Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

Mason wasn’t expecting Isaac to ask him to watch the stars. Although he intended to refuse, he changed his mind when he noticed something in the other man's eyes. He wasn’t sure if having Isaac back was worse than him being gone or not. He wanted to talk, but he had no idea what to say. Words had never been his strong suit. That was Isaac’s thing.

“Hey Isaac, can we talk?” he finally broke the silence. When he didn’t get a response, he looked over to see the man sound asleep, Bushhog resting on his chest. Mason smiled to himself. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, snapping a quick picture.

“Isaac, get up.” He nudged his shoulder. Isaac grumbled something incoherent, but he sat up. Mason helped a half-asleep Isaac onto his horse. He was thankful that Blaze was such a laid-back horse. He got Isaac settled, watching as he laid down as if he were a child again.

Mason hopped up onto Big Enough. He took Blaze’s lead in one hand, holding Big Enough’s reins in the other. He slowly began leading them back home, occasionally glancing over his shoulder to ensure that Isaac hadn’t fallen off like an idiot.

“Isaac, get off the damn horse.” Did he have to be such a pain in the ass when he was sleepy? Mason had already gotten the horses settled. He needed Isaac to get off Blaze so he could lock the stable. Isaac whined, and Mason groaned in frustration.

After going back and forth, Mason ended up with Isaac in his arms. As he walked up the hill, he adjusted the sleeping man in his hold. He needed to talk to him in the morning. He couldn’t take it anymore. Isaac most likely didn’t harbor the same feelings for Mason as he did in high school, but Mason needed to tell Isaac that he did . Isaac had left before Mason had the chance to respond that night.

He used his spare key to get into Isaac’s house. Mason carried him up the stairs and to his room. Isaac stirred a bit as he was put on his bed, but he thankfully didn’t wake. He took off Isaac’s boots, setting them neatly by his door. He pulled the blankets over him and ruffled his hair before leaving.

The following day, Mason found Isaac in a tree. It was a bit strange, but he had found Isaac in weirder places before. He didn’t know what he was going to say, but he needed to say it.

“Isaac,” he called. Isaac waved at him.

“Mason, hey.” He seemed a little confused, probably because Mason had been an asshole to him up until last night.

“I want to talk to you.” Mason watched the smile disappear from Isaac’s face. He reached up, grabbing the nearest branch. Isaac wasn’t far up at all, so Mason sat on the branch closest to him.

“What do you want to talk about?” Isaac seemed nervous. Mason took a moment to look at him fully. His hair was a little longer. His freckles were darker, and he didn’t have such a baby face anymore. Isaac had grown up. They both had.

“I hated you.”

“Huh?”

Okay, that wasn’t the right way to start that at all .

“No! I mean, I … uh,” he sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I hated you for leaving. The moment you first brought up wanting to leave, I was so hurt because I thought we were on the same page about living our lives here. Together on the farm.” He looked up at Isaac, watching his face contort in confusion.

“I don’t understand. You hated me for leaving? Why?”

“I just told you why,” Mason huffed.

“No, why did it matter to you so much whether I left? And what do you mean ‘our lives together’?”

“When we were kids, you said we would build a house on the land and live there together forever.”

“You’re holding me to something I said when I was five?” Isaac started to sound angry, and Mason cursed himself for not knowing how to fucking talk.

“No. No, I’m not—look, what I’m trying to say is that I didn’t want you to leave because I wanted to spend my life with you here. I hated you for leaving, and it took me a while to realize that it wasn’t you I hated. I hated the fact that you could walk away from me so easily while I was still caught up on you.”

Isaac gawked at him. That reaction was fair.

“The night before you left, when you told me how you felt, you never gave me the chance to respond,” he continued. “You never let me tell you that there was something different about me, too, because no matter what girl I went out with, I still wished she was you instead.”

“You’re kidding,” Isaac whispered.

“No, I’m dead serious. Isaac, I love you, and I think I’ve loved you all my life. Loving you came so easy to me that I didn’t even realize it was love until you left. This is going to sound really cheesy, but I couldn’t breathe without you . It felt like you took a part of me with you when you left. I tried to push it down. I tried to move past it, but every damn day I thought of you. You never visited, and I felt like I was dying. Then you came back, and that suffocating feeling returned.”

“You let me spend the last five years thinking you hated me?” Isaac finally snapped.

“What? Why did you think I hated you?”

“You never called once. I got hundreds of calls from Mama, but not even one from you. You have been so cold to me up until yesterday. I thought I ruined things between us, but now you’re going to sit here and tell me you’ve loved me all your life?”

“Yes.” He had loved Isaac for as long as he could remember. There was never going to be anyone else. It was always going to be Isaac. “Do you still feel that way about me?” If Isaac had moved on, Mason didn’t want to think about it.

“Yes, asshole!”

Mason wasn’t sure which was more shocking, that Isaac loved him back, or the fact that he had cussed. Mason jumped down from his branch.

“Get down here,” he ordered.

“Why?” Isaac asked, but jumped down anyway.

“Because I’m not going to fall out of a tree trying to kiss you.” The moment Isaac’s feet touched the ground, Mason yanked him into a kiss. Isaac froze in shock, but after a second, his hands grabbed Mason’s shoulders, and he kissed him with equal fervor.

He dug his fingers into Isaac’s hips, pushing him back against the tree. He didn’t want to pull back, but his lungs screamed for air.

“Mason,” Isaac panted. Mason’s eyes widened. He had never heard his name spoken like that before. He grabbed Isaac’s wrist, dragging him toward the house.

“Where are we going?” Isaac laughed.

“Bedroom.”

“I live with my mom!” Isaac seemed to laugh harder. Mason froze. Shit.

“You pervert,” Isaac teased him, lightly shoving his shoulder. “C’mon, we should ride down the trail.”

“I’ll go anywhere with you,” he said seriously, grabbing Isaac’s arm and looking him in the eyes.

The End.