Page 9

Daniel

M om and Dad went home yesterday, and the guilt still weighed heavily on me. Mom kept pointing out things in the apartment, and I wanted to crawl inside a hole every time. If it wasn’t the small leak coming from the window frame, it was the numerous cracks in the walls. The baseboard was back to clicking and hissing, but it was still putting off minimal heat. I wasn’t completely up shit creek without a paddle. It didn’t change the fact that my parents had witnessed the hellish conditions I’d been living with for the last few months.

Then there was Shawn.

I still had to pack. Not that I was thrilled about going. I had to keep telling myself that this wasn’t about him. This trip was to celebrate Aiden. It didn’t matter that I’d be stuck in some fancy mountain cabin for a week with the one person I despised the most.

When my cell phone started ringing again and I picked it up to that familiar request for a collect call... okay, maybe Shawn wasn’t my least favorite person, but he came in a close second. Like the last time, I didn’t let the call complete before I hung up and tossed my phone onto the bed. Maybe it was time to consider changing my number. It was under my parents’ plan and I’d have to discuss it with them first. Something told me they wouldn’t mind me asking.

My suitcase landed on my bed with a thud and I unzipped it, staring at the empty space. What the hell was I supposed to pack? I knew the passes got a lot more snow than here at sea level and you didn’t get much further into the mountains than Snoqualmie. Once more, I found myself reflecting on Mom offering to buy me some more winter clothes and cursed my stubbornness about asking for help.

Mom and Dad did better than I let on about. They owned several of the rental properties around Ocean Shores themselves, as well as a small gift shop in the center of town that sold specialty soaps. I needed to give them more credit, but at twenty-two, I wanted to be reliant on myself. There was pride on the line. No one wanted to live off their parents forever.

My closet housed a handful of hoodies and jackets, which I tossed into my luggage. My downfall was that my jeans had more holes than were strictly practical. I huffed at the pile of clothes that spilled over the edge of the suitcase. It would help if I folded them, but my ability to care was at a minimum.

My irritation only grew when the knocking started at the front door. When I checked my watch, Shawn was a whole hour early. I didn’t mind punctuality. In fact, nothing drove me more crazy than when people were late for things, but there was never a reason to be that early.

I wanted to pull my hair out when he knocked again. Part of me hoped that if I didn’t answer right away, that he’d get the hint and come back later. Nope, of course. The asshole couldn’t take a hint. He just kept going. And he was knocking even harder. If he kept it up, he was bound to piss off one of my neighbors, and that was the last thing I needed.

“Hold your horses. Jesus, fucking, Christ.”

I pulled the door open so hard it rocked on its hinges. The man looked too damn smug. My hands itched to slap the grin that spread across his too-handsome face right off it.

“You weren’t ready for me?”

I scoffed.

“Hell, no. I still had an hour to get ready.” I didn’t bother to tell him he could come in, just left the door open and walked back into my apartment. If he was here, it meant I had to deal with him watching me pack for a trip I was obviously ill-prepared for.

My hands pulled at my hair as I stared at the mess on my bed. Where the hell had I been in my packing? Did I need any more clothes, or had I packed enough? Shit. Shawn was such a bad distraction.

Bathroom. I needed stuff from the bathroom.

“You okay?” he asked as I walked into the small room to grab my toiletries. I threw them all in a Dopp kit, and then walked back into the main room. What I saw made me stop in my tracks.

“Why the hell are you folding my clothes?”

Shawn said nothing, just kept folding. He neatly stacked my clothes inside the suitcase before he finally sat next to it on the bed. “That can’t be all you’re taking. You’ll freeze your ass off up there.”

If he wasn’t going to answer my question, I wouldn’t acknowledge him. It was a weird feeling to know that he’d touched my things, and had cared enough to make sure they looked nice in my bag for the trip. I would have just shoved them in there until the damn thing zipped.

My stomach did this weird as fuck fluttery thing as I dropped my Dopp kit in the bag. Just to be a little shit, I reached into my bedside table and grabbed my bottle of lube, dropping it on top of my pile of things. If he knew I planned on jerking off on this trip, I didn’t give a flying fuck.

I stood so close to him, his warmth spread to me in my cold apartment, and I could smell him. Fuck. Why the hell was Shawn in my room, sitting on my bed, and why the fuck was I thinking about how he smelled like mint and rosemary?

“Is there a cell phone signal up there? Do I need my phone charger?” I was already pulling the cord from the wall without waiting for his response.

Shawn let out a small laugh. “It’s a cabin in the woods. It’s not the middle of nowhere. There is service, yes.”

At least I wouldn’t be completely cut off. I slipped my earbuds in my pocket, debating jamming them in my ears so I could listen to some music on the way up. That was sort of cheating in a way after I told him he wasn’t allowed to listen to the radio. Not that I really gave a damn. He could look at the scenic drive in silence for all I cared. I was still dreading being stuck in a car alone with him.

I looked around my apartment and tried to think about what else I needed. Was I done already? I really didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of being finished so quickly. To buy time, I walked to my fridge and grabbed a bottle of water.

Shawn’s eyebrows rose as I unscrewed the cap, taking a swig as he watched me. I drank slowly, gulping down the cool drink, taking my time. The icy beverage felt good on my throat, which was oddly dry after being so close to a man that I hated.

“Daniel?” he said curiously as I set the bottle on the counter and stared at it. I was running out of ideas to stall.

“Do I need to bring anything else?” I derailed into the bathroom again, rummaging through the medicine cabinet. When Shawn appeared in the doorway, I knew the gig was up.

“You’re good. We’ll stop at the store on the way and get some food and stuff. Mom and Dad normally keep the place pretty stocked with canned goods, but it’d be nice with some fresh food as well.”

Why did this conversation feel so normal? I wanted to be angry. It was impossible to do that when he was treating me like an equal.

The only way I could think of to get us back on a playing field I was familiar with was to brush him off. I pushed past him, doing my best to ignore the little sparks that ignited as we touched, and grabbed my suitcase from the bed. I hadn’t zipped the suitcase yet, so the neatly stacked clothes fell to the floor. What should have felt satisfying, didn’t. He’d taken such care in folding things and I was being childish by ruining it.

To hell if I was going to show him it was affecting me.

I stuffed the clothes back in the bag, all haphazard like I would have to begin with, and zipped it closed. The wheels made a weird squeaking noise as I pulled the suitcase toward the door. It was freaking old and needed to be replaced, but that was a problem for tomorrow Daniel.

“Are you ready?” I asked, standing next to the door, pocketing my keys and my wallet that sat on the table next to the door.

Shawn still stood in the bathroom doorway, a look of awe on his features at the show I’d just performed. This week would be hell. Our friends would have to deal with us because they thought this was a great idea.