Page 22 of Winter Ends
“Why do you care so much?”
And just like that... ice water. It was a simple question, but whatever vulnerability I’d seen in Daniel was gone. A hardness shuttered in his eyes as he dropped his hand and backed away from me.
“What do you mean, why do I care?” His question was out of left field.
“You got all butt hurt when I wouldn’t talk to you last night, and now you’re cooking for me and asking me how I’m feeling.”
Had no one cared for Daniel before? Having met his parents, they obviously had. His mother had bordered on smothering, not caring that I was there when she questioned where he lived and the condition of some of his clothes.
I grabbed my own coffee, and while I should have taken the high road, and talked to him like an adult, part of me wanted to go back to pushing his buttons. “We’re stuck. Might as well not hate each other for a few days.”
He snorted, but followed me as I walked into the living room and collapsed on the couch with my breakfast. The news was on, talking about the unexpected storm. By the sound of it, they expected more snow throughout the day and anticipated it would continue into the night again. My body tensed because it wasn’t what I wanted to hear. Dad was already blowing up my phone, trying to make sure I had made it up here okay and see if I needed anything. The man was stupid enough to try to break us out if I asked, but I wouldn’t put his life or anyone else’s in danger in order to do it.
I was halfway through my food before I realized he’d brought his breakfast over as well. Maybe this was a truce. We could sit here and eat, watch the news, and for the first time since we’d met, we could not argue about something.
Chapter 13
Daniel
Last night was bothering me.
I could just ask him about it. Logic wasn’t always my best friend, but what guy got hard if he wasn’t at least a little interested, right?
Going there was a mistake. When I’d fooled around with Tilly and Art, I’d told Art about wanting to touch him as well, and he’d laughed at me. There wasn’t a possibility in hell of that happening. Just because Shawn had popped a boner while we’d been rolling around on the floor hadn’t meant he wanted me to touch him. But then what he’d said kept floating through my head…
“You’re squirming around on my lap and threatening me with a good time.”
Had he meant that? Was it because it was me, or just a person being on top of him?
The last thing I needed was to be thinking about Shawn like that. I shouldn’t be thinking about him at all. Shawn and Art were too similar personality-wise. I’d been down that road once before and got burned. I didn’t even like Shawn... maybe.
Fuck.
I finished the food on my plate and took it back to the kitchen. Having a freaking meal with him shouldn’t have my thoughts all jumbled like this. Or even considering propositioning him.
This was dumb. Part of me had always wanted to experiment to finally know what it was like to be with another guy. I’d always known that I found both men and women attractive, but my relationship with Art and Tilly had been the closest I’d ever gotten to experiencing it. Not that it was in any way healthy.
Space.
My skin crawled from being in such proximity to the man who was making me question so many things. Making me question the boundaries I’d put in place after Art and Tilly.
I marched back to my room, closing the door behind me. The phone, plugged into the charger on the nightstand, lit up. When my heart began to beat wildly in my chest, I knew I was overreacting. Chase had seemed genuinely concerned when he reached out to me yesterday about being stuck up here with Shawn. It could be him calling to check in with me. But Chase never called. He would text.
As I approached, I could see the familiar one eight hundred number on the screen. I could ignore it, and not answer it at all, but for whatever reason, it felt better to deny the calls. Like I had some control over them. But as I stood there, the phone went dark. That... felt different.
How many times would Art try to call before he got the picture that I was done? He wasn’t a part of my life anymore, and he was wasting his time. It had been months already. Maybe he’d never give up.
“Are you okay?”
Where was I? I shook my head. At some point, I’d left my room and stood in the hall again. Shawn watched me, eyes full of concern.
My heart was back to beating a rapid staccato. Sweat slicked my palms as I wiped them on my boxers. I should put pants on. With the way Shawn was looking at me, damn, all I wanted to do was run to him and wrap my arms around him. I hadn’t had a panic attack like this since the day of the arrests.
“I...” My voice trailed off as my eyes burned. Before I could hit the ground, strong arms wrapped around me and pulled me into a comforting chest. Thick fingers worked through my hair as Shawn whispered soothing words into my ear.
“Hey now, what happened? You’re okay. Talk to me.”
This was the last thing I wanted. This asshole didn’t deserve to see me at my weakest. I was tough, strong, and independent Daniel. I didn’t need anyone to help me keep it together, but here I was, crumbling under the pressure.
