24. Damon

CHAPTER 24

DAMON

It would have been nicer to have the pleasure of waking up with both his men when one of them wasn't grumpy and the other one wasn't worried about the grumpy one. Damon wasn't sure how much of Taylor's early morning surly attitude was because of the night before or because only crazy people woke up happy at five in the morning.

Damon followed Taylor out of bed, leaving Nash to sleep. While Taylor showered, Damon made him a cup of coffee and a couple slices of toast with cinnamon sugar. Taylor came out a few minutes later and grunted what was probably a thank you before taking the coffee and ignoring the toast.

Undeterred, Damon nudged the plate closer to him. "How'd you sleep?" He watched Taylor close his eyes and take a sip of his coffee.

"Not bad, all things considered." He caught Damon's eye. "You snore."

Damon put a hand to his chest and pretended to be offended. "Me? Snore?"

"Like a chainsaw."

"If you nudge me, I stop. Nash can show you all the tricks he's developed."

"He's a cover hog."

"Ah, that can't be helped. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and he's cocooned himself in the blanket and I'm lying there shivering. With you on my side, though, it can be two against one. He doesn't stand a chance." Damon nudged the plate of toast again and Taylor scowled at it, then at Damon.

"I'm fine."

"You should eat something."

Taylor slid the plate toward Damon with a frown. "I don't eat first thing in the morning."

"You missed dinner. Oh, your dad sent a cake. I can cut you a piece of that if you want."

Taylor looked like he was going to be sick. "Cake? For breakfast? Immediate no. I work with food, Damon. When I'm hungry, I'll eat something."

Damon knew the toast was now a losing battle so he grabbed a piece and started eating it. "And you're okay to work today?" Damon watched Taylor bristle at his question.

"Why wouldn't I be? I got mad, Damon. It's not the end of the world." Taylor bypassed Damon on his way into the kitchen. Damon looked on as Taylor dumped the rest of his coffee down the sink.

"I need to get to work." Taylor patted his pockets for his keys, pulling them out with a little more force than necessary.

"I'll come with you." Damon pushed away from the counter he'd been leaning against.

"Why?" Taylor shot at him. "I don't need a babysitter."

"No. I know you don't. I thought that you might like having someone there to support you. I can throw Colby out if he comes to bother you."

"I don't need you to handle my brother for me."

Damon stopped and put his hands up like he was surrendering. "I know, I just?—"

"You wanted to involve yourself in my shit like Colby wants to involve himself in my shit. I don't need an escort to work. I don't need cinnamon toast, and I don't need you to fight my battles for me." Taylor walked to the front door, and Damon followed like a lost and very confused puppy.

He watched Taylor angrily stuff his feet into his shoes before standing up straight and looking at Damon. "I'll say that I appreciated last night, you two coming clean to everyone about what's been going on was for the best, but I am tired of people knowing my every move. I'm tired of Colby sticking his face into my life. I need you to not act like him, okay? I need you to let me go to work and whatever happens, happens. If he shows up, I'll deal with it. He's my brother. The worst that's going to happen is that he'll piss me off."

Damon opened his mouth to say literally anything that wouldn't be stupid. The options were plentiful. He could apologize and tell Taylor he was sorry for being too eager to do too much and that he'd let him handle his own stuff. He could tell Taylor that he was sorry if he made him feel like he couldn't handle his own life.

What he said was, "Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" He winced at his own idiotic words. They were the words of an insecure child. Someone who desperately wanted to help. A little too desperately.

"This isn't about you, Damon. I get that you're trying to be helpful, but I seriously just explained to you why I don't want it. And why I don't need it. No one fucking listens to me, and I'm sick of it."

Damon watched the door open and then close, Taylor disappearing through it without so much as a goodbye or an I'll call you later. Damon leaned against the wall and stared at the empty space where Taylor had just been. He knew Taylor wouldn't be turning around to come back and make amends. He didn't have anything to be sorry for. It was Damon and all his pushing.

After staring at the door for several minutes, Damon dragged himself into the kitchen and tidied up. He berated himself while he washed the mugs and dumped the rest of the toast into the trash. Had Taylor always been this brusque and independent? Or was this a whole new side of him that Damon was just now becoming privy to? Whatever it was, Damon's only hope was that Taylor let him in, even if he didn't want Damon to help.

Damon didn't have to work for another couple of hours, so he climbed back into bed with Nash. He wasn't about to go back to sleep, but he wanted to be close to Nash after his spat with Taylor that morning.

