My Paradise (BxB) {Book 5}

Chapter 7

And? And what?

"You called out his name multiple times when we were all standing there, you also seem to recognize him and went to his arms, so technically, I didn't fully hand you over to him."

Seriously? I did that?

"How'd he know my address?"

"Don't ask me, I'm just a guy who was reluctantly doing orders."

So it was you who took me home, Blake.

"So you didn't do this?" I showed him my hickey.

"Huh?! Oh heck no! You know I already have a girlfriend. Wait. So, if he knew where you live, he's a stalker now or something?"

I slowly nodded, "Presumably. He is powerful and has his sources. I'm sorry I dragged you into this mess."

"What? For what? No, you didn't drag me into anything. Actually, I'm glad you're able to open up to me, I used to be afraid that you didn't want to hang out with me for whatever reason, until of course, we went off in a timidity way and went on from there, now look where we are, huh? I think you're a cool friend."

I chuckled, "Me? Cool? I don't think so. I was pretty much a nerdy basketball player in high school. I didn't get to hang out with much people because of how. . . possessive Blake gets." I start to frown, finishing the sentence.

"What happened between you two? You know, I mean how did it all begin and how did it all end?"

"It's a long story, the shortest way possible to put it is that we were dating around our early teenage years, Blake made the move, our relationship definitely grew from time to time. As for how we broke up, let's say. . . it was too much likely that we couldn't have a future together."

"Why? Is it because people are so judgmental and don't like how you're dating a guy?"

"Hah, I really wish it were that simple, but it's kind of little beyond that."

"So not only because of that, but there's threatening involved, am I right?" Martin corrects with a frown.

"Let's not stay on a sad topic, otherwise we'd be stuck with it for an hour." I forced a laugh.

Martin frowns even more, "Danial, you can just tell me, it doesn't have to be now, I'll understand that you're not ready. Just don't keep it all in, try to be more open. I'll be your wing and support you."

I smiled softly, "Thanks for your concern, I'm fine. To be honest, I kind of want to share my story, it does bother to hold in. Do you really want to listen?"

"Sure! I'm all ears."

"Okay, so we were more than friends at age 13, we did a lot of things together, a lot of firsts. I never brought him to my house, I wanted to keep our relationship a secret, at the time when my parents were still together, they've always hoped that my brother and I would get married, have kids, you know, live 'normal', " I quoted with my fingers.

"But loving someone is normal, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess. That wasn't how my parents thought of it, as you should know, my dad is homophobic, he didn't even want to treat my brother the same anymore when he found out that he was gay."

"You're brother is gay? Cool. But your dad being homophobic? Not cool."

"Yeah, there's a lot of things you don't know about that's not so cool." I chuckled, "But yeah, my brother had a rough time after that, until my mom decided to get away from my dad, we all did. Even now, I still haven't heard from him. My brother is together with the same guy, they're husbands now, they have a strong relationship, I envy them. Thankfully life wasn't against him being gay. And actually, his boyfriend is Blake's little brother."

"Haaah? Say what now? W-Wait! That's just a huge twist!"

"Yup, but I've only saw him like two times, he was around age 12 I think, and it turns out that the world gets smaller, him and my brother also had a childhood history, way before Blake and I met, but we moved for a year, we came back, but they never ran into each other once, until Zack, Blake's brother, went to our school in their junior year, Payton did forget about the history until Zack gave him hints, Zack recognized him right away though, he didn't forget about Payton after all those years. Look at them now, they're married, so that's their side of the story."

"Woah, that's sad but beautiful, but I have a feeling your story is much sadder."

"You know what, I think so too."

"So you explained how your brother's story was involved, how about yours?"

"Fine, back on track, we've been secretly dating for about five years, until graduation. I broke up with him and left the next day to college as soon as possible. That's all there is to it."

"How does that answer how you guys broke up?"

". . .That, for now, that's personal."

"How personal?"

"Like, big deal personal, to the point where Blake can never know."

". . ." Martin looks at me with his eyes widening with a worried face, "Didn't you say that there's threatening involved. How threatening you mean?"

"I'm afraid that I can't tell you. It's for the best to leave things where they belong and not reveal them."

He nods, "Okay, I understand. Just don't pressure yourself into it, I don't want you to get hurt by it."

I finished my tea, I ordered one iced coffee for Maddie.

"Hey, do you want to hang out somewhere?" Martin asks in excitement.

"Where?"

"I don't know, somewhere fun I guess."

"Maybe later, I'm going to check on my fiancée, and give her coffee."

"Awe, okay then, tell Maddie I said hi. See you later." He waved off and leaves.

The waiter gave me the coffee I ordered, "Thank you, have a nice day."

"You too."

When I turned around, I bumped into a tall figure, I looked up and saw Blake.

I tried walking around him, "What? You're not going to say hi?"

"Why? You're nothing but a stranger in my eyes. When we're at work, you're just our cooperative partner."

"But know that I became your boss, I'm the one who has the power to break it off whenever. So I suggest you to not to talk to me that way."

I turned around, "I'm just a person who is trying to relax on their free time on the weekend. So please, split up work hours and personal hours. Remember, outside of work is for my personal time, in work, yes, you're my boss. And outside of work like right now, you're nothing but a stranger to me. That's how it works."

He looks down then back up at me, "I thought you can't drink coffee."

"I can't. This is for my fiancée."

His eyes widened, "What fiancée? Don't kid."

I scoffed, "Since when do I joke about this stuff, forget it if you don't believe me." I said and turned around.

"By the way, you are still as tasty as ever." He said, and I knew what he was talking about. It's confirmed, he did it, he gave me the damn hickey.