Negotiating Love by Morticia Knight

Author:Morticia Knight [Knight, Morticia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: LGBT Romance Fiction
Publisher: Pride Publishing
Published: 2019-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Shit. Busted.

As soon as the elevator doors had opened to the floor where Steve had parked his truck in the station garage, he’d spotted Cole leaning against his vehicle, his expression smug. It had been completely unexpected. Sure, he’d been ignoring Cole’s messages, but he was still wrapping his brain around the swirl of emotions caused by his budding relationship with Allistair. He’d also been at Allistair’s for two days after the Fashion Mall incident, and the last thing he’d wanted to do was have a conversation with Cole at Allistair’s penthouse.

But he couldn’t put Cole off any longer. It wasn’t fair. He pressed his lips together, frowning, but marched toward his friend. When he reached him, he halted about five or six feet away. It was odd. He’d never held back from touching Cole or letting him touch him whenever they were alone. The desire to do such a thing had completely evaporated and no longer felt right.

Things really have changed.

“You gonna tell me what the fuck your problem is, or should we toss away fifteen years of friendship?”

Steve’s shoulders slumped, his chest tight with worry that things could change too much.

“I would never do that, Cole, you know that.”

Cole let out a rather loud snort. “Do I? Your behavior sure hasn’t indicated as such.”

“Look. I wanna talk about this, I really do. But I can’t go to your place and you can’t come to mine.” Steve glanced up, barely able to choke out his next words. “And I need to get my key back.”

Cole’s expression went from smug to one of shock. “You have a boyfriend. As in an honest to Christ boyfriend.” Cole crossed his arms. “And you couldn’t have simply told me this? What were all the weird guilty antics about? We’ve never been exclusive.”

“I know, I know.” Steve ran a hand across the top of his head. “It just surprised me. Or I surprised myself, I guess. I get that we’ve always been clear with each other about where we stand, but I hadn’t anticipated that I’d be so sad that our…” Two fellow officers approached, and Steve waited until they’d passed before continuing. “Our private relationship would end. I’m not gonna lie. It’s been fantastic.”

Cole grunted, his lips eventually curling into a small smile. “The feeling’s mutual, buddy.” He sighed. “So, this guy’s cool, huh?”

“Yeah.” Steve shook his head. “Blindsided me. We connected immediately. It’s hard to find someone you feel that way about right off the bat, so when he suggested we be exclusive, I grabbed at the chance. I didn’t want to regret down the road that I hadn’t at least tried, you know?”

Cole swallowed, a cloud passing over his features. Steve regarded him with concern.

“Are you all right? You look like you don’t feel very good.”

“It’s too stuffy in here.”

Steve continued to look him over, worried that something was really wrong with his friend. “Why don’t we grab a coffee, get somewhere it’s cooler?”

“No, I gotta go do something, but here…”

Cole dug out his wallet then pulled Steve’s key from the billfold, handing it over.

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