“Hey! I spent all that time tucking you in because I thought you couldn’t move.” Aaron’s smirk grew. Excitement raced through each muscle, spreading through him until it had left no inch of him untouched. In a few minutes, Gage would be wearing his ring, and their new life together would start in earnest.
They’d never have to be apart again.
Gage stuck out his tongue. “Rolling over is not the same as moving. You can roll over in your sleep. Even babies who can’t crawl yet can roll over. If you try to get me out of this bed, I’ll crumple into a heap at your feet.”
“But if my feet are in bed, does that mean you’ll be able to toll downstairs and get your phone yourself…?”
Aaron narrowly dodged a pillow chucked in his direction. He laughed, and looked back at the bed to find Gage smiling.
“Jerk,” Gage said. “Go get my phone so I can tell all my friends you’re making fun of me.”
“I’m going, I’m going.” Aaron plucked the pillow from the floor and tossed it back onto the bed. Gage caught it and cuddled with it, and for the first time in his life, Aaron found himself jealous of a pillow. He left the room, closed the door, and hurried down the steps, eager to get back into Gage’s arms.
Working as quickly as he could, Aaron transferred the chicken from both of their plates onto a microwave-safe tray, then popped them into the microwave to reheat. While the microwave hummed, he stocked a glass with ice and filled it with water for Gage. Then he went to find Gage’s phone.
The bag Gage had taken out that day was bulky and had multiple zippered pockets. Aaron patted the bag down, found the shape he believed belonged to Gage’s phone, and freed it from its prison. As he carried it back to the kitchen, it started to buzz. Aaron glanced down at it, nervous that it was Mal with bad news about Bo, only to be blindsided by what he read.
KnotMyProblem: TD, I heard your man is back in your life, but—
The text preview cut out there, but the slow-moving dread that crept down Aaron’s back and spread through his stomach didn’t end with it. KnotMyProblem? What the hell was Gage doing talking to a man with a screen name like that, and why would the fact that Aaron was back mean anything to him?
It wasn’t right to invade Gage’s privacy, and under normal circumstances, Aaron would have left the message be, but the dread inside of him had started to churn, curdling into anxiety and alarm. He tapped the message, hoping it would bring him to the full conversation, but it only brought him to the phone’s lock screen. Frustrated and fearful, he input the combination that Gage had used the summer they’d last been together. To his surprise, the phone unlocked.
What he saw was worse than he could have imagined.
KnotMyPoblem: TD, I heard your man is back in your life, but I want you to know that all you have to do is say the word, and I’ll marry you. If he can’t take care of you and Bo like you need to be taken care of, I’m here for you.
The terror sickening Aaron erupted into rage. His hands trembled, and he had to fight the urge to throw the phone across the room. Who the hell was KnotMyProblem to think he could steal Gage away? And why the hell was he asking Gage to marry him?
Another message came in, causing the phone to vibrate. Aaron gripped it in his hand tightly until the plastic backing creaked and begged his mercy.
KnotMyProblem: We can keep it on the dl, too, if you’re worried about him finding out or whatever. I can be really discreet. He won’t even have to know.
A sick, bitter taste coated the back of Aaron’s tongue. A colony of bees must have taken up residence in his muscles—he could figure out no other way to explain the buzzing, itchy sensation prickling under his skin in ways he could never reach. On autopilot, he moved to the sink and spat down the drain, trying to get the foul taste out of his mouth, but it was of no use. He’d trusted Gage to tell the truth and had believed that Gage’s heart had stayed true during the time they were apart, but it was obviously a lie.
Aaron could understand the fact that Gage had streamed to make ends meet. Their child had needed a place to live, and money was money. But this?
KnotMyProblem wasn’t talking about a transaction. He wasn’t even talking just about sex. He wanted tomarryGage.
All this time, Gage had been hiding the truth from him. To think that he’d been about to propose…
Aaron looked up the stairs at the bedroom door, but his heart hurt too much to even imagine Gage right now. With his wide, innocent eyes and his tiny, charming smile, he looked pure. Aaron knew the road map of his body better than he knew his own—all its subtle curves and softness, all its angles and hard lines, where it liked pleasure the best, where it was the most ticklish, and the areas Gage was the most self-conscious about…
He couldn’t think of Gage behind that door, naked and glowing from sex, while knowing that he’d been playing Aaron this whole time.
Aaron’s heart shattered. The betrayal left him dizzy, and he clutched at the sink as his future unraveled.
How could Gage act like nothing was wrong? How could he pretend that he’d been faithful? If he’d been honest, Aaron might have been able to forgive him. He loved Gage more than anything, but to sink so low?
It had to be KnotMyProblem’s influence. Gage would never do something so despicable without having been pressured into it.
Aaron pushed away from the sink, reeling. He wobbled like he was drunk, stumbled into the tiny dining room division between the kitchen and living room and sank into the nearest chair. The microwave beeped, and in an uncharacteristic fit of anger, Aaron found himself longing to rip it from the counter and smash it on the floor.
“Fuck.” Saying it out loud made him feel better. Aaron dropped Gage’s phone on the table, planted his elbows on his thighs, and curled forward so his head rested in his hands. He thought he might be sick. “Fuck!”
The pillars that had been holding up his world since he’d fallen in love with Gage crumbled. The future he’d envisioned continued to unravel and twisted in dark, gruesome ways until it was a horrific mockery of itself. The simple life he dreamed he’d lead, where he’d come home every day from work to find Gage and their children waiting for him, warped. There would be no full house, and no happy family. Instead, he’d be alone, sharing custody of Bo, who’d grow up to despise him despite Aaron’s best efforts to treat him with kindness. He’d see Gage from time to time, between picking Bo up and dropping him off, except Gage would be changed. The love would be gone from his eyes, leaving cold impartiality that would break Aaron’s heart every time he saw it.
“This isn’t like Gage,” Aaron whispered frantically. Keeping the thoughts in his head was doing him no good, so he spoke them aloud to shake them off. “Gage doesn’t cheat. Gage… Gage is better than that. There’s got to be an answer. There’s got to be something I’m missing.”
