Chapter 26

Nero – Monday Morning

When he openedhis eyes the next morning, Nero was surprised to realize he'd slept relatively well. Things hadn't even been awkward when they'd gotten back to Forrest's the night before, probably because both of them had been too tired to get weird about things. Forrest had showered and they'd both stripped down boxers and t-shirts and fallen into Forrest's bed.

If the rhythmic sound of Forrest's breathing was any indication, he wouldn't wake up for a little while, so any potential weirdness would be held at bay for a bit longer.

Slipping out from under the covers, Nero padded silently to the kitchen. He'd spotted Forrest's coffee stash on his first visit. Without too much clanking and banging, he got the coffee machine going. Another peek into the bedroom told him Forrest slept on. Nero hopped in the shower while the coffee brewed.

When he got out again, feeling much cleaner and his hair not yet doing its regularly scheduled Robert Plant impression, Nero checked in the bedroom again only to find it empty.

Forrest was seated at the kitchen table, hunkered down around a massive cup of fresh coffee. Nero chuckled; he looked somewhat like a dragon.

"I see you found the coffee."

"If you promise to make coffee every day, I might ask you to marry me."

"That's a big ask. Every day?"

Nero was just going to avoid the part that sounded like he low-key wanted Nero to stick around.

"How you feeling this morning?"

"Arm's sore."

"What about the rest of you?" Nero asked while he poured himself a mug of the dark brew.

"Meh. I mean, yeah, fine but weird. I thought maybe I'd have a nightmare last night after everything, but nope."

"That's good, I think."

"Your phone keeps buzzing," Forrest said, nodding to where the offending device sat on the counter. "Sorry, I looked," he said, not sounding very sorry. "I thought maybe it was your mom."

"It's Austin the Ex, isn't it?"

"Mm-hmm." Forrest used his good arm to raise his mug to his lips and then took a long sip.

"Well, fuck."

With a sigh, Nero set his coffee down and picked up his cell phone. He didn't bother to read the texts, he just pressed the green Call icon and waited for Austin to pick up.

"Nero?" He sounded out of breath, like he'd had to run to answer in time.

"Yes, Austin. Who did you think would be calling from this number?"

"Well, I—you haven't answered before." Austin breathed in sharply. "I miss you, Nero."

Oh boy. This was going to be hard. Giving Forrest a chin nod, Nero took his phone and went back into the living room. Nero didn't need the privacy, but he weirdly felt that Austin might.

"Look, Austin, before this conversation goes on much longer, I don't plan on moving back. I've met someone here in Cooper Springs."

There was a moment of silence before Austin responded. "Already? That was fast, replacing me so soon."

Austin sounded bitter now. Nero wasn't sure he deserved it, all things considered and seeing as it had been six weeks since they'd even spoken, but he decided that maybe he should just be the bigger person and let Austin have his feelings. Austin was his past, and hopefully Forrest Cooper was his future.

"Maybe it is? I can't say, it just feels right. I apologize for not realizing sooner that we weren't right together. In fact, I think you probably knew it first, but we both ignored it. You don't like what I do and I'm not stopping just because you want me to."

"So that's it, you're cutting me loose?"

"Austin," Nero said, exasperated, "we cut each other loose, and probably did so a long time before I actually left. Now it's time for us to say goodbye. I wish you the best."

There was a long pause before Austin finally spoke. He sounded resigned.

"Goodbye, Nero," he said before clicking off.

Nero tucked the phone into his back pocket and stepped back into the kitchen. Forrest was still hunched over his steaming mug of coffee. From the gleam in his eyes, he'd listened to Nero's side of the conversation but was trying—and failing—to act cool about it. Pretending not to notice, Nero lifted his mug to his lips and took a long sip.

Forrest shot him an exasperated glance. "Well?"

"Sheesh, I haven't even had my own cup of coffee yet."

"So now it's really Austin the Ex?"

Nero didn't even mind that Forrest had been listening in. "Oh, we've been ex-ed for a while. I do wonder if he thought I'd eventually come back. Maybe he figured he could bluff me."

"Huh. Well, that's good. I mean, it's good that you're really and truly ex-ed. Are you planning on staying in town?"

"If a certain sexy redhead is okay with me sticking around? He may have had some issues with me, but it's looking like things have changed in the past few days." Cripes, it had been fast. Nero shrugged.

"I already said I might ask you to marry me if you make me coffee every morning."

"You did," Nero acknowledged. "Every day is quite a commitment though. I'm not sure if I'm up for that quite yet. I am willing to put it on the back burner though."

"We'll start slow." Forrest waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Slow is good." He shifted around and patted his parted thighs.

Nero moved to stand in the vee of Forrest's lap. "Probably should take care we don't bump your arm."

"I'm pretty sure we can think of something that won't bother it."