Dangerous Lies (boyxboy)

17. Show Them Yours

It was rather late in the evening when my phone buzzed from the top of my piano, where I sat playing.

"Bloody hell..."

When I notice Ridge was calling, I answer the phone without hesitation. I hold it to my ear with a click.

"Ridge, wha-"

I stop my sentence quickly when I hear sobs from the other end.

"S-s-sa-sabs."

"Ssh, Ridge. I'm on my way over right now, darling. Hold on."

I don't stop to think, or to ask Ridge what's wrong, before I am pulling on the first sweater I touch and slipping on my black moccasins. I barely make it out the door with my keys in hand before I jump quickly in my car and head to Ridge's apartment.

I'm coming, Ridge.

...

"I guess it was a car accident. No one really knows the details yet, and mom just told me to stay down here with you. She knows this is going to be a lot harder on me than the girls."

When I arrived at Ridge's apartment, he was a sobbing mess on his bedroom floor, with bedding and clothes everywhere, and nothing but a pair of ratty lounge pants on his small frame. I didn't hesitate to lift him off the ground- which was a relatively easy task, given his light weight and small build, and place him gently onto his bed. He was still crying, and when I returned to him, with a hoodie that I gently slipped over his head, he wrapped his pale arms around my neck, pulling me onto the bed with him.

We were still there, and Ridge had his head resting on my chest, and both of my arms were wrapped around him, protecting him. It took him awhile before he stopped crying, but I just held him as he did so, waiting until he was ready to talk to me about it.

Holding Ridge like this felt natural, and I didn't find myself flustered over the fact that his head was on my chest, and I was, quite frankly, clinging on to him for dear life.

"If you want to be with your family, I understand that Ridge. Heather would too."

"No. I think mom's right. It would be best for me to just stay down here. Besides," Ridge sits up from my arms, looking down at me where I still lay on his bed. "I need to be fully prepared to host while your sister is visiting! I need to make a good impression. What kind of half-assed boyfriend would I be, Sabastian?"

I look at Ridge, and I don't respond for a few moments. Even though his eyes were still wet from tears, and his smile was nowhere close to its normal ferocity, he was trying to put on a happy face and be his usual self.

"Come here, you bloody fool."

I bring Ridge back down to lie beside me, and before his face meets the soft skin between my neck and shoulder, he has already started to cry again. I hold him like that for what seems like hours, and when he finally retreats from the safety of my neck, he curls up into my side, and is asleep before I even have the chance to pull the blanket up and over his sleeping frame.

Kissing his forehead gently, and casting my wide-eyes to the ceiling, I let him sleep.

...

When Ridge, Heather, and I make it to the old 24-hour diner (we recently discovered the name of the diner was actually Marchiano's) Ridge's friend, Devon, and his girlfriend Sydney were already standing outside waiting, coats on, and hopping around trying to keep warm.

"I apologize for being late. Someone had to change their bloody outfit several times before we could leave." I give Heather a fake glare, and smile at Devon and Sydney.