Chapter 145: I don’t Kiss Him, He Kissed Me.

The drive back to Vincent’s house felt far too short. Dave could hardly believe how quickly he had arrived, though perhaps it was because he had spent the entire journey dreading what awaited him.

Now that he was here, there was no avoiding it.

He parked the car and walked toward the entrance. The lights were still on. It was already midnight. Were Bryce and Vincent still awake, waiting for him to return?

His heart began to race as he approached the door. Through the untied curtains, he could see Vincent sitting on the couch, with Bryce stretched across it and his head resting on Vincent’s thighs.

Vincent’s fingers moved gently through Bryce’s hair, an image of quiet intimacy that made Dave hesitate outside.

Remembering that he had kissed Vincent earlier, Dave found it difficult to breathe. The memory of confessing his feelings to him made it even worse.

His legs seemed unwilling to carry him any farther, where Vincent was. And the thought of telling Bryce that Eli was alive, drained what little strength he had left.

Or perhaps Vincent had already told Bryce.

Dave swallowed and forced himself forward. Whatever happened, happened.

Before he could even touch the door, Vincent turned toward it, almost as though he had sensed Dave’s presence. Perhaps he had heard the car pull up and had simply been wondering why Dave hadn’t come inside yet.

At the same moment, Bryce abruptly sat up from Vincent’s lap.

"Is he back? I can feel him around, or am I just dreaming..." He glanced around the room.

Dave moved forward and finally pushed the door open.

Bryce turned toward the entrance. The moment he saw Dave, he got to his feet and hurried over, wrapping his arms around him.

"This should be the first and last time you stay out this late in the name of... I don’t know, whatever you were doing." Bryce scolded him. "You’re walking around out there this late without even a bodyguard!"

For all the frustration in his words, his excitement at seeing Dave was unmistakable.

Dave had spent the journey rehearsing all the things he needed to say, but now that Bryce was holding him, none of them seemed willing to come out.

So Vincent hadn’t told him yet?

"What have you been..." Bryce began, but stopped. He pulled back just enough to examine Dave’s face. "You smell like the perfume you used to make me wear back in the days."

His brows drew together as he looked at Dave more closely, his initial excitement giving way to confusion.

"Why are your eyes swollen and red? Have you been crying?" Bryce asked.

Dave looked away. He opened his mouth, but no words came.

Across the room, Vincent hadn’t even turned to look at him.

"Dave?" Bryce called.

"I had too much to drink at the meeting," Dave lied.

The words came out before he had even thought them through. It was the first excuse he could find.

"You’re lying," Bryce announced. "Why do you smell like the perfume you used to make me wear during those days when you made me dress like Eli?"

At the mention of that name, Dave felt as though his spirit had left his body.

Dave could no longer pretend that he could get through the conversation with a convenient excuse.

"Can we sit and talk?" Dave asked.

Panic flashed across Bryce’s face before he managed to hide it.

"Talk about what? You’re scaring me. Why are you being so serious?"

Dave couldn’t answer. He reached for Bryce’s hand and led him toward the couch opposite Vincent’s.

They sat down.

Dave stared ahead, unable to find a way to begin.

Vincent refused to even look at him.

"Dave?" Bryce called again.

Dave sighed deeply before forcing himself to speak.

"Bryce."

"Yes? What’s up?"

"I love you. I love you more than I could ever put into words, and I want you to know that, no matter what happens, that love is never going to change."

Dave emphasized certain words, as though the right combination of words might finally convey everything he wanted Bryce to understand.

"I know, and I love you too, just as much," Bryce replied in a whisper. His voice held the same sincerity as always, but curiosity crept into it as he tried to understand why Dave was speaking to him this way.

Dave could feel his heart pounding in his throat, making it difficult to get the words out.

"Eli... He’s not dead. I mean, he’s alive. He’d been trapped somewhere, but even so, him coming back doesn’t change anything, just like I already told you."

The words hanged heavily between them.

Bryce stared at him as though he hadn’t quite heard him correctly. For a long moment, he said nothing, seemingly unable to process what Dave had just told him.

"What?" The word escaped his mouth in a whisper.

Dave wanted to reassure him again that nothing had changed, but he knew repeating himself would only make him sound guilty, as though he were trying to force Bryce to believe that Eli’s return truly meant nothing. So he said nothing.

"Is that where you’ve been all this time? Is that why you smell like him?"

"We were just talking. We talked, and I told him I’ve already moved on now that I’m with you and... Vincent, and we agreed on that. So there’s nothing to worry about."

"How can you say nothing has changed when he’s the person you’ve been losing your mind over for years? And you want to tell me you just saw him, told him you’d moved on, and expect me to believe that’s the end of it? That everything is back to normal?" Bryce’s questions came in a relentless stream, one following another before Dave could find an answer.

"We talked," Dave repeated, unable to form any more words.

After remaining quiet all that time, acting as though Dave wasn’t even there, Vincent finally spoke.

"Except talking isn’t the only thing you did, is it?"

The question caught Dave completely off guard.

"You’re not helping," he muttered.

"I’m not helping?" Vincent replied immediately. "If we’re going to sit here and say everything is fine, why don’t we address everything that happened?"

"I didn’t kiss him, Vincent. How many times am I supposed to tell you that? He kissed me just as you entered the house, and I was going to pull away."

"You know, I keep wondering about something. If it really happened that abruptly and you were already going to pull away, why was he sitting on top of you? How could the whole thing have happened so suddenly if he was on top of you?"

"Oh my God, I can’t believe you actually don’t believe me." Dave raised a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose, his eyes closing as his head started throbbing again. "I..."

"I don’t understand. That’s not the same as saying I don’t believe you," Vincent cut in.

His usual composure was nowhere to be found. Vincent sounded unusually unsettled, and Dave couldn’t tell whether his confession had anything to do with the way he was acting.