“I hate needing someone to help me do simple shit like this,” Shea grumbled as he followed Christian down the hall to his bedroom.
Christian shrugged one muscled shoulder. “Nothing you can do about it.”
Shea huffed and sat down on the bed as Christian pulled out something for him to wear. Shea had his own drawer. They spent so much time at each other’s houses that it just seemed like a good idea to keep clothes and other things there. Like right now, it came in handy; Shea didn’t have to pack a bag from his house to bring over because his shit was already here. They did that shortly after his family had died in the fire. Christian basically moved in with Shea for a little while. He had been devastated, and Christian helped to keep him from losing it completely.
The entire Beck clan had been really supportive at that time. Anne and Henry Sr. made a crap load of food for him, and brought it over to his house. Henry helped take care of all of his parents’ financial stuff, since Shea had no idea where to start. Claire had somehow gotten a hold of old photo albums and pictures that hadn’t been completely damaged, and made a beautiful new album for him. Sebastian helped him make all of the funeral arrangements, and Quinn came over to clean up around his house when was just too depressed to get out of bed. And Christian? Christian was at his side the whole time, letting him grieve the way he needed to, holding him when he needed him to, forcing him to pull his life back together and move on because he was still alive. Shea still had no idea how he could ever thank the family for all that they have done for him.
“Shea?” Christian’s voice asked, bringing him out of his thoughts.
Shea blinked up at him. “Huh?”
“You okay? You spaced out there for a minute,” he said with a frown.
“Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” Shea insisted and tried to push past the pain in his heart.
“Are you hurting? Do you need more medicine?” Christian asked.
“Yeah...yeah, it’s starting to ache,” he agreed.
“Alright, I’ll go grab you some,” Christian said as he pulled on his underwear then a pair of dark jeans.
Shea watched him walked out of the room, his ass looking fine in those jeans. Shea was still a little weirded out by how attracted he was to Christian. It wasn’t like that happened overnight either. It had been a slow build that started years ago. Shea could still remember the exact moment: They went down to Wildwood, NJ, around four years ago for a weekend and went to the beach one day. While Shea chilled out on a towel, Christian decided to take a swim in the ocean. Shea watched as he waded into the surf, and then dove into a wave. He stayed in for a few minutes before making his way back out. Shea’s breath caught as he watched his best friend stride up the sand toward him.
A couple of girls walking by literally tripped and almost fell because they were staring at him so hard. Water ran down his hard toned body and made his bathing suit cling to his thighs. Shea’s eyes drifted to where Christian’s bathing suit clung to something else and a swirl of desire hit him out of nowhere, shocking the ever-living hell out of him. Something inside Shea turned at that moment, but he had no idea what it was. Ever since that day, he caught himself on many occasions checking Christian out, admiring his body and the way he moved, wondering every now and then what it would be like to kiss him and more. Never in a million years did he ever think that he would actually get the chance to act on those thoughts.
Christian returned with his medication and a glass of water. After taking it, Christian helped him get dressed. They didn’t even bother with a shirt, he wasn’t going anywhere.
“Will you be alright tonight, or do you want me to cancel the showing?” Christian asked as they headed back downstairs.
“Don’t cancel the art show, your students look forward to that. Just see if someone can come over to sit with me. Anyone but Sebastian,” Shea said, giving Christian a pointed look over his shoulder, making him smile.
“Are you sure? Sebastian can be very entertaining.”
“Dude, I will end up back in the hospital if he comes here to babysit me.” Shea snorted.
Christian laughed. “That is probably true, let me call Quinn.”
Shea nodded. “Good choice.”
Henry cursed silently as some asshole took the parking spot he had been waiting for. If he didn’t have the kids in the car, he would have flipped the hell out; instead, he just moved on to find another spot. He was fuming, though. Finally, after a few minutes of driving around, he squeezed into another spot. Christian’s gallery was in a really bad location for trying to find somewhere to park.