“Listen, I can choose not to feed you,” Riley said, though he would never have gone through with it. Brent was very rewarding to make food for. He was always grateful, and he wasn’t shy about moaning happily as he enjoyed it.
Riley had always liked hearing that.
“But you won’t, because you love me.” Brent turned to grin at him, handing over the onions.
Riley scraped them into the pan next to the hamburgers, giving them a chance to soak up all the fat that was cooking out. The burgers needed resting time once they were done, and in that time, the onions would be cooked through.
It wasn’t the most orthodox way of doing things, but it worked. A lot of Riley’s life was like that.
He did love Brent. The recent reminder of howmuchhe loved Brent was still weighing heavily on Riley’s mind.
He was old enough now to know they’d still be friends if he confessed his real feelings, but he wasn’t sure he was ready for the heartbreak of Brent rejecting him.
Which made being kissed on the cheek even more confusing. Riley had beensosure that Brent had just needed a little rebound comfort sex, that it would all be over once he was back home.
But maybe it wasn’t?
He had no idea what was going on, and with Emily sitting right there, he couldn’t exactly ask. This felt private.
“You trying to stare those hamburgers to death, or what?” Brent asked, snapping Riley out of his thoughts.
The pan was smoking again.
“I’m going for a char-grilled effect,” Riley said, moving the burgers to the plat he had set aside for them to rest on.
“Again, bullshit,” Brent responded. “Are you okay? Seriously, I can finish up if you need to sit down.”
“I’m fine,” Riley said. “I’m just planning out what I need to do tomorrow to finish what I’ve started.”
“You still don’t have to. What you’ve already done is more than enough.Waymore than enough.”
“I want to.” Riley prodded the onions, turning the heat down so he wouldn’t burn them as well. “If this house falls apart, where would I come to escape my family at Thanksgiving?”
Brent laughed at that. “I’d probably get another place.”
“It wouldn’t be the same,” Riley said. He had a lot of good memories tied up in Brent’s house. It would have broken his heart if Brent decided to sell up, not that it seemed like he would.
“Well, thank you.” Brent looked down at his feet for a moment, then reached out and grabbed the pack of hamburger buns Riley had picked up earlier. “I’ll split these.”
Riley smiled at that. All he wanted was to make Brent happy.
Well, no. All he wanted was to curl up in Brent’s bed while Brent told him that he wanted Riley to stay forever, that this could be his home, too, and that Brent had always loved him.
But Brent’s happiness was more important, and Riley wasn’t sure that was what would make him happiest.
