The mattress dipped behind him. A second later, he felt Reese’s hip bump his ass. He couldn’t muster the strength to tell him to leave, although he desperately wanted to.
However, when Reese pressed two fingers to the base of his skull and massaged lightly, Brantley instantly relaxed. The pressure alone alleviated about seventy percent of the pain, providing instant relief. He managed to slow his breathing while Reese massaged away the worst of the physical pain, all the while stirring the emotional anguish and agony into a conflagration that burned in his chest.
A few minutes later, he drifted off.
Chapter Two
Saturday, March 12, 2022
REESE SHOULD’VE LEFT THE MOMENTBRANTLEY FELLasleep. Considering how well his presence had gone over with Brantley, it would’ve been the right thing to do. In the span of a few minutes, Reese had managed to drive Brantley to the brink of implosion, the stress likely the contributing factor for the migraine.
Just one more thing to add to Reese’s list of failures.
Nevertheless, he couldn’t bring himself to leave. He wasn’t ready to walk away. Not yet. Not like this.
Instead of snatching up what he could and disappearing, he left everything as it was and slipped out of the room, closing the door behind him. If he were lucky, Brantley would get a good night’s sleep. The headache would be gone by morning, and they could have a rational conversation. Okay, fine, maybe rational was overreaching, but perhaps they could talk it out without violence.
Just like he’d done a thousand times, Reese went to the kitchen, pulled out Tesha’s food bowl. He went to the refrigerator, found the fresh food they’d started buying for her when she’d come to live with them. He measured it out, set the bowl down on the floor, and then ensured she had enough water in the other bowl. Once that was done, he went to the couch, fell down on it.
Leaning his head back, he stared up at the ceiling. As had become his nightly ritual, he focused on the steady beat of his heart, grateful the damn thing still worked. While he relaxed, he tried to process the rage he’d witnessed in Brantley.
Reese had suspected he’d hurt the man by his actions but never had he thought it would’ve resulted in this. He’d spent more than a year with Brantley, and the one thing he knew to be true: Brantley Walker was not a man prone to outward displays of emotion. Not unless it was passion, but that was easily resolved with sex, something they’d engaged in frequently. However, when it came to the heavy burdens of life, like Reese, Brantley shoved that shit down, boxed it up deep inside, and left it to fester.
Or at least he’d thought that was how Brantley processed things. Didn’t look to be the case now, and while it devastated him to know he was the one responsible, it also gave Reese a glimmer of hope. Hope that the two of them could make their way back to one another.
He spent the rest of the night on the couch, sleeping in short bursts. He didn’t take his boots off, never bothered to find a pillow or blanket. He didn’t want Brantley to think he was making himself at home. He’d been a tad hurt by the fact that Tesha had opted to sleep in the hallway outside Brantley’s door rather than in the living room with him, but he understood. Reese had been here one day and gone the next. She probably thought he’d abandoned her forever.
When the clock read 5:05 a.m., he sat up, dropped his feet to the floor, and listened for sounds that Brantley was stirring. He knew the man was up with the sun, regardless of the day. Didn’t matter that it was Saturday; Reese expected him to come out of the room shortly.
He wasn’t disappointed. Ten minutes later, Brantley emerged dressed in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, running shoes on his feet. He was carrying Tesha’s leash, and she was wagging her tail happily as she pranced along beside him, perfectly obedient. In fact, she was so content, she hardly spared Reese a glance.
Looked as though they’d kept up with her training while he was gone. Not that he was really surprised. Brantley wasn’t the sort to shirk his responsibilities. When he committed to something, he followed through with it.
Reese had been like that once. Back before he’d second-guessed his life, wondered how his world had been turned upside down because his insecurities had gotten the best of him. Rather than accept the fact that his existence was better for the changes that had taken place, he’d gone and fucked it all up.
Brantley didn’t say a word, didn’t so much as look his way before heading for the door, Tesha at his side.
He was still sitting on the couch when Brantley returned a little over an hour later. It took effort not to ogle him, not to admire the way his chest stretched that thin T-shirt or his leg muscles flexed beneath the hem of the shorts he wore. He’d never seen a more prime specimen in his life.
“You waitin’ for somethin’, Tavoularis?” Brantley asked, detouring for the kitchen on Tesha’s heels as she bolted for the water bowl.
Reese pushed to his feet, shoring up his nerve. “I was hopin’ we could talk.”
“What’s the sayin’?” Brantley mused. “Wish in one hand, shit in the other, see which one fills up first.”
Reese deserved that. He knew he did.
Brantley took a long pull on a water bottle he snagged from the fridge. When he lowered it, he glared at Reese. “What’s there to say?”
Well, it looked as though Brantley was still capable of bottling shit up and shoving it down deep. Gone was the man who’d lost his shit last night. In his place, the same calm, reserved man Reese had fallen in love with.
“A lot,” he said confidently, not wanting this conversation to have the same fate as the one they’d started last night.
Brantley tossed the empty water bottle in the recycle bin. “If that conversation starts with you apologizing and ends with me takin’ you back”—he shook his head—“not gonna happen.”
Reese swallowed. “It doesn’t.” At least not afterthatrevelation.
Brantley’s steel-blue eyes shot to his face. “No?”
