Page 122 of Daily Grind
Len spoke soft words, tinged with a loving overlay ofyou dope. “Ofcourseit bothered him. It’s hard watching someone you love work themselves into the ground.”
“I’m not—” He barely got the words out.
“Brian.” Sharpness to Len’s voice.
Okay, yes, he was grinding himself down to nothing. He saw that in the mirror every morning. Defeated, he spoke again. “I know. He wanted to help me.”
“And you got snotty and vicious at his suggestions? Like you did with Anita?”
Brian cringed. In the end Anita had walked out on him.I can’t compete with this mistress.She’d waved her hand to encompass the shop and left.
He doubted Rob would have walked away. Too much of the problem solver. He’d have stayed until they’d figured something out.
Another sigh from his brother. “Shit. I really hoped he’d be different for you.”
Brian’s heart and lungs tightened and he had to push the words out. “He is.”
Silence from Len. Only the faint sound of his breath told Brian he was listening.
“Heisdifferent,” Brian said. From Anita, from any of his other lovers—as few and far between as they’d been.
“What do you mean?”
“I screwed up, Len. With Rob. I didn’t want—” His arm shook. Hell, his entire body shook. “God, I was so angry. It’d been a horrible day and he started talking about the shit he’d seen on the ’net and—I snapped. Now he’s gone.” He’d never felt like half of hislifewas missing after Anita had walked out. He’d been upset, sure, but… God. Rob and him. He couldn’t imagine lifewithoutRob.
Everything he wanted and needed for the future was tied to what he and Rob had started to build. That trust. That companionship. “I want him back.” More than the shop, more than anything. “I want him back and I don’t know what to do.” He hiccupped for air and fought against the need to sob.
“Have you tried calling?” Len’s voice was quiet, but clear. A lifeline of sense and caring in the cacophony of self-loathing that were his emotions. “Bri?”
“I did. Texted, too. But—I think he may have blocked me.”
A hiss. “Shit. What did you say to the dude?”
Whathadhe said? Some parts of that afternoon were so clear in his head. Others—not as much. “I—think—I told him to shut the fuck up and get the hell out of my shop.” He cringed. “And I may have accused his company of using child labor.”
Len groaned. “Fuck. Yeah, he probably did block you. In the same situation, I would’ve.”
Brian squirmed and heat flooded to his face. “Thanks a lot.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose, tears contained for now. “So, what do I do?”
“Go talk to him.”
As if it were that easy. “Ican’t, Len. He’sblockedme!”
On the other end, there was a thump and a huff. “Bri, there’s more to life than cell phones. You know where he lives and you know where he works. You go—physically—and talk to him.”
“You’re saying I should go and—I can’t just go to his company and ask to see him!” Could he? The thought echoed in his brain, unlocking the tension in his back.
Len laughed. “Of course you can. What do you have to lose?”
Nothing. He had already lost Rob. He might lose the shop, if things kept heading south. Crazy-ass idea, but there wasn’t any other option.
“What if he says no?” He’d never tried to get back with someone after a breakup. Never wanted to. But he’d also never loved anyone like he loved Rob.
HelovedRob. Brian rubbed his eyes. Still. Missed him. Wanted him. He needed to see that smile and hear that voice. Feel those fingers on his skin, Rob’s lips on his.
Len spoke the other side of the coin. “What if he says yes?”
Brian’s heart thumped heavy and hard in his chest, and a painful stab of hope ached through his body. “I don’t know.” Whispered words.
