A/N: Okay, so his chapter went a little fast but I really couldn't see too much to overcome that Brendan doesn't put out there. This isn't the end though, there's more to come yet. Besides, we have to figure out what to do with Kinley and just who will be our new tattoo artist?
Any ideas btw on what sort of fellow should join the Razorblade boys? Not just looks here but personality? I have a few ideas but figure since I ruined everyone's vision of Kinley the least I can do is ask some opinions. For any of the more detailed descriptions you guys wanna give you could email a basic profile to me and then within the next chapter or so I'll try to pick a guy and have him incorporated into the story and - depending on his single status or not - have him show up in and/or have a Razorblade story. If you guys are interested, that is.
Chapter Thirteen
"Go away," Reese half heartedly called out from his bed, face buried in the pillow. He had barely moved since Kane had stopped a few days before except to go to work and the bathroom simply because he felt like shit. The worst had come to pass and he was in love with a guy who cheated on him before they had even hooked up properly and more, he still wanted him despite that fact. It made Reese feel needy and, being a man who had had to see to himself for the last six years, it was a scary thought.
"I hope you're decent, baby brother, because I'm coming in." Brendan pushed open the door to his brother's bedroom and frowned at his brother laying face down on the bed half-heartedly watching cartoons. "Lord, you haven't changed much. It's a wonder you weren't a straight out queen as much into the fairytale bullshit as you get."
"Fuck you. Disney is great."
"Whatever you say," he grunted and shoved at his brothers feet until he moved enough for him to sit down. "You need to get your ass out of this bed."
"It's only been three days," he grumbled.
"And that is three days too many. You've had six years worth of sitting in a small ass room thinking. You need to get up and do something." When his brother didn't say anything much less do anything, he sighed. Reese had called him a few days ago, upset about what had happened between he and Kane. Personally, Brendan was rather surprised having seen the two together but he had tried his best to console an inconsolable Reese. "Maybe he just made a mistake, did you ever think of that?"
Reese grunted put did pull himself up to a sitting position.
Brendan shook his head at that. "You really need to stop sulking in your room. It's very thirteen-year-old-girl and you're too old for that shit."
"Yes, father. Continue on with the lecture."
"I am not amused," he said with a frown. "And I'm being serious here. We all fuck up sometimes. It's life and things happen."
"It was his ex, Brendan. His infatuation. How am I supposed to compete with a guy that has been on his mind for five years?" Reese asked, running a hand through his very messy bed head.
"You're not going to be able to. Not if you keep laying in the damned bed like a drama queen."
"I get it. Axe the pouting and get up," he grumbled and got up and headed to the kitchen just to prove the point. His pout didn't go away though, even as he began to make coffee.
Brendan waited a moment for his brother to join him at the dining room table. "And considering what you told me about what you guys were doing before you confessed your feelings… The human body is a powerful thing. It wants what it wants."
"Oh, give me a fucking break. Are you going to sit here and tell me that he had no choice but hang dick in that little bitch?"
"Jesus, Reese! Do you have to be so crude?" He scrunched his nose up in disgust. "And no, I'm not trying to say that. I'm just saying… Hell, I don't know what I'm saying. I just don't think you should let these feelings go to waste over one indiscretion when you guys hadn't even talked over being a couple. In fact, if you want to get technical, you weren't really doing anything but talking."
"Tell that to my aching chest, you ass. I feel like my heart has been ripped out," Reese almost smiled at how melodramatic that sounded but restrained himself.
"At least he came and told you. I think that means something, like maybe he genuinely feels something for you. If not, then why would he have bothered to apologize?"
"He came and told me after the guy he had sex with told me. Which, by the way, he told me at my job after ordering a drink. I wanted to throw the damn shot glass at him."
"Nice of you to hold back," Brendan patted his brother on the shoulder. "But you also said that Kane told you this fellow just got suspended from work. Isn't it possible that he's pissed about that and-"
"I don't care about that guy! I don't care about why he would tell me. What I care about is Kane and that he should have told me if he saw us together in any way shape or form."
"But he did come to tell you," the elder brother reasoned. "The other guy just got to it first and that's not his fault."
