggression and hostility from before replaced with something different and fragile. Whatever it was, I didn’t want to shatter it by opening my damn mouth and saying something stupid. Instead, I let whatever was going on happen.

Daniel made his way across the room, setting his coffee on the counter before he stood in front of me. His hand on my arm was like fire, but I didn’t move. The air around us was thick, permeated with tension and unanswered questions. His eyes locked with mine, and my throat ran dry. It was torture to not swallow and break whatever spell had come over us.

“Why do you care so much?”

And just like that... ice water. It was a simple question, but whatever vulnerability I’d seen in Daniel was gone. A hardness shuttered in his eyes as he dropped his hand and backed away from me.

“What do you mean, why do I care?” His question was out of left field.

“You got all butt hurt when I wouldn’t talk to you last night, and now you’re cooking for me and asking me how I’m feeling.”

Had no one cared for Daniel before? Having met his parents, they obviously had. His mother had bordered on smothering, not caring that I was there when she questioned where he lived and the condition of some of his clothes.

I grabbed my own coffee, and while I should have taken the high road, and talked to him like an adult, part of me wanted to go back to pushing his buttons. “We’re stuck. Might as well not hate each other for a few days.”

He snorted, but followed me as I walked into the living room and collapsed on the couch with my breakfast. The news was on, talking about the unexpected storm. By the sound of it, they expected more snow throughout the day and anticipated it would continue into the night again. My body tensed because it wasn’t what I wanted to hear. Dad was already blowing up my phone, trying to make sure I had made it up here okay and see if I needed anything. The man was stupid enough to try to break us out if I asked, but I wouldn’t put his life or anyone else’s in danger in order to do it.

I was halfway through my food before I realized he’d brought his breakfast over as well. Maybe this was a truce. We could sit here and eat, watch the news, and for the first time since we’d met, we could not argue about something.