Page 54 of Best Served Cold

Kai took it, his throat working as he swallowed. Carefully, he opened the envelope and pulled out the portraits River had drawn of him and Alex.

“River,” Kai said breathlessly, his eyes on the first drawing. “This is…wow. I’m…I love it. Thank you.”

River had spent the past three nights working on the portraits, and in my opinion, they were some of his best work.

“There’s another one under there, but you might want to keep that one in a discreet place,” River said, his shyness lingering.

As talented as my brother was, he had an incredibly difficult time sharing his art with people. Everyone except Stone had seen his work, but that didn’t dull his anxiety.

My brother was a kind soul, but he’d been hurt a lot in his life. Most of his trauma stemmed from people taking advantage of his open and friendly nature. He was a master at pretending like nothing fazed him and everything just rolled right off his back, but that was the mask he’d learned to wear after years of being treated like he was stupid just because he wasn’t good at school.

No one ever encouraged his art, not even our parents, because they’d bought into the bullshit notion that grades were everything and your only worth was in your future career. Academics and sports, the things that could get us scholarships and looked good on college applications, were all anyone cared about.

He’d shown Noah his sketchbook, which was huge for River, especially because he’d done it so quickly.

River’s instincts about people were always spot-on. He was slower to trust people than even I was. He not only liked Noah, he trusted him. He couldn’t always explain how he had a sixth sense about people’s true intentions, but if his gut said Noah could be trusted, I wasn’t going to argue.

“Discreet?” Kai arched an eyebrow.

“Let’s just say it’s a bit spicy.” River pushed his hair back from where it had fallen over his forehead.

“Okay, now I have to see that one.” Nick jumped up from Gray’s lap and peered over the top of the paper.

“Can I show everyone?” Kai asked.

River nodded and bit the corner of his mouth nervously.

Kai flipped the page around. River had found a photo of Kai and Alex on Alex’s Instagram that had been taken at their graduation a few months ago. In the photo, they were standing side by side in their gowns with their arms around each other, but instead of smiling for the camera, they were gazing into each other’s eyes and looking so happy and in love it was both cute, and a bit nauseating.

“Jesus.” Stone leaned closer to the page. “That’s incredible.”

“Thanks.” River’s cheeks brightened with a blush.

“Now let’s see the other one.” Gray grinned mischievously.

Without hesitation, Kai flipped to the second sheet, his eyes immediately widening.

“Damn, my dude.” Nick gaped at the page. “That’s hotter than most of the porn I watch.”

River had drawn the couple so Kai was sitting on a bed, his legs extended, as Alex straddled his hips. Kai’s hands were under Alex’s ass, like he was helping to move him over his cock, as Alex clung to Kai’s shoulders. Their faces were twisted up with passion, and even though they looked like they were moments away from blowing their loads, the love they shared radiated off the page.

“Should I ask how you got the inspiration for this?” Kai asked River with a sly grin.

“You know exactly where it came from.” River grinned back at him.

“Wait, what?” Gray said.

“Story time,” Nick chimed.

“No story, really.” Kai carefully tucked the portraits back in the protective envelope. “I didn’t realize River had walked behind me while I was watching a video Alex and I made and he caught an eyeful.”

“You were watching homemade porn at work?” Jett asked, lining up another shot glass with the three already on the bar top.

“Best way to get a stiffy before going on stage.” Kai set the envelope down. “Thank you.” He stepped toward River and pulled him into a tight hug.

I tuned out the guys as they started talking about Kai’s move and his timeline for when school started and kept an eye on River.

He didn’t have abandonment issues like Gray, but saying goodbye to people was hard for him.

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