AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Kellen. The possible Halloween party date. One of the few men Dom regularly texted that felt like a threat, even when Dom wasn’t actively speaking to him. Shiloh had met him exactly once, and that was enough.
He was tall, good looking enough to be some Instagram model, and humble enough not to realize it. He was nice, and he seemed genuinely pleased to have met Shiloh, which made the whole thing worse.
“I know him,” Shiloh forced himself to say after far too long a silence. He could feel the weight of Dom’s stare and prayed he wasn’t going to have to explain himself.
“Apparently, he’s been watching a lot of some show calledChopped, and they did an entire episode on chili. He got obsessed with trying it—the proper American version—so he asked me if I could work on a cornbread recipe.”
Shiloh nodded, the bite of tofu in his mouth tasting suddenly like ash. He swallowed it and reached for his cup of water, trying not to choke on it. “So, erm, so you two have been talking a lot, then?”
“Just since Sarah meddled and asked him to the Halloween party for me,” Dom said, his voice quiet and tense. “He’s quite nice, you know.”
“Yeah,” Shiloh said softly. “I know.”
Another silence settled between them, then Dom put his chopsticks down with a soft clink, and though Shiloh wasn’t looking at him, he felt Dom turn to face him. “Have I done something wrong?”
Shiloh quickly shook his head. “Of course not. What could you have possibly done wrong?”
“I don’t know. You’ve been acting odd since you got back from London, and I’m starting to think there’s something you haven’t told me.”
Shiloh looked up at him, irritation racing through his veins. It wasn’t really at Dom, even if it was because of him. But the one person he wanted to pour his heart out to was the one person he couldn’t tell the truth, and it was starting to wear him down.
“Not everything is a conspiracy, you know,” he muttered.
Dom pulled back slightly. “I didn’t say it was, but I also know I’m not wrong. You’ve been quiet and distant. Even Sarah said…”
“All Sarah does is gossip because her life is boring and unfulfilling,” Shiloh snapped, knowing he was being cruel. But he couldn’t seem to stop himself. “The biggest highlight of her week is setting you up with some accountant or whatever the fuck Kellen does, then patting herself on the back for something that you’ve already done.”
“I’ve already done?” Dom asked very softly.
Shiloh scoffed. “Don’t act like you haven’t run through almost every available man in Benld.” Except me.
It was the wrong thing to say. He knew it immediately. Regretted it immediately. His heart ached, and an apology danced on the edge of his tongue, but he didn’t get the chance to say it. Dom shoved the tray back and scooted to the edge of the bed.
“I don’t know what any of us have done to deserve that,” he said softly, his voice trembling with either rage or hurt. Or both. “I love you, but I’m not going to sit here while you call me the village whore and Sarah the village idiot. Call me when you’ve got that stick dislodged from your arse, yeah?”
Then he was up and out the door, and Shiloh was holding all the pieces of his heart that he himself had shattered.
But no. Fuck that.
He jumped up from the bed so quickly, he upended the barely touched dinner. His feet tapped along the floors as he shot through the house, and he stumbled through the front door and into the garden in time to see Dom reach the edge of the road that led to his place.
“Wait!”
“I’m not in the mood right now,” Dom called back.
“I know, but…but I love you. And I’m really sorry.” Maybe that was dirty pool because he knew Dom could never resist him when he confessed his love, but he couldn’t let him walk away.
Dom froze, and from what little Shiloh could see, he was pretty sure he had his head bowed. “Shiloh…”
“I know,” he begged. “I know. I’m the worst arsehole that ever walked the earth, and you’re right. Something is wrong. I just…” Was he honestly going to tell him? Was he finally going to crack? “It’s humiliating.”
Dom slowly turned, crossing the distance between them until he had Shiloh’s face cradled between his hands. “Nothing you say, do, want, need, or fantasize about should ever make you feel humiliated.”
Shiloh’s eyes burned. His life felt both chaotic and mundane all at the same time. He was a teacher, and he lived down the road from his best friend, and that was enough. Yet the quiet part of him wanted to put on lipstick and feel the tug of silk panties bunched up and wrenched to the side as that very best friend fucked him into oblivion while telling him how pretty he was.
And he knew only one of those scenarios was attainable.
But he also knew if he confessed the dark parts of himself, Dom would crack open the earth to give it to him, even if it meant sacrificing his own idea of the perfect future.
