“Yes?”
“Can we go on the horse?” Nicholas asked excitedly.
“I don’t know, don’t they scare you?” Stephen inquired.
“Nuh uh,” he answered, shaking his head.
“Okay, but only if you eat your carrots,” Stephen bargained.
“Aw, man,” Nicholas pouted, but took up one of the orange vegetables and started eating.
Brenden looked at Stephen’s tray and noted that he’d only eaten half of his salad. He looked up from the plate to Stephen, who had his elbow on the table and his forehead propped on the back of his hand. He remembered Nicholas’ worry that something was wrong with his father and Brenden had his own suspicions. “Are you alright?” he asked.
Stephen looked up and smiled. “Yeah, I’m just a bit tired.”
“Do you want to go home?” He felt so out of his element.
“No, I’m good.” He looked over to Nicholas, who had just stuffed the last carrot in his mouth. “Are you ready, Nick?”
Nicholas nodded with stuffed cheeks as they both got up from the table. Stephen grabbed both their trays and walked to the trash cans. Brenden watched them and wondered if Nicholas was right and there was something wrong with Stephen.
** ** ** ** **
Later that night Brenden walked into his house, closing the door behind him. He was exhausted, and needed a shower and sleep, badly. The night before he’d hardly slept. He wasn’t lying when he’d told Stephen that he was planning on not showing up. He would have regretted not going since he had a great time and most of all, he did not want to break a promise to Nicholas after just meeting the kid. He’d expected things to be a little awkward in the beginning, especially between him and Stephen.
They’d done their best to stay out of each other’s way while they were at work. Brenden was not sure how long the truce between him and Stephen would last, he still felt a lot of resentment about the entire situation.
He would need to learn to trust Stephen again.But after that, what comes next?He’d had a very good time that afternoon. In the day and a half he’d spent getting to know Nicholas, he’d already fallen in love with his son. Stephen was right, Nicholas was a very smart kid, he was fascinating to Brenden and asked a lot of questions.
Stepping out of the shower, Brenden walked into his bedroom, he opened the top drawer of his bureau, pulling out sleep pants when something fell to the floor. He picked it up realizing it was a picture. Turning it over it was a picture of him and Stephen, taken years ago when they were dating. He studied the picture, noticing the way they were looking at each other and smiling. He had a very relaxed smile on his face, their hands were clasped together.
Brenden remembered that night so well. It was the night he had been in Chicago for a week and had already caught the unsub. Looking at the picture, Brenden realized he was fooling himself then when he thought he and Stephen were sleeping with each other for kicks. He wanted Stephen then, it shouldn’t have come to a surprise that he still wanted him even more now.
Throwing the picture back into the drawer and closing it, Brenden realized sooner or later he and Stephen were going to need to talk and not skirt around the issues they have with each other. Such as the fact that they were still attracted to each other if that kiss was anything to go by. Brenden had already decided that once Nicholas knew the truth about who he was, he wanted to introduce him to his family.
Brenden smiled, knowing that his mom and grandmother would no doubt spoil the kid rotten like they did with all the other kids in the family. Lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling, Brenden’s thoughts drifted to the conversation in the kitchen between Julian and Stephen; something was going on between them. He could feel it in his gut.
The vibes he was getting from them was setting off his bullshit meter. It also goes back to the conversation he had with Nicholas that something was wrong with Stephen. Could he be sick? He shook his head dispelling the thought. Since Stephen started working with them, Brenden hadn’t noticed him acting any different. He did his job efficiently, and that was all that mattered to him. Sooner or later whatever was going on he would find out. Secrets never stay hidden for long. No matter how much people try to hide them.
** ** ** ** **
