Priceless. (boyxboy)

Chapter 14.

JPOV

“Make yourself comfortable” I almost ordered, as Aiden entered my apartment timidly. It was around half past one in the morning, and I was already too tired to think about anything. Usually, I’d just go to bed and sleep, but now I had to drink a beer with that fake-ass singer and soothe his soul. Why am I doing this anyway?

I sat on the ground and gave him the can of beer after I opened it. Mine was already opened, so I drank with the hope of chasing away the drowsiness that weighed on my eyelids.

“T-Thanks …” Aiden softly answered and sat in front of me, drinking with shaky hands. He used to be such a … handsome guy, no homo. His tan, his abs, his eyes and smile, and all of that powered by positive energy. And now? Now there was absolutely nothing.

I don’t know how he looked the first few days with Noel’s absence, but now, when a week has passed, he was looking like an absolute zombie. Barely singing, barely working, and barely sleeping.

After a couple of minutes in silence, I shook my head and sighed. This can’t go on like that.

“Aiden, please, snap out of it. I know Noel was a close friend of yours, but you can’t keep living like that. I will do my best to find him, I assure you, and if you concentrate and cooperate, it’ll be even easier to track him down. It’s been a week now, but I’m sure we can catch the kidnapper. Please, tell me what happened again.” I didn’t wish to speak of work in my own home, but I got too involved in this to pretend it didn’t exist the moment I leave the police station. I looked at his golden eyes, which now showed great guilt and sadness, and gently tapped his shoulder.

“It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it here, we can –“

“Sheriff ..”

“I’m … a police chief, not a sheriff, but go on.” What? I do like being flattered.

Aiden giggled with teary eyes and nodded, sighing. It wasn’t hard to make him laugh, but even laughing didn’t seem enough to brighten his mood. There was something weighting on his heart, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Yet.

"What I’m about to tell you is … something I can’t tell the officers and the detectives. It’s my own speculations, plus what really happened. The world already knows that Aiden Croft had a close friend who’s been kidnapped, and … I can’t let any more of this information leak. Please, give me your word. Tell me you won’t tell anyone else.” He spoke so seriously that I felt myself shiver from his low, husky tone. Something made me wonder how a singer like him sounds like when he’s moaning in bed, but I quickly discarded that thought and nodded.

“Y-Yes, you can count on me.” I stuttered. Naked Aiden, get out of my mind!

“Alright …” The singer sighed and began talking. “I’m … sorry if you hate things like these, but … I’m gay.”

My eyes widened slightly, but I calmed down my fastened heartbeat and pouted.

“That’s wonderful, but I don’t see how it’s connected to the case.” To me, it seemed like Aiden had lost his mind completely, telling me his sexual orientation with a beer in his hand and a dead-serious expression.

He kept looking at me with his intense, golden-colored eyes, and I almost felt pressured by that gaze of his. I had no idea what was he trying to tell me, but the moment I opened my mouth to question his silence, an imaginary light struck my mind and I blinked in shock.

“You were dating Noel?”

Aiden slowly nodded and drank some more to moisturize his lips. Now we were getting somewhere. This was very important, because someone who may have been jealous of Noel could’ve wanted to ‘remove him’ from the blonde’s life.