AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Great.
“I brought him a coffee when he left,” Wren said. “We talked for a little bit. He was really mortified about his mistake.”
At that, to Wren’s utter surprise, Caleb softened. “I thought he might be. I don’t think you should have fucked him better…”
Wren spluttered. “That’s not what I did.”
Caleb just stared at him with raised brows.
“I wasn’t trying to make him feel better,” he defended. “I thought he was attractive, so I asked him to have a drink with me. We went to Pipe and Pine, then he invited me back to his hotel room.” Though…Wren might have been the one to do most of the suggesting and seducing. But considering how into it Percy was and how much Caleb didn’t want those details, he left that part out.
“Tell me he’s not going to show up here next week crying because you left him with a broken heart,” Caleb demanded.
Wren’s chest ached. That was so damn unfair. Yeah, he’d made his fair share of mistakes when it came to other people, but it had been years since Wren wasn’t careful with his hookups. He never, ever gave false impressions. And normally, if he got so much of a whiff of someone’s intentions to try and change his mind, he walked away before he touched them.
“He told me he didn’t want a relationship,” Wren signed with an irritated flourish. “Before I could even explain myself, he tried to reject me because he didn’t want me to get attached.”
Caleb gave him a long, hard stare before he asked the one question Wren wasn’t looking forward to answering. “Did you get attached?”
He wanted to say no. God, he wanted to say no. And he had zero regrets about not taking things further or about the way he left. But the truth was more complicated.
“He made me feel differently.”
Caleb softened again and made quiet noises, urging Mouse to get up and drape himself across Wren’s legs. As his pup settled, the weight was instantly comforting, and he gave Mouse a scratch behind his ears.
Caleb was patient, but only for a second before he tapped Wren on his elbow. “Go on.”
Wren sighed. “There isn’t anything else.”
“Liar,” Caleb said.
Wren knocked the back of his head against the wall and closed his eyes for the time he needed to collect his thoughts. “I don’t know what you want me to say. We had sex—and it was really good. I won’t give you details.”
“Thanks,” Caleb shot back with a flat face.
Wren laughed and shook his head. “Last night was just…different. It felt different. I didn’t want to leave.”
At that, Caleb’s face did something complicated, but it was an expression he’d never seen on his brother before. “You’re hurt.”
Wren immediately puffed up his chest in defense, but he deflated it a second later when he realized that, yeah, he was. By his own actions and his own life choices. He’d been so frustrated and confused by his own romantic orientation that he’d kind of set himself up for this level of disaster.
And meeting Percy should have been ideal. It should have been the dream. A pliant, slightly submissive, responsive lover who wanted everything Wren was capable of giving him for a single night.
No strings.
No feelings.
Just a moment.
And now, Wren felt shattered because he’d connected to Percy in a way he never had with anyone. He felt safe with him after knowing him for a handful of hours in the same way he felt with people he’d known for years.
It had to mean something.
Except…well. The universe wasn’t really kind to him. It never had been. So maybe it didn’t have to mean anything at all. Maybe it was just one more senseless thing he had to accept and live with.
He turned his gaze back to his brother. “I don’t regret what we did. He was nice. And I really like him.”
“But?”
