“Hey.” Aiden waited until Cade looked at him. “Iwas, right? You thought this was going to be a disaster with me, and we’re still okay.”
Cade’s expression made it pretty clear that he wasn’t sure exactly how okay they were. Then he shrugged. “If we’re not okay, I don’t give a shit about your parents. So, yeah. I won’t worry about them for now.”
“I love you. And I’m proud of you. I don’t care what you used to do, and I believe you when you say it was necessary. But I didn’t know you then. I know you now. I love younow.” Aiden was pretty sure he was going to have to start saying that a lot more often, and it wasn’t like he’d ever been exactly shy about it. But that was okay. If Cade needed to be reassured, Aiden could do it. “So about Warren… is that enough? That I hit him? And that my parents know he’s an asshole?”
“How much do they know?”
“Uh, I guess… I’m not sure. He told them a bunch of lies after you left, I think. But they believed me when I said he had to leave. They were… I guess I should check in with them and make sure everything got wrapped up okay. But he left before I did. They kicked him out. I was half afraid he was going to show up on the same flight to Chicago that I did, but I didn’t see him.”
“I wishI’dhit him.”
“I know where he lives. We can go over there now, if you want. You can still beat him up.” Aiden wasn’t sure if he’d actually go along with any of this, but he was pretty sure Cade wouldn’t call his bluff. “Except I’m not sure he’s living with his wife right now. They’re getting divorced, right? If you want, we could get in touch with her, see if it would help her divorce settlement if she had some testimony about what a fucking asshole he is. I mean, he was fooling around on her, right?”
Cade shook his head, then glanced at Aiden. “Really?” he said with a tentative grin. “We could do that?”
“Yeah. I guess so.” Aiden wasn’t sure if he was ready for the next part, but decided to push it anyway. “And you said that the stuff he wanted to do was kind of… abusive. It sounded. So maybe he was the same way with his wife. Maybe she’d have a claim for mental cruelty, or something, if she had some extra evidence to back it up.”
“I don’t know. I mean, if it was just the stuff in the past, I’d want to let it go. But coming after me now was over the line.”
“We don’t have to decide anything right now. We can let things settle and see how you feel later.” Aiden nudged Cade’s shoulder. “Okay? Can you sleep if we leave it like that?”
Cade looked thoughtful. “I really wishI’dbeen the one to punch him. You’d better have hit hard.”
“Full strength, absolutely.”
“Okay,” Cade finally said. “That’s something. Maybe his wife too. I don’t know. I’ll think about that.”
“Good. So, what can I do to help with your bakery? If we get everything cooked up and frozen, you can go back to bed and get some sleep. Okay?”
Cade nodded and gave directions, and Aiden did as he was told.
It should have been over. Well, not over, but it should have been behind them. Aiden truly believed that. But that night when they went to bed, Cade wore his sweatpants again, and Aiden didn’t make any effort to get them off. The next morning Cade was out of bed before Aiden again, only this time he’d gone for a run. Aiden puttered around, waiting for him to get home, but when Cade came in the door Aiden just smiled at him and went back to the book he’d been pretending to read. Cade showered alone.
They’d never gone more than a day or two without sex. Aiden tried to tell himself that it was just them settling into a pattern. They weren’t brand new to each other anymore, and their sex life had slowed down a little because the novelty had worn off. But he knew that wasn’t true.
He loved Cade. HewantedCade. But he somehow couldn’t seem to bring himself to do anything about it.
Two more days passed. They stopped talking to each other very much, each of them clearly aware of the elephant in the room but not quite sure what to do about it. On Sunday night, the night they would have gotten back from the cottage according to their original schedule, a couple guys from the frat called and invited them out for beers. Well, they invited Aiden, but they wouldn’t mind if he brought someone extra.
“I have work tomorrow,” Cade said. “I need to get some sleep. But you go ahead.”
And Aiden did. He drank too much and stumbled home to pass out on the couch. Not a sign of great sophistication or maturity, but at least it got him out of another awkwardly platonic bed-sharing with Cade.
He woke up to the sound of the apartment door clicking as Cade closed it behind him. It was morning, Aiden was hungover, and Cade was gone.
It was no good. Aiden had no idea what had happened, but he knew he had to change it. Sex was fun, but it was also important. It was one of the best ways he had of showing Cade that he loved him. And that was something Cade really needed to be shown.
Maybe a low-key approach would be best. Or maybe not. Aiden wasn’t always great at doing things in an understated way, so maybe he should play to his strengths and go over the top. But he didn’t think a big seduction scene would be quite right. He couldn’t make it seem like he was bribing Cade into sex, not under the current circumstances.
He came up with his plan, such as it was, and spent a couple hours getting it ready. Then he started off. Cade was working as a research assistant for a professor of engineering, and he usually read articles over his lunch break. Hopefully he wouldn’t mind a slight deviation from his plan.
He found the office where Cade was working with a little help from a friendly, curious woman in a lab coat. He’d expected more of a stereotypical laboratory with beakers and smoking solutions, but Cadewas sitting at a computer, reading something. There was a middle-aged woman at a desk behind him, working on her own computer. They both looked up when Aiden appeared in the doorway, and they both stared.
“I know you don’t take long for lunch,” Aiden said. “And I don’t want to interrupt. If you want….” He held out the paper bag in his right hand. “A banana and some peanuts. If that’s all you want. But if you think you have a bit more time? I have some options. These two coolers have hot stuff. Wings and pizza. I cut the pizza up smaller so you could eat it without worrying it was going to drop onto your keyboard or something. I know what you like on your pizza now. And I got spring rolls, not sushi, ’cause I heard a rumor that you don’t really like fish too much. And cut-up vegetables, because you think vegetables are brain food and you need a good brain for working this afternoon. And then ice cream bars. Because they’re classics.”
The woman recovered from her surprise before Cade did. She turned to look at her assistant with a raised eyebrow. “Why are you still here?” she asked gently. “Go outside. Have a picnic.”
Cade stood obediently. Then he turned to her. “I know I just got back from vacation. But I work through my lunches, usually. And I can work late from now on. Would it be okay if I took the afternoon off?”
