Page 19 of Stay A Little Longer
That awful feeling of dread crawled up the back of his neck and wrapped around his throat. Made it hard to breathe. Made that pain in his chest ache as his oxygen deprived brain supplied the answer he didn’t want to hear. The one he’d been trying to deny and avoid facing since the moment Lance pulled away from him this morning and told him to go. Told him that he didn’t want Lemon finding Trent at his place. And another pinprick of something he’d missed last night hit him with the truth of the situation.
Trent should have put it together before now. It was so obvious. So obvious because it was what they’d had in common that had brought them together.
Lance wasn’t straight. He was gay. But he was hiding. He was still in the closet.
Trent wanted to curse. He wanted to kick something. Throw something. He wanted to rush outside and demand that Lance explain himself. Out himself. But he shut those thoughts down before they could get anywhere near the surface.
He had no right. None at all. After what he’d gone through, what he was still going through, there was no way in hell he’d out Lance. Not now. Not ever. Whatever reason the man had for hiding who he was, Trent had to respect it. He had to understand it. Because if he couldn’t, who would? He’d had his own reasons and he’d still be hiding if it weren’t for Heath.
He couldn’t do that to Lance.
He swallowed down the rush of emotions as quickly as they’d bubbled up. He shut down the hurt and the ache that came with the realization that he couldn’t tell anyone what he and Lance had done last night. He couldn’t tell Lemon about the feelings he was already developing for someone that was a complete stranger to him. He couldn’t even be sure that what he was feeling was real, not when faced with this new information. So he swallowed it all down and forced his mask of easy-going charm back onto his face.
He grinned at Lemon, “Well, damn. Now that’s just a waste of a perfectly good set of sweatpants.”
She giggled, “I won’t judge you for looking. He’s hot. I’ll give you that.”
“He’s gorgeous.” Trent corrected with a sad sigh.
“You want to meet him? Trust me, when you do you’ll lose the fascination. He’s a dick.”
“Well, I mean he seems to have a nice one...”
“Eww!” Lemon smacked him on the arm and then tugged him back towards the table at the front of the trailer, “No. Just… no. Trust me, even if he was into guys, Lance Nichols is not the kind of guy you should waste even a minute of your time on.”
“You act like he’s the antichrist or something and yet, your fiancé is out there yacking it up with him.” Trent pointed out, more curious than he should be.
“Shane and Lance work together. They’re just doing their manly bullshitting while we gossip.”
“What’d he do? Murder the school mascot or something? He can’t be that bad.” Trent felt his defenses rise, wanting to protect the man he’d spent the night with even if it was completely illogical.
“He’s a manwhore.” Lemon rolled her eyes, “He’s slept with like 75% of the female population of Fate. He’s a cheater and a liar and a snake. At least, that’s the story people like to tell. He mostly keeps to himself these days from what I’ve seen. Shane says the guys at the station talk like Lance thinks he’s better than everyone else, too good to grab a beer at the Roadhouse with the boys in blue, or khaki as the case may be.”
“Hmm…” Trent let Lemon’s words sink in and that ache in his chest only grew worse.
Because he recognized the description she’d just given, even if she didn’t. Lemon could just have easily have been talking about him. Just a few days ago, half of Nashville had probably been whispering something pretty damn similar about him actually.
Commenting on how Trent ran through women like they were hand towels until one day he just up and stopped being see with anyone. Talking about how in those last few months, he’d basically holed up inside his house with nobody for company but Heath as he tried to work up the courage to be who he was openly. Trent was certain more than a few people had probably said he wasn’t at their parties or dinners because he thought he was too good for them.
Damn. He and Lance had more in common than he’d realized. Only Trent wasn’t hiding anymore. He was out. Not by choice but he was out. And if Trent did stay in Fate, if anyone saw them together, Lance would get outted by his sheer vicinity to the new gay guy in town. Double damn.
Trent leaned on the table and took a long drink of his coffee. Maybe staying wasn’t such a good idea. It could only hurt Lance. Hell, considering he’d spent one night with the guy and already his chest ached and his emotions were a mess, Trent thought if he stayed he’d probably end up hurt too.
Because no matter how much he and Lance had in common, they weren’t on the same page. They weren’t at the same point in their lives. Trent didn’t want to go back in the closet. And he doubted Lance was ready to come storming out of it.
“Trent?”
“Hmm?” He glanced up from his coffee to find Lemon watching him with that sharp blue gaze.
“You okay? You spaced out on me there for a minute?”
“Sorry. Yeah. I just… still trying to wrap my head around everything I guess.”
“About Lance being an asshole?” She blinked at him confusedly.
“What? No.” He shook off the question and didn’t even have to lie because no, he didn’t need to wrap his head around that. He knew it wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. Lance was kind, sweet even. He was just hiding and a little lost probably. “No, I… I just didn’t expect to find myself sitting in a trailer in Fate, Texas with any intention of staying until this morning.”
Lemon reached out and took his hand, linking their fingers together and giving him a reassuring squeeze, “What changed?”