Reese shoved away from the table and went to pour himself a cup of coffee. "Who's side are you on anyway?"
"Yours. But I want you to be happy and you don't seem to be going in that direction."
"So I should just forgive him? Just like that?"
"No, you shouldn't. But you should give him a chance to at least be a boyfriend before you blank him out and sit there hurting because of it."
`-*-`
"Well, you could look at it this way," Alex mused as he flipped the closed sign so he and Kane could grab some lunch, something they had only just begun since Kinley had gotten suspended. "Your obsession has finally moved off of Kinley."
Kane glared at Alex even as he opened the pizza box and pulled a slice onto his napkin. "What I have with Reese is not an obsession. I love him."
"I don't mean to sound like an asshole, Kane-"
"Then don't."
"But how can you love him when you two haven't even had sex yet? You don't even know if you're compatible in that way," he said, trying to be honest.
"Not everything is about sex, Alex."
"No, but that is a good portion of it and particularly in a gay relationship. It's something we want and need. If you really want to stay faithful to the guy, it's gotta be good sex too and not just a physical action."
Kane tossed his pizza down on the top of the box and the his hands up in the air. "What is with every body? You bitch for years because I'm infatuated with Kinley and now that I am actually and honesty in love with a guy who I really want to be with, you pick it apart like I'm making a mistake."
Alex shrugged, "Well, maybe you are."
"I don't want to hear this shit," he growled and turned.
"Kane, I'm not trying to be mean and I have nothing against the guy. He's sexy and funny, you two would get along well. I just… You cheated on him before ever getting together. Are you sure you're ready for a commitment right now? Maybe you still have some wild oats to sow or whatever that expression is. I don't want you to rush into anything."
Kane paused at the genuine caring in Alex's voice before sighing and coming back to sit at the counter. He thought about Kinley and what he had done and then Reese. Meeting Alex's eyes, he shook his head, "I've never been one to play the field and I may have been confused in the past. But I know what I want this time."
"And that is?"
"Reese."
Alex couldn't help but smiled at the answer. "You are so sugary sweet, Candy Kane," he teased, using Jessie's nickname for the man. "I'm sure your guy will come around."
Kane blushed a bit but shrugged. "I hope so too."
`-*-`
"What are you waiting for? Go in there!"
Reese grunted at the shove his brother gave to his arm and glared at the man. "I think this is stupid."
"Why is that? Isn't this where it happened?" Brendan asked, "Go in there and give this storyline of yours a remake. Make it work out like it should have the first time."
"My life is not a story line, you asshole," he huffed. "And what if that guy he cheat-" He stopped to roll his eyes at his brother's raised brow, "Slept with is in there?"
"Ignore him or tell him to fuck off if he comes up to you. But go get your man, baby brother, and make sure he knows that he is yours this time."
"Fine, I'm going. But just know that I am against this lame plan of yours," he grumbled but pushed the door open. Stepping out of the car and onto the sidewalk he checked his back pocket to ensure he had his wallet before heading over to the door to Kane's workplace. Not pausing to still the beating of his heart when he saw the man through the window, he kept repeating to himself what Brendan had told him and made his way into the tattoo parlor.
Kane's head rose at the sound of the bell jingling over the door but his eyes remained on the newest patron as he walked determinedly up to Kane. Reese looked tired but still handsome with his low riding jeans and black t-shirt that looked a little rumpled like he had put them on with little to no thought. It was something Kane had always appreciated about Reese, he didn't seem to care that much about the material things like labels or hairstyles, he just did him and looked madly sexy doing it.
The man's looks aside Kane wasn't really sure what to say and after the way he had acted last time and then the way Reese had ignored all of his calls and texts he just felt weird. What was he supposed to say?
"Uh, hi?" Was that croak really his voice?
Reese stared at him a long moment, his eyes taking in the dark burgundy hair and paler skin of the man he had been whining about for the last few days. Even sitting down behind the counter, Kane looked massive as he was just a big man. His physically fit body was broad and length and it just did something for Reese. Always had which was why he had to shake himself to get back on track, otherwise he could stand there and stare at him all day.
