The family that preys together…- 51

Two weeks passed.

Kent had stayed away from the health club despite his desire to see Crispin again. Everything from their first meeting through to the incredibly hot kiss that Crispin had instigated in the pool. The kiss he had so negatively reacted to moments later because it had been visible to the other members, if they had been paying attention. Kent knew showing up there and running into Crispin would only reinforce the problem Crispin had about their…relationship, not negate it.

He also forced himself not to call Crispin, mostly because he wasn’t certain what he’d say if the man answered. Apologize for his last angry words? It was too late for that. Act as if nothing had happened? Not really an option. Suggest they get together and just talk. He knew he couldn’t handle it if Crispin were to brush that idea aside.

But he had to do something because the last two weeks had been interminably long and miserable. When had he begun to care so deeply for a man he really barely knew? The first time he’d seen him sitting alone and looking so lonely at the health club? During that first tentative kiss Crispin had given him? Somewhere in between when they were slowly working on a friendship that he for one had prayed would become more? He didn’t know the answer but he did know that he cared very much for the strange but enticing Crispin Hill. Probably, obviously when he thought about it, too much for his own good.

So he’d rattled around the apartment or gone out to the clubs when Rick had pushed him into it. Although his roommate was as straight as they came, he was the best friend Kent had and Kent could tell he was worried about him. Rick had commiserated when Kent had needed to talk and urged him to get out of the apartment if only to see that there was still a world outside of work and home; a world where men found him attractive and wouldn’t lay a guilt trip on him if he reciprocated their interest.

Finally, knowing he had to do something before he went crazy, he’d decided to bite the bullet and go to Crispin’s home. He was aware that the man lived with his father and brother because Crispin had mentioned it briefly in passing during one of the meals they’d shared. Given the size of the place, which he’d seen only from the outside on the morning he’d driven Crispin home, it could have held several families comfortably. It was quite obvious that Crispin had meant it when he’d said he was comfortably well off.

It took Kent an hour, after coming home for work and showering, to decide what to wear. He vacillated between going casual in jeans and a T, and much more formal in one of the suits he owned for work. Finally he took the middle road, settling on nice slacks and a button-down. And shoes, not sandals, which when he thought about it made him smile.

By the time he was set to take off it was already past seven. He figured he’d get to the house soon after eight, traffic willing, which on a Friday night it might not be. He just prayed that when he got there he’d find Crispin at home, and that he’d consent to see and talk to him.