Chapter 28

Shawn

T hings settled down after breakfast. Joe helped me to clean up the mess in the kitchen, and I felt ten times lighter than I had when I’d first come out of the room. I no longer feared Daniel was a flight risk, but it still made me feel uneasy when he went to take a shower without me.

Only a few days together and I wanted never to leave his side. What the fuck ever. He didn’t need me hovering, especially if the jackass I’d spoken to on the phone yesterday did that to him. Daniel deserved more than that. While Joe knew about what was going on to an extent, I didn’t want to push too hard and too fast. There was also the added bonus that we had no clue when everyone else was going to show up. Joe had tried to text Aiden, but he hadn’t responded. There were plenty of areas the closer you got to the cabin that didn’t have great signal, so I wasn’t confident I could squeeze in a shower with Daniel before everyone arrived.

I took my shower alone, but it didn’t feel the same. The banter and fun we’d had the last time played on repeat in my mind, making my dick perk up and take notice. Poor guy was just going to have to deal with it because I wasn’t about to jerk off and make Daniel deal with Joe alone. While Joe agreed to leave Daniel alone, I couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t tease Daniel when I wasn’t around. I wasn’t sure how he’d handle it.

When I walked back into the living room, Daniel had tucked himself into the side of the couch, scrolling on his phone. For the most part, it seemed like Joe wasn’t bothering him, but there was no telling how long that would last.

It wasn’t long before Nathan, Chase, and Aiden came through the front door. Chase held up two bottles of champagne and Aiden immediately reached for one, trying to rip the foil off.

“Easy, kid. This stuff is better when it’s cold.” Nathan snatched it from him and put it in the fridge with the other bottle.

“What’re the drinks for?”

Everyone stared at me like I had two heads. Sure, we’d been stuck out here for a few days…

“Not only were we supposed to celebrate this one turning nineteen...” Chase led, looping his arm around Aiden’s neck and dragging him into his side, “But it’s fucking New Year’s Eve. Did you lose all touch with reality?”

Daniel snorted from the couch.

“Nah, just lost himself in moody boy’s ass.”

Everyone went dead silent. So much for Joe not saying anything. Then again, I should have known better not to trust him with that. The gossip was just too juicy.

“Daniel?” Chase asked, his voice hitched with an edge of concern.

Daniel sat up, phone still clutched in his hands as he looked around the room. His face reddened, but then he rolled his shoulders back before he shrugged. “We were bored. What the fuck else were we supposed to do? Make snow angels?”

Chase shoulder-checked me as he passed by. He never seemed hostile toward me, but maybe it was the fact that I was messing with his friend? Who the hell knew? But he grabbed Daniel’s shoulder and hauled him from the couch and into the other room.

Great. Just fucking great. I hadn’t intended to piss anyone off. What did it matter? Whatever the hell was going on between me and Daniel was no one else’s business. I flipped Joe off and marched down the hall, following after Daniel and Chase.

“Would you calm the fuck down?”

“You’re kidding me, right? You hate him.”

“Maybe hate isn’t the right word.”

My heart slammed against my ribcage. Was it fucked up to stand there in the hall and listen to them? Probably. The part of me that needed to know what Daniel really thought won out, and I stood rooted to my spot to keep listening.

“You know I’m always going to have your back, but after everything that happened this past summer...”

“Fuck, Chase. I get it. But maybe that’s why I need this. He knows some of it. Most of it at this point. It’s not like we had a lot to do the last few days but learn how to actually get along, but I really think he’s different. When I told him...”

I held my breath, waiting for him to continue. Had I done everything right? I’d been supportive when he’d told me about how Art had made fun of him. I’d never dream of doing something like that to anyone. The fact someone had hurt him made me want to punch their face in. Then this ass had the audacity to try to lay claim on him. As if. Daniel Morgan was fucking mine.

“I don’t know, Chase. He—he makes it all seem so easy. Like it’s not that big of a deal. This isn’t like before at all.”

It was silent for a few moments. Curiosity was killing me, and I took a peek through the crack in the door. Daniel sat on the edge of the bed while Chase paced back and forth in front of him. Chase had his hands threaded through his blond hair as he shook his head. “I just—I just wish you had told me about all of that sooner. If I had known he was fucking with you like that...”

“Then what? You would have told him to fuck off? Chase, we were all dependent on each other. As fucked up as it was, it’s not like there were that many people our age out there. Unless we hooked up with the occasional tourist...”

Chase sat on the bed next to him and grabbed his hand. “No. I get it. It’s not like I was any better. I hid it for a while myself, not that I was any good at it. You all figured me out too quickly.”

Daniel laughed. “Not hard to figure out when we catch you behind Bennett’s with some dude fucking your face.”

At that point, I’d probably heard too much. Daniel wasn’t mad. He was defending me and something bloomed in my chest. Hope, maybe. That this would be okay and once we left this damn cabin, we wouldn’t just go back to fighting all the fucking time.

By the time I made it back to the living room, Andrew and Brandon had shown up. They’d brought more booze, and I groaned, thinking about the hangover we were all about to endure tomorrow. This whole trip had been about celebrating and the original plan had been to not be sober for most of it. To think I’d spent most of it drunk on arousal more than anything…

“Where were you?” Joe asked. He looked me up and down, suspicious and assessing. Good lord. There wasn’t anything we could get past him. For a guy that seemed like he didn’t give two fucks about the world, he was extremely observant.

“Had to piss,” I lied as I plopped on the couch between Nathan and our ‘birthday boy.’

The look Joe tossed my way said that he wasn’t buying whatever the hell I was selling. Not that I could fucking blame him. I was never any good at hiding the truth. Even when I’d been teasing Daniel all that time, it had been because I liked him so much. I only teased him, trying to get him to like me in return, go figure now that I knew about his history that was the worst call I could have possibly made.

Aiden clambered from the couch and walked into the kitchen. He tossed open the fridge and pulled out a bottle of beer. The poor kid seemed more than a little eager to celebrate.

“Are we all going to sit around, or did we forget why this trip was planned to begin with?”

Nathan stood and approached his brother. He yanked the bottle from his hand before opening it and handing it back to him. “Would you take it easy?”

Aiden laughed, tipped the bottle back, and took a big swallow. He smacked his lips when he pulled the drink away before grinning at his brother. “What’s the fun in taking it easy? Right, Joe?”

Nathan’s eyes widened as he turned to his friend. Joe held up his hands in surrender. “Leave me out of this. I swear to God.”

When Nathan wandered back to the living room mumbling about his friends corrupting his little brother too much, I wanted to laugh. We’d planned this with his blessing. He could have said no.