Painted On My Heart

Arik grinned when the doors opened and he gently pushed Kellus out.

“I really don’t have much of a say.”

“Of course you do. You could tell me no.” Arik moved around Kellus toward his front door.

“But you won’t listen,” Kellus said, trailing several feet behind him. The lock automatically unlatched.

Arik walked through, calling out over his shoulder as he went for a water bottle in the kitchen, “Sure I will. I’ll just try to talk you out of it.” When no response came, Arik stood in the refrigerator doorway, looking over the containers filled with their dinner. “Are you hungry?”

“Absolutely not.” From the sound of Kellus’s voice, he must already be close to the bedroom. “I think we ate our way through the carnival.”

That they did. Arik shut the refrigerator door and headed toward his office. He liked the way this felt. If Kellus lived there full time, the comfortable camaraderie they shared would grow, become familiar. He wanted that very badly. At the bedroom door, he stopped. Kellus stood in the closet, the door opened to a perfect angle so that he could see in the full-length mirror Kellus undressing. He leaned against the doorframe, watching him, like his own strip tease show. As he tugged off his jeans, Kellus caught sight of Arik in the mirror and stared back as he tossed the pants aside. His heartstrings stirred as their gazes remained locked. No question, Kellus belonged with him.

With a smile touching his lips, he said, “I’ve got to reply to an email. You’re exhausted. Go to bed. I’ll be there soon.”

“Wake me when you come to bed,” Kellus said, returning the smile. Of course, he’d never wake Kellus. Well, not when he knew his guy was exhausted. But when he was well rested, all bets were off. Some of their sweetest sex had come when Kellus reached for him in the middle of the night.

His heart beat a little faster as Kellus pivoted on his heels, leaving the closet, and walked toward him to place a simple kiss on his lips before turning toward the bathroom. He watched Kellus’s perfectly tempting ass walk away. His goals had completely changed. All he wanted in life was to make this man happy.

Chapter 22

“What is it?” Arik asked, fully waking as Kellus rolled to his side of the bed to reach for his cell phone.

“My phone. I thought I silenced it,” he said, grabbing the phone, lifting his thumb to reject the call. He squinted his tired eyes when he saw his mom’s name cross the screen. A second later, it went to voicemail. “It’s my mom.”

“What?” Arik’s sleepy eyes held concern when Kellus glanced his way.

His heart hammered in his chest as he sat up, pushing buttons, then brought his phone to his ear, waiting for the call to connect. The bed moved and he looked over at Arik who was reaching for the lamp. Light filled the room, and he noticed the clock on the nightstand read two forty-five in the morning.

“Hello?” his brother, Kelvin, answered in a panicked voice. The confusion he’d felt at seeing his mother’s number turned to alarm when he heard his brother’s voice answer her phone. As the haze from his deep sleep fled, he knew something must be terribly wrong.

“Kelvin, what’s wrong?”

“Kellus? Is that you?” his brother questioned, sounding unsure, then began speaking to whomever he was with.

“Mom called me. I called her back.”

“What’s wrong, babe?” Arik asked. Kellus lifted a finger. There seemed to be chaos on the other end of the line. He couldn’t make out the problem.

“Kellus, is that you?” his mother, Kristi, tearfully asked.

“Mom, what’s going on?”

Loud sobs prevented him from understanding anything she had to say, and his anxiety spiked. “Mom, put Kelvin back on the phone. Please, I can’t understand you.”

There was a rustling in the background before Kelvin started speaking. “The sheriff came by. They say your van was in an accident tonight. Several people were killed. They think you were in it.”

His heart stopped and his gaze shifted directly to Arik. “My van was in an accident.”

“I didn’t get a call.” Arik whipped his head toward the nightstand. “Shit. The charger’s empty.” Arik jumped from the bed and headed out of the room.

“Did they say what happened?” Kellus asked his brother.

“Just that it rolled and ejected the driver, right, Mom?” his brother questioned. There was a muffled sound as his mother got back on the phone.

“Kellus, there was identification on the one who got ejected. They said it was you. Your dad went with the sheriff to the hospital. I was waiting for your brother. He made me call you to make sure. I need to call your father.” Another sob stopped him from fully understanding what she said after that.

“I left my phone in my jacket. I’ve got fifteen missed calls,” Arik announced when he returned, standing nude in the middle of the room. Kellus watched as his lover put the phone to his ear. The dread on Arik’s face said everything he hadn’t wanted to put together.