“Hey, Sean?”
“Hmm? What? I don’t have to get up yet. It’s Friday. I don’t have a shift this morning, and I’m not going out to sing until noon. I’m really glad this new job is working out, though. And for a morning shift, the tips are pretty good.”
“I’m glad, but it’s not that. I need to tell you something.”
“What?” Sean yawned and rubbed his face.
“I, uh…remember that apartment in Clinton Hill? The second one?”
Sean squinted at him from beneath tangled golden-brown waves. “What?” His eyes narrowed, and abruptly, he sat up straight. “I never saw that one.”
Feeling guilty as hell, Tristan ran his hands through his hair. “Yeah, I know. I kept meaning to show you, but with work and everything…anyway, I made them a stupid lowball offer before things got more serious between us, and they made me a counteroffer.”
“Yeah, I remember that. Come on, just say it.” Sean’s jaw worked. “Or do you want me to say it for you? You gave them another offer, and they accepted, and now you’re moving. Right?”
If he’d wondered if it was possible to feel even more like a shit than he already did, it was. “Well…yeah.”
“Hey, that’s great. Congrats.”
That level of fake well-wishes didn’t fool him, and he reached for Sean, but Sean avoided him by rolling off the bed.
“No, wait. You don’t get it.”
“Sure I do. You’re leaving. We’ve been having a great time, but I always knew you were going to move out. Better get ready for work, or you’ll be late.” Sean threw him a frozen smile and walked out.
Fuck.
He scrambled to race after him and heard the shower running, but when he turned the knob, he found the door locked.
Damn. That had never happened. He planted himself outside the bathroom and waited until Sean came out, but Sean didn’t stop and brushed right past him. Tristan took his arm. “Let me finish.”
“You have. You’re finished—with the apartment…me…it’s okay. We never made any promises.”
It was the quiver of his jaw that undid Tristan. The knowledge that he’d hurt Sean cut him to the bone.
“Dammit, will you listen to me?”
Sean shook his hand off and folded his arms. “Fine. Go ahead.”
“Can we sit?” They settled on the couch, Sean staring everywhere but at him. “I made the offer and then the counter, never anticipating they’d accept it because it was so low. Even the broker didn’t think they would.”
“But they did. Yay for you.” Sean dipped his head and ran his toes over the wooden floor.
Spots whirled before his eyes, his nerves running rampant as if he were a rookie cop on day one in the Police Academy. He never thought this would happen to him, but here it fucking was, and he couldn’t stop this runaway train. He shouldn’t want Sean as much as he did. On the surface they were too different, yet inside, among all the shadows where the two of them hid, they’d discovered they were the same. “What about if it’s yay for us?” He licked his lips. “What if I want you to come with me?”
It was like the night he’d walked in for the first time. Sean’s eyes popped wide, and his mouth fell open.
“Wh-what? Come with you?”
At his astonished face, Tristan allowed himself a tiny grin. “Yeah. Come with me. Live with me. Stay with me.”
“Really?” Still ambivalent and guarded, Sean gnawed on his lip. “You want me to move in with you?”
Taking advantage of the situation, Tristan pulled Sean to his chest, overcoming his initial resistance and waiting until he had him settled firmly before speaking. “You’ve kind of made it hard for me to sleep without you.”
“You could buy a new set of pillows.”
He nuzzled Sean’s cheek. “I’d rather have you.”
