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“Do you think they’re still together?”
At that, Caleb laughed. “No. He doesn’t seem the type.” He turned away from Bodhi and began to carefully stack their food between plates, making something like a to-go carrier with all of them. It was very clever, and it made Bodhi smile in spite of everything going on.
Bodhi stood slightly awkwardly until Caleb motioned for him to follow, and they made their way to the side street where Caleb had parked his car. Bodhi felt a huge wave of relief knowing they wouldn’t have to walk back, and he settled in the passenger seat with his head resting against the window.
Caleb got in shortly after, and Bodhi let out a soft, happy hum when warm fingers brushed along his cheek. He forced one eye open to look at Caleb who was waiting patiently for his attention.
“My place?”
“Yes,” Bodhi said. Propriety should have had him asking if it was okay—if he really didn’t mind—if he was really sure.
But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He just wanted to be with Caleb. To be cradled in tenderness for a short while as he reset and found his center again. He closed his eyes once more to the feeling of Caleb brushing a few strands of hair away from his face, and then the gentle motions of the car lulled him into an easy doze.
Chapter14
Checkinghis phone for the twelfth time, he ignored the pointed look from his brother, who had just gotten the entire story. Wren was lounging back in the swivel chair with his feet up on the desk, and Caleb had a brief moment of jealousy at how easy Wren lived. Yes, he had trauma from their parents, and even trauma from when Caleb was angry and bitter and taking things out on him.
But things seemed to roll off Wren’s back in ways Caleb couldn’t even fathom.
What would it be like to be so…so…
God, he didn’t even know the word for it.
The feeling didn’t last, though. He was too consumed with worry for both Bodhi, who was still dozing on the couch waiting for Ravi to get back from urgent care, and for Ravi himself who was beat to hell. Peyton had already sent him an update text saying there was no real damage, but the urgent care doctor had pressured Ravi to report the incident and Ravi had dissolved into a panic attack.
It was one more thing that had slipped past Caleb. Ravi was such a relaxed guy—so different from Bodhi in every way—Caleb had forgotten they’d both grown up in that house with those monsters masquerading as people.
Caleb blinked when he realized Wren was waving a hand at him, and he jerked his chin up in a single nod.
“Do you want me to offer Ravi my spare room?”
Caleb bit his lip. He didn’t want either of the twins going back to the dorm building because he didn’t trust their grandparents would give up that easily. He knew far too many narcissistic people like them: driven by pride and spite, and an inherent need to claim what they believed was theirs.
And Caleb was done letting the people he cared about get hurt.
“Let me ask when I get home,” Caleb said. “You don’t mind a house guest?”
Wren rolled his eyes. “No. I tolerated you and your moping for two weeks. Besides, I like him.”
Caleb knew better than to read too much into that last statement. Wren wasn’t the relationship type, but he also wasn’t the kind of guy who’d lead someone on, either. He was flirty, but he always knew where the line was, and for as long as Caleb could remember, he’d never crossed it. The only time anyone ever got hurt by Wren was when they refused to believe he was telling the truth when he said he didn’t want something serious.
In all honesty, whatever happened after this wasn’t his business, and Ravi was a grown adult capable of making his own decisions.
And frankly, Caleb was busy being consumed with the ethical crisis he was feeling between him and Bodhi as the younger man’s boss and as someone much older than him. Bodhi was most certainly old enough to know what he wanted, and Caleb wasn’t going to lean back into asshole mode and make Bodhi feel like he was incapable of knowing, but he was well aware he had to be careful.
If things went the way he hoped, he would be Bodhi’s first…nearly everything.
And God help him, but he wanted to be Bodhi’s last.
Which was wildly too soon to be thinking like that, but Caleb had never been able to silence the annoying voice living in his head that wouldn’t let him live in denial.
The most he’d been able to ignore it was with Cameron, and now it was doing an I-told-you-so dance in the shadows.
“You okay?” Wren asked after a beat.
Caleb let out a sigh and rubbed a hand down his face before he answered. “Yes. It was just a long night.” He hadn’t left out the part about picking Bodhi up from the bar, but he had omitted the detail about all the kissing and touching, and being able to hold Bodhi as they fell asleep.
Which meant he couldn’t tell Wren what it felt like to wake up without him.
