Page 114 of Say It Again
“No.” He swallowed over and over until he couldn’t anymore. He shifted his weight around. He’d been here before. Come get me. “I saw you with Marco.” He tipped his chin at the window, his voice a shattered mess. “Down there just now. I saw you guys together.”
“What? How…?” Aaron trailed off as he turned to the window. He scanned the starburst of coffee and ceramic on the floor. Then his eyes rolled closed and his face clenched as he squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Okay, I can explain—”
“You said you guys didn’t do that. You lied to me. Why’d you lie to me?”
“Look, I didn’t lie. It only recently started getting, um. But we haven’t. We haven’t done anything. We’ve only kissed.”
“Yet. You haven’t done anything yet.”
“Well.” Aaron licked his lips, arms folded, fingers tapping on his biceps. “Fuck. Okay, yes. But Daniel, I’m an escort. What is it you think I do?”
Daniel slowly swayed his gaze around their home. He was surrounded by beautiful things, Aaron included. And for the first time, the sight of the place, the presence of Aaron—it was all genuinely tiresome. He ran his tongue over his teeth, then bit it until it hurt. “I don’t want you to go on this trip with him.”
Aaron started to speak, but it fizzled into a sigh. “Okay, this is good we’re talking about this. Here. Have a seat.”
“I don’t want you to go.”
“Okay, or don’t.” Aaron pulled out a chair at the table and plopped into it, folding his hands. “Listen to me. I don’t think you understand how much money it is—”
“I don’t care how much money it is.”
“But we have a wedding to consider, and the studio and rent—”
“I don’t care. I don’t fucking care. God!” He dug the heels of his palms into his skull. “I am so sick of thinking about money. Aren’t you sick of thinking about money?”
Aaron blinked at him for a long time, like the question had been lost in translation. Like the question was so perplexing that he couldn’t even summon an answer. He finally said, in a confused whisper, “But we don’t have a choice. We have to think about it.”
Then it hit him. He stilled from head to toe, because if he didn’t ground himself, he would stagger backward at how hard it hit.
This entire time, he’d been worried about Marco. Worried that Marco would sweep Aaron off his feet with the confidence, the looks, and the prestige. But Aaron wasn’t going to fall in love with Marco, because he was already in love.
Daniel wasn’t competing with Marco for Aaron’s attention. He was competing with money.
“Baby, I promise I don’t have feelings for him,” Aaron said. “I swear it. You are it. I’m marrying you.”
The thing about competing with money was: it was a race he was never going to win.
“Don’t you believe me?” Aaron asked. “Don’t you trust me?”
Daniel’s wide exhale sank his arms heavy by his sides. “Of course. Of course I do.”
Aaron eyed him watchfully. “You do?”
“Yes.” If tears were standing by, there’d be no fighting them. “You should leave on this trip if that’s what you need to do. But I need to leave too.”
Aaron’s face didn’t budge a muscle. Not one twitch. “What does that mean?”
Daniel sipped in air to keep from crumbling. In a tiny voice that sounded like it squeaked from another room, he said, “Leave, Aaron. Leave us. Leave you.”
The way Aaron stood from the table, he almost looked dizzy. “Okay, so. Uh. Look, why don’t you take a spa day while I’m gone, hmm? You’ll have the whole apartment to yourself. That’ll be nice. Then, when I get back, we’ll focus on the wedding. That sound good?”
Daniel slowly dipped his head to the side and studied Aaron. Aaron who wasn’t convinced, but in his defense, he hadn’t said it all that convincingly. “Mister.” He shook his head. “There is no ‘when you get back.’ When you get back, I will not be here.”
Aaron froze.
“I will be gone. Do you understand?”
“Uh-huh. I understand ultimatums are how people get hurt. We talked about this.” Aaron pointed to his engagement band. “If you wanted it to be over, you’d take it off. That was the deal.”