Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

Vince

This summer

"W here the hell is my cereal?" Colby said when Vince went into the kitchen that morning. Colby was scouring the cabinets, wearing nothing except a pair of shorts. Vince was in his underwear. He'd never been the biggest fan of clothes while at home, but considering this wasn't his house and Colby was straight, he likely wouldn't like Vince walking around naked the way he would if this was his own place.

"I hid it."

Colby peeked around the cabinet door at Vince, who crossed his arms.

"You didn't."

"Oh, I beg to differ. I did."

"I'm a forty-year-old man. I can eat what I want."

"I have four years on you, and as your roommate and self-proclaimed best friend, I'm worried about your sugar intake. When it comes to food, you speak in two languages—barbecue and cereal. Sit down and let me cook you breakfast."

It was hard to believe he'd been living with Colby for close to a year. When he first moved in, he hadn't expected to stay this long. He figured it would be a few months—six, tops—while he got his bearings in Harmony, but he kept staying, and Colby kept allowing it. Actually, he didn't seem to want Vince to leave. Every time Vince mentioned that maybe he should look for his own place, Colby said the room would be empty anyway, and he liked having Vince around, and Vince liked being around Colby, so the conversation always got dropped.

He would think living with someone and working with them could be a recipe for disaster. When they'd offered him a job at Covington Acres, he'd been unsure. He'd never done that kind of work in his life. He'd been in corporate financing, for Christ's sake, but he found that he liked working with his hands, enjoyed the ache in his muscles and being out in the sun. He liked working with Colby, learning about the apple orchards last fall and shooting the shit while they watered crops, seeing them grow, produce, taking the right care of them to see them do well, so he stayed doing that too.

"Fucking spoiled," Colby said, plopping down in a chair at the table in the dining room attached to the kitchen. It was open concept, more like one big space than two.

Vince laughed. "Yes, I'm cooking you breakfast, but I'm the spoiled one? Makes perfect sense." Though in some ways, Colby did spoil him. Colby was up for almost anything, and Vince liked to keep busy, so they were kind of perfect together.

"You're spoiled because you always get your way with me," Colby said while Vince pulled the eggs from the fridge. They were off at the farm today. Sometimes, when he didn't work at Covington Acres, Vince helped Holden with his carpentry business. Holden was his ex-boyfriend and current best friend, the latter a position Holden now shared with Colby. It wasn't something he'd expected—the connection between him and Colby—but Vince liked him a lot.

"That's because I'm so pretty and it's hard to say no to me." Vince grinned. Colby rolled his blue eyes, but his cheeks turned slightly pink.

"You're a pretty big pain in my ass is what you are," Colby replied.

"A pain in your ass that cares about how you eat and is making you breakfast," Vince reminded him.

Colby grinned. "That too."

Vince liked that he could make Colby smile so easily. The way he saw it, the man should do it more often. It wasn't that Colby was miserable. He had a great life, friends, family, but Vince sensed something a little sad in him. Like he had secrets he hadn't let anyone in on yet. Vince hoped one day he could be that person for Colby. He owed him more than that. Colby had taken Vince in at one of the roughest times in his life—after discovering his ex had cheated on him for the second time.

Vince still couldn't believe he'd let Gregory back into his life after the first time, that he'd given the man the chance to hurt him again…or why in the hell he'd loved the guy. But he had, a mistake Vince didn't plan to ever make again. He wasn't a stupid man, and giving his heart away, again , after everything he'd been through, was asking for trouble.

"What are we doing today?" Vince grabbed the sausage next.

"Not sure. You got any ideas? Don't forget we have dinner at my parents' tonight."

Ah, the Sunday Covington dinner. They didn't host one every Sunday, but Colby's mama, Vicki, liked to get her family together fairly often. Being invited had felt strange in the beginning. Vince had no experience with a large family, especially one as close as the Covingtons. His parents had died when he was young, and Vince had gone to live with an aunt and uncle who'd never wanted kids. They weren't bad people. They'd raised him, and he'd never wanted for anything, but they weren't emotionally close. He hated putting it that way because he did know they loved him, but his relationship with them wasn't what it had been with his parents. Not a day went by that Vince didn't miss his mama and dad.

