Page 8 of Stay A Little Longer
Trent held his breath. Rather, he couldn’t seem to suck in any new air. Not at the sight of that gun. A gun that this man could have used to kill him at any moment. A flip of the safety and a squeeze of a trigger, it was too easy, too dangerous. His head told him to get on his feet and run. Get the hell out of here. Get out of this trailer. But his legs wouldn’t work and he was frozen to his spot on the bed.
All he could do was watch as the mirrored closet door slid open and Lance squatted down. He couldn’t even appreciate the way those dark boxers clung to his ass in that position. Trent was too focused on the gun in the other man’s hand.
Lance punched some numbers into what appeared to be a safe. The beeps were loud in the otherwise quiet trailer. The door swung open and the black and silver weapon disappeared inside. When it swung back shut, hiding the gun from his view, Trent managed to release the air that had been caught in his lungs.
“There. It’s gone. Locked up.” Lance pushed back to his feet and came towards him slowly, “Is that better?”
Trent nodded dumbly.
The gun was gone. Lance had locked it up. Put it away. Out of sight. Out of mind. And he’d done it to reassure Trent, to make him feel better. He stared at the handsome stranger, more confused than ever as to why he hadn’t been kicked out yet, why he wasn’t getting his face rearranged.
“Good.” Lance dropped down in front of him so they were at eye level, “You okay? Take a deep breath for me.”
Trent sucked in a deep breath on command and when he let it out, the words that he’d barely said a handful of times in his life fell out all over again, “I’m gay.”
For some reason, it seemed really important to him that Lance know that. Here and now. If he hadn’t heard him earlier, that was one thing but he didn’t want the guy to think he’d purposefully kept him in the dark. That could only lead to worse things and…
“Yeah. I heard you the first time.” Lance ran a hand through his short hair as he shot a sheepish smile at Trent from under his dark lashes, “I uh… I actually heard on...”
“The news.”
“Just gossip they call news.”
“It’s true.” Trent forced himself to raise his chin, “I’m gay. So if you want to hurt me for that, I get it but I won’t go down easy.”
Horror flashed in Lance’s dark eyes, “What?”
“I slept in your bed. I’m a gay man. I’m a gay man in hiding and I came into your home and slept in your bed and…”
“And what the hell does that have to do with hurting you?” Lance cut him off with a growl, “Jesus, that’s why you’re so scared of the gun, isn’t it? You think I’d hurt you just because you’re gay?”
“I… well…”
Lance’s outrage softened when Trent ducked his head, “Shit. Someone threatened you, didn’t they? Someone put a gun on you just because they found out who you really were?”
Trent’s head rose and he stared into an angry pair of dark brown eyes. Not angry at him. Angryforhim. Angry on his behalf. And that pain in his chest lessened just a small bit. How did this stranger do that? Read his mind and figure him out, put the pieces together in a matter of minutes when people that had known him his entire life never had.
Trent nodded.
“Son of a…” Lance cursed under his breath and stared at him for a long moment and then he surprised Trent once again because he moved his hands to cup Trent’s face gently between them and met his eyes, “That’s complete bullshit. I would never, ever threaten you like that or hurt you for being who you are.”
Trent forgot to breathe again. This close he could see that those dark eyes were actually a deep chocolate brown, like he’d suspected. They weren’t just close though. They were touching and the tingle that started where Lance’s hands were on his face, innocently, comfortingly, sent a shiver of awareness skating through Trent’s blood. Their eyes held and tension seeped through the small space between them.
Trent was confused enough by the heat that had seemed to ignite between them out of nothingness that he stumbled over his question, “Wh-why?”
Those dark eyes softened and a thumb brushed over his cheekbone, “God, you really are a mess aren’t you?” Lance sighed heavily, “Because you’re… you. Because I’m like you. Because I’m gay too.”
Lance was… gay. The word was a shock to his system and Trent couldn’t do anything but blink at the other man. He’d never had any decent sort of gaydar. He’d spent too many years hiding himself to pick up on it in someone else. But Lance hadn’t struck him as gay, even when Trent had been checking him out and cataloguing every feature for when he was alone with nothing but his hand.
Was that why his attraction was so strong? Because it wasn’t one-sided at all? Because this man understood him in a way that nobody else could have in this moment?
Trent stared into those intense brown eyes for a moment longer and then he moved. Without thinking it through. Without thinking about the consequences. For once, simply doing what he wanted, taking what he wanted. He dipped his head forward and pressed his mouth against Lance’s without any hesitation whatsoever.
He kissed this beautiful, kind stranger and groaned when Lance kissed him back.
