Page 25 of Embers Glow After the Fire

“Good morning Brendo—you look cute!” Robbie notes the white linen button down tucked into khaki shorts, cinched at the waist with a brown leather belt, and coordinated boat shoes. “I just need to slip my sneakers on and we can roll out.” He shuffles toward his bedroom.

“Where is everyone?” Brendon addresses the empty house.

“Matty lost his necklace!” Robbie's voice calls back. “They've all gone down to the lake to help him find it.” He struts back into the great room.

“Oh shit!” Brendon’s heart sinks. “Should we go help?” He feels a pang of responsibility.

“I’m sure it’ll turn up. It’s probably somewhere in the house anyway.” Robbie jingles keys in his fingers and settles sunglasses on his nose. “I haven't even seen him go down to the lake yet.”

Brendon follows out the front door. “We went for a swim last night—after you went to bed.”

“Oh?” He tilts his shades and peaks over the white frames.

Brendon rounds the far side of the Yukon and climbs into the passenger’s seat.

“A midnight dip, eh?” Robbie’s smirk lifts half of his face.

Brendon’s cheeks flush. “I wasn’t about to let him go alone, with all he had to drink.” He smirks.

“Mmm—good thinking.” Robbie winks as he flips the ignition.

The massive beast of an SUV rocks and quakes descending the rutty dirt road. Once they reach the main highway, Robbie rolls the windows down and pine-scented gusts fill the cabin.

Brendon floats his arm against the wind, watching the forest blur by.

“Now, what's all this husband business?” Robbie speaks over the riot of whipping air and tire treading pavement.

“I left my husband right before coming here—It’s a sore subject.”

“I’m sorry babe.” Robbie’s brow caves behind his sunglasses. “You don’t have to talk about it.”

“It’s okay.” He wants to talk about it. Maybe the guilt he feels for leaving the way he did, will stop eating at him every day. Brendon’s fingers slice the air into ribbons that swirl around his arm and whiz past his ear.

He spent a year secreting away cash and planning to sit his husband down for a long conversation, drawing lines in the sand and getting closure, but the last fight they had—the night before he packed and fled—was all the closure needed on his end.

Insignificant things set Christian off. Dinner didn’t have enough salt. The cleaner didn’t fold the towels the way he likes. Brendon didn’t give him the attention he craved—after being berated for not giving him enough space. He liked his space when some new twink caught his attention, but expected Brendon to be readily affectionate when the conquests would reject him.

He’d been flirting with the landscaper's son, newly added to the crew after graduating college. A beautiful twenty-something with doe eyes and an ass that stops traffic but very straight. Christian’s favorite little treat for the last few years. He thought he was hiding his infidelities but Brendon had known for years what Christian did when he was "working late." They share cloud storage on their electronic devices. Brendon saw every text Christian exchanged through his multiple mobile phones. He was a smart businessman but technology made him look like a fool.

The boy turned down his advances, so he crawled into bed with Brendon and raged when his husband rejected him too.

He punched and shattered a mirror in the hallway outside the guest room Brendon had claimed as his own during some point in the last two years. That was the final straw. After Christian fell asleep on the sofa in the main living room, Brendon packed two suitcases and found a quick cash-deal used car on a local internet marketplace that he negotiated to purchase the next morning.

As soon as Christian left for work he ordered a cab to the address the seller gave him and didn't look back.

“You guys have been amazing. I don’t want anyone to think badly of me.”

“We would never think badly of you Bren. You're family.” Robbie’s words are comforting.

“He has a lot of influence in Houston. His father was a big deal. Their family business has been established for generations.” He pinches and rolls the hem of his shorts. “They own a massive construction company.” He snaps a stray thread. “I felt trapped for a long time.” He swallows. “I was his dirty little secret for years. It was exhausting.”

Robbie glances across the cab. “Are you okay?”

“I will be—Christian doesn’t like to lose his things. I was no different than one of his cars. Tucked away in a garage and only taken out when he's feeling like a joyride.”

Robbie’s eyes are glued to the road and he chews his lip.

“I lost myself. I was just young and foolish to let it happen.” Brendon twists in the seat. “After his Father died there was a shift in him. Like this beast that laid dormant all those years was set free.”

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