Painted On My Heart

Chapter 24

A couple of hours after they’d arrived at Kellus’s home studio, Arik cooled his jets, kicked back against the hood of his security guard’s truck, and watched as his guy dealt with the disaster inside the destroyed studio without him. God, Kellus was hardheaded. Arik gave Kellus room, keeping an eye on him as he moved things from the studio into the house without letting him help—no matter how many times or how hard he had tried.

He’d pushed too hard earlier, letting his frustration get the best of him, apparently pissing Kellus off in the process. Through the interview with the police, then with his insurance agent, Arik had stayed relatively quiet, only adding information to verify what his staff had told him and that Kellus had in fact been with him for the entirety of last night. Those questions surprised Arik. Rationally, he understood why they had to make sure Kellus wasn’t involved. This bad situation seemed to worsen with each hour that passed. He would make certain everyone involved cleared Kellus of any involvement.

Arik lifted his sunglasses, pressed his thumbs in his eyes and rubbed, stifling a yawn. He had an inbox full of emails, dozens of phone calls to return, and a packed day of meetings that would have to be rescheduled into his already full upcoming days, yet he didn’t care. All he wanted was for Kellus to stop keeping him at a distance, so everything would turn right in his world once again.

Arik lifted his ball cap and scrubbed at his head. The humidity outside was so thick he could almost see it. This was late October for God’s sake; the temperature had to be well into the seventies today, making it muggy as hell outside. In all his negative musing, Kellus caught his eye as he stepped out of the studio right before they lowered the tarp over the damaged sidewall. Kel concentrated on a piece of paper he held in his hand. As he got closer, Kellus’s weary gaze lifted to Arik who hadn’t moved a muscle since Kellus started walking his way. He stood there, rooted to his spot, silent, unsure what to do. All the apologies he’d tried for earlier had been completely ignored.

“Since I’m staying with you, I’ll move my operation inside my house. Tomorrow, I’ll push the furniture aside, set up some makeshift tables, and finish moving what wasn’t destroyed in the studio. I can only find one or two of my projects that aren’t a total loss. It’s gonna take a lot of time to start over.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Arik said cautiously.

“I’ve gotta stop by the supply store. It’s a sizable list, but they’re good at turning over their orders quickly,” Kellus said and thrust the paper toward him.

“We can do that right now if you want,” Arik suggested, taking the offering, looking at Kellus’s elegant penmanship. The list ran the length of the page.

“You don’t have to babysit me. I’m better. Don’t you have work?”

“This is where I want to be.” He pushed away from the truck and started for his car. They didn’t say another word until Arik started the car and put the gearshift in neutral. He just couldn’t take all this silence between them. Even when they quarreled, they’d never dealt with this much tension.

“I’m sorry for earlier. I was a jerk for dumping that on you today,” he said, keeping his feet on the pedals and his hand on the steering wheel, waiting to put the car in reverse.

“No, it was me. I deal with things by pulling inside myself, and it always seems to make things worse.”

Arik looked over at Kellus, whose eyes held a profound sadness. It made him feel worse for the drama he’d caused. He lifted a hand, cupping Kellus’s neck as he drew him closer. “I love you. It destroys me to see you hurt like this.”

“I’m sorry. It never seems to stop with me, and it’s gonna take a lot of extra hours to get this work done. I need to get back to the hospital by six. John’s mom sent a message that the doctor’s coming by. And I need to get to the supply store before then. Hell, I don’t even know what time it is,” Kellus said, glancing toward the clock on the dash.

Arik noted the time as well. They had about three hours before he needed to be back at the hospital.

“We’ll go to the supply store, but you have to be hungry,” he said, backing out of the driveway.

“I’m not really.”

“You need to eat. You didn’t take your medication this morning.”

“Damn, I didn’t even think about that. You didn’t take yours either.”

“I have a stash in the car.”

“Can you pull back up to the house? I bet I have something inside.” When he pulled to the kitchen door, Kellus took off for the house.