Nash grumbled a little when Damon tugged enough covers away from him so he could cover up.

"Taylor leave?" Nash asked.

"Yeah." Damon sighed into the darkness. Usually, Damon liked the quiet mornings with Nash. They'd wake up and spend some time together in the early hours, talking and kissing. This morning could have been like that, or at least a version of it, but instead Damon had managed to fuck it up.

"How was he?"

"Pissed off. I didn't help matters any."

Nash wriggled closer and snuggled into Damon's side. "It'll be fine. He's not used to fighting with Colby, that's all. Once he settles things with him, everything will smooth out."

"I just wanted to help." Damon heard the pout in his voice, but was unable to hide it from Nash. Not that he could ever hide anything from him.

"And you went all Mother Damon on him?"

"I made him cinnamon toast." Damon felt stupid saying it and even stupider feeling sad that Taylor hadn't appreciated the gesture.

Cinnamon toast was something his grandparents made for him when he'd stay over. He'd wake up in the morning and his grandpa would let him have a cup of coffee, which was more milk and sugar than it was anything else. His grandma would make him cinnamon toast and they'd talk to him like he wasn't a kid at all, but a fully grown person. Growing up, he was closer to his grandparents than he was to anyone else in his family.

"It'll be fine, babe." Nash kissed his shoulder. "In the meantime, we can look at apartments."

"Or maybe a townhouse? Something with a small yard?"

This wasn't the first time the brothers were mad at each other and it wouldn't be the last. They would make up, of course, but it left Damon wondering whether they should get something with a small yard so they could have a space away from Taylor's family when they needed one.

"We can keep our options open." Nash didn't argue with him. "He's not going to stay mad forever."

Damon let out a breath and it felt like his chest was caving in on itself. "I know. I just wish I hadn't been so smothering."

"You were fine. It's a new relationship and it's a new kind of upheaval for him. He's used to being the one protected by Colby, not the one in the line of fire."

"You think they'll make up?"

Nash made an affirming sound. "I do. Maybe not today, but it won't take too long."

"It's already taken too long," Damon complained.

"Oh, sweetheart," Nash cooed, rearranging them so that Damon was the one being held by Nash. "Taylor is fine, and so are you. And the two of you are fine. There's no need for crisis mode, but if you feel you need to reach out, why don't you text him?"

"I'll just make it worse."

"No, you won't. You can tell him that you're sorry if you pushed and that you respect his need to work through this on his own, and then you can remind him that you and I will always be here for him."

"And that won't make it worse?" Damon was skeptical. It seemed that no matter what he said this morning, it had been the wrong thing.

"It will be fine. Get your phone out."

Damon sighed, but did as he was told. He tapped out a text message that said pretty much what Nash had told him to say, word for word. He let Nash read it over before he pressed send. He didn't expect a reply back at all that day. He figured that Taylor would go to work and be too busy to answer him, but after a few minutes, a text came through.

Sorry for my bad mood. I didn't mean to take it out on you. Cake tonight? xo Taylor

"There, see? He's not mad." Nash chuckled. "At least not mad at you. He's probably still fuming about Colby, but that's Colby's problem to sort out. Not ours."

"Why is this such a mess?" Damon groaned and to his horror, Nash chuckled again. "Are you laughing at me?"

"No. Well, yes, but it's not for the reason you think. I was just struck by how weird and wonderful our life is right now. Everyone knows about us. We share a boyfriend, whom everyone now knows about. And nothing has fallen from the sky to strike me dead. I've not been smote by the almighty or anything."

"If something came for you, they'd have to get through me." Taylor might not want his protection or his interference but that didn't mean that Damon had to stop caring. That's not even what Taylor asked of him. Though, in the moment, it had felt like it.

He'd just wanted to be left alone to deal with his shit, and Damon could respect that. He looked at the time and was shocked to find that he'd have to get up and get ready for work soon.

"I have half a mind to call in sick," Damon groused, even as he extracted himself from Nash's hold. "What are your plans today?"

Nash stretched. "I'm waiting on the delivery for Taylor's surprise. I have edits to get done, and once that's taken care of, I might go look at that unit upstairs. The building super said he'd be around all day today. I might call Taylor to ask what he wants for dinner tonight."

Damon walked to Nash's side of the bed and stole a kiss. "I need to shower."

Nash stretched out like a starfish and closed his eyes. "I'm going to grab ten more minutes, but I'll have a coffee with you before you go."

"It's a date."