Aloveen Rising

18. Love Hurts

Ethan opened his eyes and stretched, his arm pushed against Blake's chest, he blinked, Blake had stayed with him once he fell asleep. He wriggled closer enjoying the warmth, Blake shifted slightly and turned to face him,

"Sorry," Ethan said, "Did I wake you?"

Blake shrugged, "It's ok, I should get up anyway, I have work tonight," He checked his watch and sat up, "I have work in half an hour!" he said sounding disappointed,

Reluctantly, Ethan stood up so Blake could move past him, "What should I do while you're gone?"

Blake scratched his chin, "Uh, whatever you want I guess," He walked into the bedroom, "You should ring your friends and let them know what happened," he called,

Ethan frowned, the twins would have a lot of questions about his family, Jake and probably Blake as well if he told them. He pondered the thought for a moment and shook his head, they didn't need to know about Blake just yet. Hesitantly he dialled Jacie's number and she picked up nearly instantly,

"What the hell have you done now!" she yelled,

"Is Nate with you?" he asked

"Of course" Nate called from the background

He took a breath and quickly explained what had happened, he choked on his words when he repeated how he had told Jake that he loved him and when he finished the twins were silent.

"Something's wrong," Jacie said after a moment, "This doesn't sound like Jake at all,"

Ethan sighed loudly, "I don't know what else to say Jace, that's what happened"

"No, I believe you," she said quickly, "I just meant, it doesn't sound like something he'd normally do,"

Relief washed over Ethan causing him to realise how worried he'd been about losing them as well.

"I need you to think hard Ethan," Jacie told him, "Did you notice anything weird? Other than what he was saying obviously,"

Ethan's mind raced over his interaction with Jake from the day before and he started to notice things he hadn't caught at the time. The look of fear Jake had when he first spoke to Ethan, the nervous glances behind him and how badly he wanted to keep walking. He tried to think about what else had been around them, Blake had obviously been nearby but not that close and as far as he knew Jake didn't know him. There had been a couple of people drinking coffee and talking, did Jake know one of them?

"Can you think of anything else?"

Ethan frowned, "There was a man." he told her, "Standing up against a tree, it looked like he was waiting for a car but now I think he was watching Jake and Jake knew he was there."

"Do you remember what he looked like?" Nate asked,

Ethan sighed, "No, not really. He was light-skinned and tall,"

"Jesus," Nate muttered" "this isn't much to go on Ethan, How old was he?"

Ethan sighed dejectedly "I don't know, I didn't pay much attention to him, How am I meant to know"

He frowned knowing Jacie and Nate were discussing it without him and finally Jacie came back to the phone, "Come over to his house with us tomorrow,"