Catch up if you need to. Our boys were left in a bad place. Will they get it worked out? Read on to find out!
Enjoy!
5
Munro
swooped down and landed on Daniel’s shoulder with a soft caw the instant he
stepped back into the yard. The crow was
worried about Daniel, upset that his practitioner was upset. Daniel tried to ease his familiar but Munro
didn’t seem to be buying it. There
wasn’t anything he could do to convince Munro he was all right. The crow had a connection to his emotions.
“Daniel,
hey,” a familiar voice called to his left.
Daniel turned quickly and came face to face with Jared and Liam. The smaller man held his duck lovingly in his
arms and smiled sweetly. But Liam
immediately focused in on Daniel’s face.
“What’s
wrong?” Liam asked, his voice low and concerned.
“I fucked
up,” Daniel responded without hesitation.
His eyes swept the backyard, looking, searching, until his gaze landed
on Sean. The man was standing in the
back corner, trying to blend in with the fence.
Daniel thought he could see just how pissed off Sean was despite the
thirty feet that separated them. He took
a step in that direction and paused when he felt Liam’s hand on his arm.
“What
happened?” Liam almost demanded.
Instantly, Daniel found himself spilling the story. Liam was basically second in command of the
coven and he had no doubt that Kelly had filled the man in about his
situation. Besides, Liam was one of the
few people he trusted completely. They
had known each other for years and it was easy to let the whole thing out.
“Yep,” Liam
drawled when Daniel had finished talking.
“You fucked up.”
Jared made
a noise and smacked Liam on the arm. “Be
nice. Daniel doesn’t need your snark
right now.”
A ghost of
smile crossed Daniel’s lips at their interaction but faded quickly. God, he had screwed up. He’d only wanted to help Sean and it had all
backfired. The thing was, he really
cared about the man and truly enjoyed his company. Now he’d ruined everything.
“You want
to fix this?” Jared’s voice broke into his thoughts and Daniel nodded quickly.
Yes, he wanted to fix it. He knew he had
broken Sean’s trust, but it hadn’t been intentional.
“I like
him,” Daniel said quietly. “I really
like him. And I thought I was
helping. But, I just—“
“Talk to
him,” Jared interrupted.
“There’s
nothing I can say that would—“
“Doesn’t
matter,” Liam cut in.
Jared
nodded. “You have to talk to him
anyway. Try to explain. Keeping silent is the best way to kill a
relationship.”
“Look,”
Liam said, his voice gentle. He stroked
a hand along the scales of his python, seemingly collecting his thoughts. Jezebel closed her eyes and enjoyed the
caress. Munro fluttered his wings and
hopped over to Daniel’s other shoulder.
The two familiars had never really gotten along.
“Look,”
Liam repeated. “The thing is, you’ve
been building this relationship with him and now he thinks it was all a lie. I know better. I know that some of it was the truth. Right?”
“Yeah,”
Daniel agreed.
“So you lay
it all out for him. Tell him your
motivation. Tell him what you were
thinking. Apologize profusely. Get on your knees if you have to.” Liam’s voice was kind and then his eyes cut
to Jared. “Jesus, angel, I didn’t mean
for that.”
Jared
blushed and gave a shy sort of smile.
“But it might help.”
It took
Daniel a second to figure out what they were talking about and he gave a small
smile once he did. He shook his
head. “It’s not that kind of thing
between Sean and me.”
“But you
want it to be.” Jared wasn’t even
asking. Daniel didn’t need feel the need
to respond.
Liam made a
sound of mock exasperation. “Just talk
to Sean.”
“And if he
won’t listen?” Daniel asked, voicing his biggest fear.
“Maybe he
won’t. But at least you’ll have tried.”
“Talk to
him,” Jared urged. “Don’t let this go
unresolved between you.”
Daniel
squared his shoulders and nodded. He
could do this.
***
Sean had
been very good at avoiding him the rest of the party. And he’d managed to be cleaning up something
on the opposite end of the yard from Daniel for the past hour. Daniel’s frustration was growing with every
passing minute. Munro tired to be
encouraging but it wasn’t helping all that much. He knew he’d angered Sean, hurt him even, but
the man couldn’t even look at him now.
Daniel had to fix this.
The ride
home was even worse. Every time Daniel
tried to speak, Sean cut him off. About
the fourth time Sean interrupted with a very angry no, Daniel kept his mouth
shut. He didn’t know how to start this
conversation. He didn’t know how to make
Sean listen. Maybe it wouldn’t fix
anything, but it was imperative Sean know that Daniel hadn’t been trying to be
malicious.
