Melting - Sean Ashcroft Page 0,48

the other end of the phone—startled laughter, the kind you laughed when you were upset and someone cracked a joke to make you feel better. Hayden laughed, too, stroking my knuckles with this thumb.

“Okay. We’ll talk later about what happens next. If you need anything, just call. I’ll even take my phone off silent for you. Okay?”

I watched as Hayden said his goodbyes and hung up, leaving the phone on the bed between us.

What happened next was Hayden went back to New York.

I’d known it was coming, but why did it have to be now?

“Didn’t mean to wake you,” he said. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Wanna tell me what’s going on?”

“My sous-chef broke his foot,” Hayden said. “While he was screwing my manager, which, y’know, they’re adults, they’re allowed. But they’ve been dating for months and didn’t tell me.”

“Why?” I frowned.

Hayden sighed. “Partly because they knew how miserable I was and didn’t want to rub their happiness in my face, I guess,” he said.

“Partly because Marissa wants to break out on her own, start a more traditional patisserie. With Omar as her head chef? She could totally do it. She’s so good at keeping on top of trends, and Omar’s… he’s… uh, less temperamental than I am. I guess she didn’t want me to worry that she was right on the verge of abandoning me.”

“You’re not temperamental,” I said. “You’ve had a rough couple of years.”

“I’ve had a rough decade,” Hayden responded. “But I was always like this. Moody. Brooding. Difficult.”

I smiled at that. “Oh, I know. I’m the one who had to paint your room,” I said. “Black, really?”

Hayden shrugged. “I was seventeen. And gay in a small town. I’d already dated and broken up with every other gay boy I knew—which was one—so no one was ever going to understand me, and I was going to die alone.”

I raised Hayden’s hand to my lips, kissing his knuckles gently. “Poor baby emo Hayden,” I said, smiling against his hand. “Are there pictures?”

Hayden snorted. “There might be. You can ask Dad for them if you want.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said.

“I’m sorry for waking you,” Hayden repeated.

“Don’t be,” I said again. “But you could make it up to me by helping me get back to sleep.”

“Yeah?” Hayden asked, brow raised.

“Mmhmm.” I shuffled closer, trailing my free hand down his stomach, brushing fingertips against his cock. “It is still your birthday.”

If I was losing him soon, I wanted to make the most of whatever time we had left.

Hayden laughed, rolling me onto my back and climbing on top of me, all without letting go of my hand.

“Then why do I feel like you’re the one being spoiled?”

I deactivated my hookup app profile for new matches while Hayden talked to Marissa on the phone.

I didn’t want to delete the app entirely—my conversations with Hayden were still in there, and I didn’t want to lose them—but I didn’t want anyone else, either.

Just him.

That was a big, scary change, but not nearly as scary as the thought of losing him.

“Okay, so, I think we close up until Tuesday, at least,” Hayden said. “That gives us today and the weekend to figure out how we’re gonna handle things with a man down. How is he, by the way? I texted, but I didn’t really expect a response.”

Tuesday.

So I had Hayden until Monday, maybe.

Okay. That was okay.

It wasn’t like he was dying, or anything. It didn’t have to be the end. I could do long-distance.

You couldn’t go without sex for a week, a voice in the back of my head reminded me.

Asshole.

“Okay, okay,” Hayden nodded, picking at a chip in my kitchen counter with his fingernail. “Keep me updated, and let’s just… call this a surprise holiday for the staff. Pay them for whatever hours they’re rostered on. And you get some sleep.”

A pause, more of that startled laughter, and a tired smile from Hayden.

“I’ll have you know I’m getting lots of rest, and I’ve got witnesses to back me up,” he said, looking at me. “So no excuses, young lady.”

Another pause.

“Hey, you’ve got bigger things to worry about than my birthday. I’ll still be thirty when I get back. Worry about you, I’ve got people to take care of me.” He said, reaching out for my hand. “Mmhmm. Talk to you later.”

Hayden sighed, set the phone down on the kitchen counter, and slumped.

He was all the way back to the way I’d seen him on the first day he arrived, and I hated it.

We’d never actually