Page 49 of Stay A Little Longer
A headache formed behind his eyes, “No. He wouldn’t.”
Except Rick would. He totally would. And they both knew it. Rick wasn’t just his manager for his music. He managed Trent’s life. He was the one that had carefully orchestrated it all those years so that Trent could hide his secret. Now that it was out, now that there was no controlling it, he would be in management mode all over again with a whole plan of how they were going to handle it, spin it, play it for their benefit.
Except the onlytheythat Trent was interested in was himself and Lance.
“You know he’s on his way here.” Lemon gave him a knowing look that made him feel about an inch tall.
“I know.” He whispered softly.
Which meant he wasn’t just running low on time. He was running out of time. Time with Lance. Time to let Lance figure out what was between them was real. Real enough to take a chance on. Time for Lance to figure out what Trent already knew.
He loved Trent too. He had to. If he didn’t, Trent shook the thought off, completely unable to process that as a possibility.
No. Lance had fallen for him too. He had. That was why he’d calmed when Trent touched him earlier. Because he was in love with Trent too.
“And if he’s on his way, you know they’re going to be right behind him.”
“I know.”
“I’m sorry.” Lemon reached out and took his twitchy hand, “I’m sorry that I asked you to come here. That I only made this harder for you.”
“No. Don’t say that.” He squeezed her hand in response, “Don’t be sorry. I’m not. If I hadn’t come here, I wouldn’t have met Lance.”
“But…”
“No buts.” He cut her off, “I’ll figure it out tonight. Lance and I will figure it out. Somehow. We’ll make it work.”
Lemon nibbled on her bottom lip, “What if…”
“Just say it Lemon.” He prompted when she trailed off nervously.
“What if Lance doesn’t want to make it work?”
“He will. He does.” Trent closed his eyes and willed it to be true, “He loves me. He has to. There’s no way that all of this between us is one-sided. He feels it. He’s just scared.”
Lemon released his hand, “Well of course he’s scared. He’s a closet case, Trent. I mean, after falling for a straight guy, that’s about as rough as it gets.”
“I don’t care how rough it is, I’m not leaving him.”
“Okay.”
He snorted, “Just, okay?”
“No, of course not, but I know you well enough to know when your mind is made up. You and Lance need to figure out how to make it work. Fine. But I’m warning you, Trent. It’s not gonna be easy. Not with him. I don’t know how much you know about his past but…”
“Everything. He told me everything.”
“Yeah, well, needless to say I’m seeing him and his past in a different light but the truth is still the truth. If he was willing to sleep around all these years just to keep his secret, he’s not going to come out easily.”
“He’s not that same guy. He stopped that years ago. He had a tough time accepting his truth. It’s not a crime that it took him a while to come to terms with being gay.”
“But he didn’t come out. He just pulled back from everyone. That’s the real reason he doesn’t go out with the boys. Because he’s hiding. Isn’t it?”
Trent shrugged, unwilling to divulge any of Lance’s personal story, “I’ll talk to Lance tonight. We’ll figure it out.”
“But if you don’t…”
“If we don’t, I’ll leave. I’ll leave Fate to protect him and his secret. It’ll break my heart but I’ll leave him.”