As soon as
Daniel pulled the truck into the driveway, Sean hopped out and strode toward
the front door, leaving Daniel scrambling to catch up. His hand was shaking a bit and it took him
two tries to fit the key in the lock. As
soon as the door swung open, Sean stomped down the short hallway toward the guest
room. Munro took off for his perch in the bedroom and Daniel started to panic
when he thought of Sean packing and leaving.
“It wasn’t
all a lie!” Daniel burst out. Sean
stopped dead, but he didn’t turn or say anything to acknowledge that he’d heard
what Daniel had said. Rushing forward,
Daniel got with a few feet of Sean and spoke again, this time a bit quieter,
“Yes, I acted like a brat to give you control.
Yes, that’s not really who I am.
But you being dominant, taking control, that was something I liked.”
Still Sean
said nothing. Daniel took a few steps
forward so he was almost within touching distance. “I’m sorry that I hurt you. It was never my intention to make you feel
like I’d lied or…” He trailed off for a moment and took a deep breath. “I care about you, Sean, and I wanted to
help. Obviously, I did it all
wrong. And I’m so sorry about that. But I truly thought I was helping you.”
There were
several moments of heavy silence before Sean spoke. “The kind of relationship that was requires
an extraordinary amount of trust. It’s a
truly beautiful thing and you made a mockery of it.”
“No,”
Daniel whispered, wishing Sean would turn around and they could have this
conversation face to face. “No. I trust you completely. Maybe I’m not a 24/7 submissive, not a brat,
but I trusted you so much that I was able to let you make all the
decisions. I might not be my normal
inclination, but I had no qualms about putting my welfare in your hands.”
At that,
some of the tension left Sean’s shoulders.
He seemed to be taking deep breaths.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Sean turned around. Daniel’s heart nearly broke when he saw the
hurt and anger clearly displayed on Sean’s face. Daniel wanted to reach out and hug him but he
kept himself in check.
“It might
not be something I need, not like a true brat or true submissive, but it was an
easy thing to do. Mostly. Because I trust you. Because I saw how much better you were when
you had control. I was happy to give
that to you.”
Silence
again. Daniel forced himself not to drop
his eyes. He wanted Sean to know how
sincere he was being. He hated that he’d
hurt this man that way. And he wanted
him to understand that it wasn’t a hardship.
“All
right,” Sean said slowly. “I can
appreciate that. Thank you for trying to
help me. But it stops now, do you
understand? I can not, will not, have that kind of relationship
with you when it’s not something you need.”
Daniel
nodded fast. Sean turned and started
walking back down the hall. Daniel’s heart jumped into his throat.
“Are you
still leaving?” His voice was little more than a whisper.
Sean paused
again, but at least this time, he looked back over his shoulder before he said,
“It would probably be best if I did.”
“No!”
Daniel’s protest came out a little more loudly than he intended. He cleared his throat. “You don’t have to leave. We can—we can coexist just fine, even without
that other layer. We’re friends, at
least, aren’t we?”
Sean was
quiet for a few seconds. “Yes.”
Daniel
couldn’t help the relieved breath that escaped.
“Good. Please stay.”
“All right,”
Sean said. He went quiet for a moment
then added, “I’ll think about it. It’s
late and I won’t leave tonight. I’ll
deal with tomorrow when it comes.”
Sean moved
quickly this time, escaping down the hall and into his room before Daniel could
reply. The door shut with a firm
snap. Daniel raised shaky hands and
rubbed his face.
Okay, that
had gone better than he had expected. Sean
had listened, believed him, and even accepted his apology. And he’d earned a reprieve. Sean wasn’t leaving tonight. That gave Daniel a few more hours to figure
out how to get him to stay.
The truth
of the matter was, Daniel wanted Sean.
He wanted him in life and in his bed.
He was aware that he had possibly lost his chance with the man, and if
that was the case, Daniel would accept it.
But not before he did everything in his power to convince Sean that, despite
their rocky start, they would be good together.
Daniel gave
a self deprecating snort as he locked the front door and shut off the
lights. Rocky start was probably a gross
understatement. But there was something
that about Sean that called to Daniel.
Sean was a wounded warrior in need of healing. And Daniel was convinced that somehow,
someway, he was the man to help Sean.
His first attempt had obviously been wrong. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t a right
option out there.
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Hmmn, time will tell. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, we shall. Heh.
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