Justin shook his head, amazed. And this was why he wasn’t exactly heartbroken that his mom wasn’t in the picture, that he really had no family to speak of, outside of Jade. No one to judge him for his sexuality, no one that he even had to try to explain it to.
“Hey, I know!” Ken spoke as if to himself like he had actually forgotten that Justin was there at all. “I can bring Aaron. I’ve been trying to think of something I could invite him out to …”
Justin had been enjoying the conversation and the way that sexual desire glimmered through his body, just barely tantalizing him. He hadn’t done anything to encourage it, but being so close to someone as beautiful as Ken, someone that Justin, well, had a pretty huge thing for, actually, it just sort of naturally brought erotic feelings up. Not that he would do anything about it, but it had been a long time since he’d been intimate with anyone and part of him had craved it.
But with those few words, Ken threw a bucket of ice water right over his head, so it seemed. Only this ice water didn’t just roll down off of him. It seeped into his body through his skin, centered on his heart, and made him feel frozen from the inside out.
“You want to bring Aaron to your sister’s wedding?”
Justin didn’t even try to hide the disbelief in his voice. He wasn’t even close to as oblivious as Ken was. He watched, and he had seen how Ken had reacted with first Darien, and then Lance. Both of them had chosen someone else, and Justin would think that that would be enough to teach anyone a lesson.
“What?” Ken asked, his tone defiant, his eyes shimmering with annoyance. For once, though, Justin was immune to his charms, or at least he almost was. He shook his head, knowing that he really shouldn’t get into this with him. Ken was some guy that he knew, not his friend, but Justin found that this was one opinion that he couldn’t just choke back.
“What? You know what,” Justin told him bluntly. “Aaron? Really? Lance and Darien weren’t enough for you?”
Even though Justin didn’t say the words that he could have, he saw Ken recoil back as though he’d been slapped, and he knew that they got through anyway. Well, Justin had probably gone a little bit overboard with that one, he had to admit. He’d been a little cruel, a little too blunt.
See, this was why he didn’t talk. It really didn’t tend to go very well when he did.
Still, Ken had had his little heart broken twice already. A blind man could see that, just as they could see that Aaron was not available. Oh, as far as Justin knew, the guy wasn’t dating anyone, but that didn’t mean that he was open to being pursued. He wasn’t sure that he had ever seen anyone who was less interested in that sort of thing.
Aaron was a loner, and Justin understood that. Someone would come along and touch Aaron’s cold heart, Justin figured, sooner or later. But Ken wasn’t that person. Justin had observed closely, and he had never seen even the faintest sign of interest from Aaron to Ken, or to anyone.
“Dude, what the hell?” Ken asked, hurt but rallying, and Justin sighed and shook his head. He had gone way too far, and he had known, even as he said the words, that he was. But then again, didn’t someone have to be honest with Ken?
“Look, it’s none of my business,” Justin admitted, and he met Ken’s eyes. The younger man had risen up onto his knees, and he loomed over Justin, and against all sanity, all willpower, all Justin wanted to do suddenly was pull the guy down and kiss him until all thoughts of Aaron, or anyone else, went right out of that pretty head.
So who was really the idiot? Ken, or Justin? Ken was caught up in Aaron, and that couldn’t go well, but it wasn’t like Justin’s stupid crush on Ken was going to wind up any better. The difference was, Justin knew it, but Ken didn’t seem to.
“Damn straight, it’s none of your business,” Ken fumed, and they looked at each other, really looked, once more. Just like when Ken had been on top of him—before the elevator had broken down—their eyes locked and held and Justin felt it once more.
He really was delusional, if he thought that Ken could look at him like that. Like he wanted him. Like it was possible for anything to happen with this. If he let himself think it, he would get his heart every bit as broken as Ken likely would with Aaron.
But still, he looked, and Ken looked back, and Justin could swear that he could almost see the anger visibly leaving Ken’s beautiful eyes. They were so close. So very close, in this small space, and Justin clenched his hands around his phone to stop himself from doing something stupid.
What would Ken do, if Justin suddenly reached for him, took his firm, solid, muscular body into his arms? Would Ken laugh, push him away? Or would he lower his head and let his lips find Justin’s?
And then Ken was moving. By some miracle, he was shifting down, settling onto the floor more solidly, and then inclining his head. The distance between them closed, and oh God, Ken was getting closer to him, but surely he was just adjusting his position?
“Hey, any survivors?”
The voice that called down was cheerful and pleasant, but at that moment, Justin could have cheerfully strangled them. For a moment, just a split second, he’d let himself feel hope, but he should have known better.
“Yeah! We’re in here,” Ken called back enthusiastically, and whatever moment there had been between them was gone. Justin knew that he had probably imagined it, anyway, but for just a second, he could have sworn that Ken had been about to kiss him.
