Page 16 of Unspoken Rules

Present day…

The sun shines through the windows, burning against my face and waking me up. I wipe the drool from my mouth and lift my head to look around. It takes a moment to remember where I am—Chris’s. I rub my eyes, sucking in a sharp breath and getting to my feet. A glance at the clock tells me it’s almost ten. Not surprised by that, considering I finally had a quiet night. Didn’t have to deal with my father fucking someone who sounds like she’s auditioning for the role of over-the-top porn star. I stretch, bending my back backwards to get it to crack a few times. I pull my shirt off and toss it in the corner and move to my suitcase to grab another. I’ll shower later. For now, I just need fresh clothes so I can get some food into me. I’m starving.

“Oh, hey. Glad you’re up.” I glance over my shoulder and find Cole in the doorway, hands on the frame and leaning in. I was so tired I didn’t even shut the door. And him getting home didn’t disturb me. Chris either, now that I think about it. I grab the first shirt I spot, stand and turn toward him. His eyes dip to my waist for a split second before going back to my face.

Did he just—no.

No. He didn’t. He wouldn’t.

“Hey,” I say, shaking out the shirt and putting it on.

“Sleep well?”

“I did, actually. Staying with my father over the last few months did nothing to help me with the time change.”

“There’s breakfast downstairs,” he says. “Chris went out to meet his mom, but he should be back soon.” I’m surprised he didn’t wake me when he got home last night.

“How is Tabitha?”

Cole gives me a smirk. “Wouldn’t know. Now that Chris is old enough to make his own damn decisions, I don’t need to talk to her crazy ass anymore.”

I huff a laugh, brushing my fingers through my hair. I bet it’s a wild mess.

“They’re all crazy, aren’t they?” I ask, moving toward the door. Cole steps aside so I can move into the hallway.

“Why do you think I’m still single?” he questions.

Good to know.

“Glad I realized I was gay before I figured it out firsthand. Though,” I say, pausing for a second. “Men aren’t any better.”

“Is that so?” His eyes shine with humor.

“Yeah. I’ve got about twenty texts from my ex I’ve yet to go through because I don’t want to deal with it.”

He frowns, which throws me off, but I ignore it. “Food is in the oven, but if you don’t want it, make something else. I’ll be in my office catching up on invoices and shit. It’s supposed to be nice today, if you wanna go for a swim.”

“No bathing suit,” I comment as we head down the stairs.

“Didn’t stop you and Chris when you were teenagers.”

I laugh, remembering the time we had a party at the house and tried to get everyone to go skinny dipping. We were like fourteen. The only ones who made it in were the guys. Every girl left, and that’s when Cole showed up. Of course, he had a lot of questions about that. I hadn’t told anyone I was gay at that point, and I’m not sure I even knew it myself yet. Or maybe I did, but I was too afraid to accept it because I knew my father wouldn’t. I remember wondering why the other boys were so upset that there were no girls in the pool, but I wasn’t exactly excited to see a bunch of guys naked either. I was fourteen. Who the hell knows what was going through my head.

“I’m a big boy now, Cole. I don’t do that stupid shit anymore.”

He smirks. “But life is so much more fun when you’re bigger.”

Those words have my mind rocketing back to that night with him in Astoria, and I’m frozen still.

Cole disappears into his office, and I have to force my feet to move in the opposite direction toward the kitchen while I convince myself he isn’t flirting with me. Crossing that line with Cole—again—could ruin everything for me. It’s bad enough we did it once, but at least we can ignore it. Just one night. That’s easy to forget. At least, it should be. I have to keep reminding myself I’d have nowhere to go, my best friend would hate me, and I’d lose the closest person I have to a father-figure.

Nope. Cole Harper is off limits, and the sooner I get that through my head, the better.

“Fucking finally!” Chris shouts when he comes through the front door. I grin and get up from the couch. He throws his arms around me, giving me the biggest hug. I let out a wheeze as he squeezes all the air out of me. “Fuck, I missed you, bro,” he says.

I ignore the guilt clawing at my chest and say, “I missed you too.”

The last time I saw him was over Christmas break when he came to visit me the first year I left. So it’s been like four years. We said we would visit each other more often, but I’d developed a fear of flying once I landed in Providence, which was the weirdest thing. I’d been on planes plenty of times with my parents over the years, but for some reason, I developed a fear when I turned eighteen. Or maybe it was my conscience telling me to stay in Providence, because coming back to the west coast would only cause problems. Yeah, that was definitely it. Too bad I didn’t listen.

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