The Covingtons invited all their kids' partners and friends into their home, though. Even before they knew Roe and Holden were together, they'd done it with Holden, and now that Vince and Colby were so close, they did it with Vince too.

"I have it on the schedule, dear," Vince teased, putting the sausage in the pan.

"Are you going to make the yolks hard the way I like them?" Colby asked, making Vince cock a brow again.

"Remind me how I'm the spoiled one in this friendship?" The thing was, he had, in fact, planned to make the yolks hard the way he knew Colby liked. They'd learned a lot about each other, and most times, Vince could read Colby or would know what Colby wanted without him having to say a damn thing.

"We wouldn't be in this situation if you didn't hide my cereal." Colby stood and walked over to him. "I'll help. What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing, brat. Just sit here and talk to me."

Colby lifted himself onto the granite island in the middle of the room. It was a nice kitchen. Vince liked cooking. Even though Colby didn't do it much, he had a great setup. "I'll do the dishes."

"Just how I like it," Vince teased. "As far as plans for the day…how about we start working on that area where you want to put trees in?" Colby didn't have as much land as the farm, or even as much as Roe, but he had three acres, as well as a large shop he liked to hang out in. He kept mentioning things he should do to the house or his property but never actually started the projects. Vince figured that was likely because he did so much of that kind of work at Covington Acres. Colby was always helping others, or working on his family farm, but didn't take time to do much for himself. Vince had taken it upon himself to push Colby along in that regard.

"You can't want to do that on your day off," Colby answered.

He wouldn't mind a bit. He'd actually enjoy it. He was a natural when it came to plants. "Oh, I can't? How do you know?" He reached for the drawer with the spatulas, which happened to be between Colby's legs. The man spread them for him while Vince got one out of the drawer. Colby was an incredibly attractive man—brown hair that constantly needed a cut, messy and sexy, deep-set blue eyes, strong jawline and plump lips—but Vince never let his gaze linger. While the flirting had become a part of who they were as friends, Vince made sure to never cross a line with Colby. He respected the man and who he said he was. Plus, he meant too much to Vince to risk fucking up their friendship.

"Well, maybe I don't want to do that on my day off."

"Then we won't, but I can't help noticing how often you don't do anything for yourself. If you want trees in your yard, babe, then plant them. If you want pink flamingos in your yard, put those in too." Vince couldn't remember when he'd started calling Colby babe. It's what he used to call Holden when they were together, but Holden was now engaged to Roe, and Vince still used the moniker with him. At some point, he'd started using it with Colby too, likely because Colby and Holden were the two people closest to him. It wasn't romantic, just friendly.

"Uh-oh. You brought out the babe. You mean business," Colby teased while Vince cooked.

"Babe is serious?"

"Yep. You say dear when you're being playful about being roommates and babe when you're telling me to get my shit together."

Vince laughed. "Pink flamingos are serious business."

"What about green flamingos?" Colby countered. "I mean, why do we have to be realistic?"

"I'll find you green flamingos if you want. I bet Clint could make them." Clint owned Clint Custom Steel and made unique designs.

"I don't need green flamingos."

"Who said anything about need? You want them, I'll get them."

Colby glanced away, his cheeks turning that pretty shade of pink again. It was fun making Colby blush because he figured every time Colby did, it was when Vince made him feel good about himself, something Vince enjoyed immensely.

"Smells good." Colby changed the subject.

"It'll be good. You're so lucky to have me as a roommate."

He meant it jokingly, but Colby's voice was sober when he replied, "I know I am."

Warmth flooded Vince's chest. Strange how much he liked to make Colby feel good, but the thing was, Colby often did the same for him without even trying. It was little things like what he'd just said, little things Vince wasn't sure should matter but did.

"You better." Grease popped from the pan, splashing onto his stomach. "Ouch. Fuck."

Colby immediately jumped from the counter and pulled Vince away from the stove. He bent and looked at Vince's belly as if searching for a mortal wound. "You shouldn't be doing this without a shirt on. I should have thought of that."

That made Vince frown. "Why should it be your responsibility to think about it? I'm the idiot cooking half-naked."

Colby didn't answer, instead tracing a circle around the minor burn. "I'll get you something for that." Colby stood and tried to walk away, but Vince wrapped a hand around his wrist, stopping him.

"I'm a big boy, babe."

Colby bristled. "I know."

"And I'm fine."