"I'm here for a piercing," Reese said, mimicking the words from the other day.
"Okay," Kane swallowed, not sure what was happening but rose all the same and gestured for the man to follow him to the back. Once he led Reese into the little out-of-the-way room, he turned and asked, "What would you like?" He felt so awkward as he awaited that answer that he actually found himself fidgeting.
Reese didn't bother to take a seat atop the padded bed and instead crowded in close to Kane. His original plan was to actually get a piercing and then be flirty and charming but he just couldn't bring that side of himself out. He didn't feel flirty or charming, he felt hurt and needy and he wanted this man with everything he had. Which was something he just couldn't understand about himself.
"Reese," Kane said his name softly as the man came in so very close that he could smell the clean, masculine scent of him. What was he doing? He had expected the next time he encountered Reese would be a hurtful time where he got called the slut he apparently was and got kicked to the curb permanently. He damn sure didn't expect the man to just show up like this.
Threading his fingers in red hair, Reese tugged the tattoo artist a few inched down to rest their foreheads together. "I wanted to be angry with you. I am angry with you. I'm hurt and I knew even when we argued the other night that I had no right to be. We are not together and you never said you wanted to be so it was not my right to get jealous and angry because you had sex with someone else," he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "You wanted to be friends and I must have tried to force more on you. I'm sorry about fir that."
"Reese, you didn't push anything on me," Kane said, not liking the hurt expression on the man's face. Bringing a hand up to cup the man's face, he told him, "I'm not sure what the hell happened or why it did but I don't want to fight with you and I don't want to not have you. It may have been a friendly thing we started with but I want you more than that-"
"Then why- Nevermind," he pulled away and moved to sit atop the padded bed. "I just said it didn't matter and then turned around and asked you. Got I suck at this shit."
"I know the feeling," the redhead mused. "But you're entitled to your feelings. I mean, you did tell me how you felt right before that happened and well, I don't have an answer for why it happened. It just did. But I don't want Kinley anymore. I want you."
"How can you know what you want after having some sort of obsession for so long?" his voice wasn't argumentative, just tired.
"Because people change, I've changed and the only person on my mind for these past few months has been you. Reese. Not Kinley. Maybe having him that last time was just my way of reassuring myself that my feelings were gone, I don't know. But I swear it will never happen again."
Reese turned mismatched eyes up to meet Kane's black ones, "How can you know that?"
"Because I want you. I love you." Kane's words were heartfelt and had him taking the few steps forward to be close to the man. Pulling Reese to his feet, he kissed him with all the aggression he had held pent up for the last few days, months, even years. Throughout his entire adulthood, all he had ever really wanted was for someone to love who wouldn't squash it and who Kane could feel happy giving said love to. While he had loved Kinley on some level, rationally he had known that the man was not that person. But with Reese…
Reese sighed into the kiss and returned it full force, his tongue meeting Kane's thrust for thrust until they were finally forced to pull back for air. "You love me?" was the first thing he blurted out between panting breaths.
Kane grinned but nodded. "Yeah."
"But we haven't even… How can you be sure?" he asked.
The redhead rolled his eyes, "What are you and Alex in cohorts together or something? You can love someone and it have nothing to do with sex."
"I hope it has something to do with sex," Reese said, wrapping his arms around the man's shoulders and moving in close to rub the length of his body against the redheads.
Kane gulped, his hands sliding down Reese's muscular back to his cute ass, even as his curiosu mind had his saying, "This feels too easy."
Reese's eyes bulged a moment, "Wow, glad you think so."
The redhead held him close when he would have pulled away. "No, I mean after what I did to you. How can you be so forgiving?"
"Because you said we were just friends and my asshole brother raided my house and interrupted my Disney session to reminded me of that. Well, and the fact that life is too short to hold grudges and to spite myself because I want you so much. But I'm warning you, if you cheat on me again 'friends' or not, I'm done," his face was dead serious, his mismatched eyes darkening.
"Boyfriends," Kane corrected him. "And I wont."
"Boyfriends," Reese smiled and shook his head, "Guess this means you can finally fuck me then, huh?"