“Not at all. I don’t know anything about selling the house. The price seems a little high to me,” Kellus said, placing another bagel in the toaster.
“You aren’t in a rush to sell. You need to get the best price you can.” Arik stood there, looking over the contract, flipping a page, then another when a brochure fell from between the sheets. Arik picked the tri-fold up off the floor, reading the name on the front. A sprawling hospital covered the pamphlet. “What’s this?”
“What’s it say?” Kellus asked, looking up as he reached for a plate.
“Horizon Specialty Long Term Care.” Arik read the heading on the page as the anger built from within.
Hold your horses, Layne. Let him explain.
“It’s the hospital I’d like for John to be moved to when I sell the house,” Kellus answered, sounding rational as he turned away when the toaster popped out a bagel.
“What?” Had he yelled that? He couldn’t believe his ears. All the doubt, all the insecurity he’d pushed down came rushing back to fuel his fury.
Kellus stilled his hands and stared at him while going utterly silent. That was it, right there. Kellus’s complete silence, like he’d said too much, and he had! Arik couldn’t stop his flow of words even if he’d tried, and he didn’t try in the least. “I couldn’t have understood that properly. You’re selling your house to pay for long-term care for the man that’s terrorized your life? The same one who’s given you a disease that could kill you if you don’t manage it properly. A man who has done nothing in his life, ever, except lie and cheat on you, almost destroying you in the process. That man?”
“Arik.” Kellus’s tone was so calm as he turned to fully face him, lifting both hands mid-air, trying to settle him down.
“You are!” Arik boomed. That was most definitely a yell. But the realization of Kellus’s actions threatened to steal his sanity. How could Kellus even consider selling his house to help John after everything that man had done to him?
“The place he’s at now let him get a bedsore. They aren’t taking care of him. He’s being neglected,” Kellus said in an overly sensible tone, but what pissed him off more was how Kellus took several steps backward, creating more distance between them.
“And you shouldn’t even know that. He fucking came to this house with the intention of destroying you,” he argued, going to the kitchen bar, letting that be the barrier between them.
“It was the drugs,” Kellus countered, but Arik was tired of the excuses.
“It was John hurting you. Goddammit.” He became silent as another thought pushed its way through the anger. Arik’s heart stuttered. The air became thinner. He couldn’t breathe. He looked directly into Kellus’s eyes and asked, “Are you using me?”
Kellus’s eyes went wide. Finally, he’d gotten some sort of a reaction. “What? No! I would never use you. I love you, Arik.”
“Those are just words, Kel. I have to know,did finding John’s bedsores play any part in why you had a sudden change of heart and decided to live with me?” Venom laced his words, but he couldn’t stop the onslaught of pain that had put it there.
Kellus aggressively shook his head. “Of course not! This stuff with John has helped me see the truth about us.”
Kellus’s sad blue eyes held his, but Arik wouldn’t be swayed. He turned away, going for the bedroom. For the first time since meeting Kellus, he needed space. His brain was in overload, and his heart hurt so badly he had to move, get out from under all this pain before he did something he might just regret.
“You’ve been distant for weeks. If you’ve seen the truth, it sure hasn’t come out in your actions.”
That had Kellus stopping in his tracks when he rounded the corner of his bedroom. Arik yanked on his dress shirt and toed on his shoes.
“That’s unfair. Anytime I bring up John, you do this. You freak out.” Kellus took a tentative step toward him, but stopped, not closing the distance between them, and that pissed him off too. He was fucking tired of Kellus holding back all the damn time.
“Because he lied and cheated on you. He completely wrecked your house and ruined your work and you still treat him like he’s the most important person in your life.” Arik was so upset he couldn’t get the buttons on his shirt together and finally dropped the sides before he had a fit and tore the damn thing up.
“That’s not true nor is it fair. I can’t help feeling like it’s my fault.”
“How could any of this be your fault?” he asked. No matter how Kellus answered that question, he’d never understand. His mind was racing and he just needed to get away from the situation. He had nothing good to say about John; he despised the man for treating Kellus the way he had. And here Kellus was selling his house to make sure that John was taken care of. What was he supposed to do? How could he compete with Kel’s past? He couldn’t. He grabbed his keys off the dresser and put his phone in his jacket pocket.