Vince couldn't read the look on his face. He didn't answer right away but eventually said, "You're right. I don't know what's going on with me."

Vince let him go, but he felt strange, like he'd done the wrong thing, though he couldn't say how. "How about you get me a T-shirt? I might not be dying, but I wouldn't want to hurt this pretty torso again."

Colby grinned and rolled his eyes, but Vince could tell he'd pleased him. He wasn't sure what that was about, but then, Colby was a nice guy. He was a caretaker, much like many of the men he'd met in Briar County. He might've felt it was his fault.

"I'll be right back."

He went and grabbed one of his own tees, probably not wanting to go into Vince's room without him. Vince put it on. He finished cooking, and they sat down and ate together.

Afterward Colby did dishes, while Vince sat on the couch with his phone and browsed a hookup app. It was slim pickings in the area, but there were queer men around who weren't part of his friend group and in committed relationships. There was one guy in Chelsea he'd met at the gay bar there. They'd hooked up a few times over the last year, neither of them looking for anything serious and just wanting to have fun.

Vince messaged with a couple of men, and when Colby was done with the dishes, he came over and sat beside him.

"What ya doing?" Colby asked.

"Talking to some guys. Might try and meet up with someone at some point." It had been months since Vince had sex with anyone other than his hand. He'd never gone this long without in Atlanta, and while he was fine with it, sometimes he missed the attention…the feeling of being touched and touching someone else.

"Are you not going to dinner with me?"

"I'm going. I'd do this after, or hell, maybe later in the week."

He had his phone in his hand, holding it upright, when a dick pic came through.

"Holy shit." Colby averted his gaze.

"Fuck. Sorry." He closed the app.

"People just send you random photos? You hear about that stuff, but I've never experienced it."

"Yes, but that wasn't random. We'd talked, and we both know what the other is looking for. You've never sent someone a photo of your cock?"

Colby gave a humorless laugh. "Nah, none of the women I've dated here would have been into that kind of thing."

Vince didn't answer right away. He wondered about Colby's sexuality sometimes. The man said he was straight, and Vince believed him. It wasn't his place to question how someone identified. He knew Colby had dated numerous women over the years, but none since Vince had known him. The thing was, Colby hadn't even talked to a woman he was interested in. He hadn't gone on a date or even hooked up. There was a chance he'd done one of those things without telling Vince, though as close as they were, and with as much time as they spent together, it would have been a hard secret for Colby to keep from him—and no reason for it.

He wondered if maybe Colby was asexual. Vince wasn't sure if that was something he should ask. Not having sex in a year wouldn't necessarily mean he was asexual, but Vince had seen women show interest in Colby, and he had yet to see Colby return it. Colby's parents and his brother Dennis often mentioned the fact that Colby hadn't settled down yet, and Colby always changed the subject. Adding to it that Colby never dated or hooked up, and Vince couldn't help but be curious.

"What?" Colby asked. "You're looking at me funny."

"What about you?"

Colby's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "What about me…are you asking to hook up with me?"

Vince laughed. "Oh shit. I didn't realize it sounded like that. No, that's not what I meant."

Colby bristled. "I didn't know having sex with me was so funny. I'm good in bed, thank you very much."

Seeing Colby defend himself that way made Vince laugh harder.

"Fuck off," Colby said, but there was a hidden chuckle in his voice. He tried to stand, but like he'd done earlier in the kitchen, Vince grabbed his wrist.

"Babe…I would rock your fucking world and love it. I have no doubt you're a good fuck, but as far as I can see, you're straight…and my friend…and my roommate." No-strings-attached sex didn't bother Vince. He'd had a lot of it, but again, he had questions about Colby.

"I'm an idiot." Colby dropped his head against the back of the couch. "I have no idea why I said that."

"Eh. I say confusing shit all the time." He threaded his fingers through Colby's, holding his hand while they sat on the couch. His friend stiffened for a moment, but then Vince felt the tension release from his body. "You know I'm always here if you need to talk, right? I think you have a lot going on in that pretty head of yours that you don't let out."

"I'm fine," Colby replied. "I'm going to take a shower, and then we'll figure out what we're going to do before dinner…unless you make other plans, of course. That's fine too."

"I'm not going to make other plans," Vince told him, then watched as Colby got up and walked away.