Page 6 of Creed
“I’d be a hypocrite if I wasn’t.”
There. I’d admitted it. Sort of. Sure, I hadn’t directly used the word “gay,” but the meaning was still clear. That had to count for something.
This time there was an even longer pause on the other end of the line. If it weren’t for the fact that I could hear the soft sound of a television playing in the background of Kayden’s call, I would have thought the line disconnected.
“I see.” His voice was smaller than I’d ever heard it, like the squeak of a distraught mouse. Before I could think too much of it, however, he cleared his throat, and everything suddenly snapped back to normal. “That’s gotta be a hard adjustment, but just give it time. I’m sure it’ll get better. Did you also say something about needing money?”
“Oh, yeah. That’s a long story.”
Stretching out my legs, I crossed my ankles over each other as I settled in to recite everything that had happened so far, leading up to the giant hole that now stood in the center of our property and needed to be fixed.
By the end of it, I wasn’t sure if I’d made any sense, but Kayden’s voice had returned to its usual upbeat tone.
“You know, if you need a job, I might be able to help with that. I’ve been traveling all over the world writing about different places, but my publisher has suggested that I focus on more domestic locations to balance things out. I hadn’t planned anything yet, but a rustic camping trip through the mountains would be a great option. I could hire you as my guide, if you wanted.”
I sat up quickly in my chair, accidentally kicking the whiskey bottle and spilling its contents across the porch. “Would that really work?”
“Of course it would work. You can make some quick cash. I can keep my publisher happy. Everybody wins.”
I thought about the offer for a moment, weighing the pros and cons, but it was all in vain. I already knew I was going to accept. Guiding Kayden through the mountains was one of the only ways I could think of to earn money doing something I was good at.
Plus, it would be a great excuse to get some distance from Magnus and Brody. It felt horrible to admit such a thing, especially since I’d only just arrived, but I needed some time away from them to get my head on straight and adjust to our new situation.
“All right,” I agreed when there was no reason for me to delay any longer. “We’ll set up the details tomorrow. It’s late right now, and I’m a bit too drunk.”
I heard movement on the other end of the line, but it wasn’t enough to tell what Kayden was doing.
“Oh, yeah. It is late. You should totally go to bed. And sober up. I’ll talk to you later.”
After my own goodbye, the line went dead. I shoved the phone back into my pocket and fetched the whiskey bottle that had rolled across the porch. Only a swallow of liquid remained in the bottle, the rest of it either already in my stomach, or spilled across the porch floorboards.
There was no point in returning such a little amount back to Brody’s shelves. Raising the bottle to the sky, I toasted the moon where it was still hidden behind the clouds.
“Well, there’s one problem solved. Maybe now I can finally get a few hours of peaceful sleep.”
I downed the last bit of whiskey in one go.
It was even later than I thought when I returned to my room. As I passed the master bedroom, everything was silent. No passionate noises greeted me from the other side of the door, and I crossed the hall toward my own bedroom with a new spring in my step.
CHAPTER 2
Kayden
“Oh, fuck,”I said as I paced restlessly back and forth across the room. “Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck.”
These were the only words that I’d been able to utter for the last fifteen minutes, but there was so much more than I wanted to scream about.
Creed was gay.
How had I not known this?
I’d been friends with Creed since we were kids. We went to middle school and high school together. We’d talked to each other at least every couple of days for most of our lives.
How had the topic of sexuality never come up before?
Forcing myself to stop pacing, I stood in the middle of my studio apartment and took a deep breath.
The answer was simple. The topic of sexuality had never come up because I avoided it at all costs.
