Page 7 of Absent Without Leave
Fuck. Something in Aiden’s voice tells Jake he’ll get no further tonight.
He sighs. “Okay. I’ll go…but my clothes are in there with you.”
The door opens and closes only long enough for his clothes to come flying into the hallway. He dresses quickly. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” Jake says and leaves him in peace. Jake could pummel someone right now, namely Sean and then Aiden’s ex.Shit.Who the hell cheats on a guy like Aiden, anyhow? He’s sweet and smart and sexy as sin.
He pushes hard out the emergency exit. Four days to kill. He’ll spend every single one of them at the bar driving Aiden crazy.
***
Aiden listens to Jake’s footsteps fade and hears the soft thud of the apartment door. He releases his breath and resists the urge to use the wall as a punching bag.
What the hell had possessed Sean to drop that bombshell?
Brotherly concern?
Possibly, but unlikely. Sean had had little to say about Joe’s behavior at the time.
After what Aiden had put up with from his ex, he’d vowed to never sleep with someone who wasn’t morally, ethically, and/or legally free to sleep with him. Sean knows that. But he’d glared at Jake when he’d revealed the information, which implies that Sean intended to hurt Jake more than he’d meant to protect Aiden.
The little fucking piece of shit.
Aiden face plants into his bed. What Aiden can’t understand is why.
Most people would accept that three days is close enough. If Jake had said something ahead of time, Aiden would have forgiven him the three damn days. Of course, how was Jake to know that was going to be Aiden’sonehot button? But being blindsided had just pissed him off. And that was Sean’s doing, not Jake’s.
Dammit. Aiden punches his pillow and pulls it beneath his head. It’s infinitely less satisfying than hitting sheet rock, but it’ll have to do.
***
The following afternoon, Aiden enters the bar feeling wrung out. He’d slept fitfully, dreams of Jake mixing with nightmares of Joe.
Baseball season is in full swing, and the Stanley Cup playoffs begin this evening. The pub is packed already, and every TV is tuned into one game or another. One baseball game is in its second or third inning on half the TVs, the National Anthem is just being sung in advance of a second. Aiden welcomes the crazy. It’ll keep his mind from wandering, too often anyway, to what had happened between him and Jake. Or hadn’t happened. What sex they’d had had been amazing, and, truthfully, he’s more pissed about his night being cut short than he is about Jake.
A loud cheer erupts, startling Aiden from his reverie. The television camera follows the lone player circling the bases. The stadium crowd surges to their feet. Aiden pivots to make his rounds again and runs into a solid wall of man. Large hands clasp his upper arms to steady him.
“Whoa there.”
The deep timber of Jake’s voice washes over Aiden, bringing a rush of memories. He takes a step backwards as his body reacts, and solar flares leap between them. Shit.
“Jake,” he says. “What are you doing here?”
“Came to watch a game, have a beer. I can go if you’d rather…” Jake points a thumb at the door.
Aiden takes a deep breath and shakes his head. “No. Of course not,” he says and slips around Jake. He’d rather deal with Jake’s presence for a few days than not, truth be told. All that sexual tension sparking between them. It’ll just guarantee a better orgasm, right? That’s what he wants, right?
Jake takes hold of his arm. “Look, Aiden, I really am sorry. I didn’t know it was a sore spot for you. I’d have said something…” His gray eyes regard Aiden, expression both regretful and earnest.
With a single nod, Aiden says, “I know. It’s okay,” and pulls from Jake’s grasp. Aiden isn’t really mad at Jake, but he’d drawn a line and vowed never to cross it, and as much as he wishes he hadn’t had such a harsh reaction, he can’t back down. The man he used to be not so long ago won’t let him.
The weight of Jake’s gaze lands on Aiden often as the hours pass. Jake makes little asides as Aiden passes to and from the bar. They’re funny, but not mean, and Aiden can’t help the smiles Jake’s observations pull from him. Johanna notices the sizzling too, fanning herself as if it were already triple digits outside.
Sean will be getting a huge chunk of Aiden’s mind, the shithead, not to mention a pint over his head, the next time he sees fit to show his face. Damn him. Aiden can’t even fathom a reason why Sean would sabotage him like that. Was a single night of mind-equals-blown sex too much for a grown man to ask?
Eventually, the favored team pulls out a win, and within the hour, the baseball crowd thins considerably. The Thursday evening dart players amble in, but the group of eight men and six women are low maintenance.
“Hey, Irish, how are you?” asks Ms. Marva, pulling Aiden into a hug. She’d delivered packages to his house the year he’d collected train engines. He’d open the package as soon as she handed it over and she’d let him tell her all about his newest addition.
“I’m good, Ms. Marva. How are you?”
