Tempting (Man x Man)

Tempting - Chapter 30: Getting a lil Farther

"Calvin, you don't need to tell me the truth. I get it if its something personal, but just know I

won't get mad or anything if you do."

"I know. I've just been stressed out a little." I lay back against the couch, feeling the chill surface

of the leather cool me through my shirt. I've noticed that David has been using his downstairs

office a whole lot more then his upstairs one. Maybe it was because of me?

"I was actually going to tell you a little story on Friday but I had that meeting."

"Yeah, I remember." I mutter, still torn on whether I should ask David about what I had heard

from Coldren in the bar. It still made my stomach clench to think about it.

"Right now can be as right of time as any... I haven't told anybody this, but when I was younger I had a childhood friend named Brandon. We were really close, almost inseparable. This was at the time when my Mom and Dad were constantly fighting, the time before she left us. Please don't feel any pity." I nod, waiting for him to continue.

"This is before my Dad's company blew up, when he was still starting out. Brandon and me always played by the swings of an abandoned park because there was usually no one there. We liked that it was only us, no one else. It was like we were on top of the world... When my Mother left, my Dad decided to do so too. He wanted to move to the city so his business could have more traction. And of course I didn't want to go because through those years of knowing Brandon I fell in love with him. Deeply in love, but didn't have the balls to tell him how I felt..."

"...What happened after?"

He breathes in deeply.

"Me being the asshole I am I left with my dad. I was 18 at the time, I could've just rented a apartment or something just so I could still be with him, but instead I chose to leave so I wouldn't hurt my Father."

"Y-You weren't being a butthole David. He probably understood." I say solemnly. Even though

David is sharing something personal with me and I should be feeling 100% sorrow, I can't help

but feel slightly hurt that David had an important person in his life previously that he says he

loved. I feel wicked that I can even emit jealously right now. What is wrong with me?

"Well, whether he understood or not I would never know now."

"What do you mean? Did you lost contact with him?"

"Kind of... But I won't be able to ever contact him again." He rubs his hand over his face.

"He's dead."

My heart skips a beat as he let's those words fall like a bag of bricks from his lips. Instantly my

breath gives out and I grab David's arm as if that would help alleviate his pain.

"What? When-"

"He was in a car accident a year after I moved to the city. Friends were drunk and he was in the backseat. Flew right through the car's front. I didn't get word from my town until a month later. A man who I barely knew working in a auto place had called me when none of my friends had. He said he was looking all over for my number."

"David I-"

"People who I knew for years decided to not call me on that day. I couldn't even attend his funeral because it already passed. I thought they were the ones I could depend on, but all they did was keep that important thing away from me. Took that away from me. His whole family thought I didn't care because I didn't show up for the funeral."