A Wealth of Unsaid Words (3 page)

A Wealth of Unsaid Words • R. Cooper

knew exactly which interview Ty was referring to. It had been

just after he"d been photographed a few times at events in

the city, and they had posted the pictures alongside the

interview; Alex with his jacket gone, his black hair once

again in his face, wearing a loose shirt with the top buttons

always undone, bracelets and rings visible because his

sleeves were rolled up. They"d find him when he was holding

a drink and had his reading glasses on, he assumed to make

him look the part of a hedonistic writer.

On the blog, they"d paired those pictures with candid

stills from his younger years that had made their way online.

Without context, the pictures of him driving a borrowed

sports car while naked, or fall-down drunk, or kissing men

and women in fuzzy, out-of-focus moonlit streets made him

seem devil-may-care, madcap, perhaps even romantic. The

kissing pictures had been especially popular. The pictures of

actual sex that had appeared later, even more so. He was

finally healthier now, had a decent body and some strength

to him, but then, living off little sleep and in constant

motion, he"d been some people"s ideal, strong and thin and

young, if shorter than he"d always wanted to be. Dark of hair

and eye, prone to heavy jewelry and tight clothes when he"d

worn them at all, they"d described him as having a wicked

glint in his eyes and a burning energy only supplanted by a

seductive intensity.

As Alex could barely remember driving that car and

absolutely couldn"t recall the names of most of the people

he"d been kissing or fucking, he had a hard time looking at

those pictures without flinching. Even now he felt sick to

think of them. As for the seductive glint in his eyes, he

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A Wealth of Unsaid Words • R. Cooper

thought he seemed lost, his gaze always off-center, always

peering into the distance. There was nothing wicked about it,

at least not to him. But he took another drink against all

doctors" advice and smiled anyway as he answered the way

he answered all questions about his past or his love life.

“I can"t recall.”

They hadn"t liked that, anymore than they"d liked his

attitude when the questions had turned to the subject of his

poems. Ty didn"t like to hear it now.

“Sexy Lexy,” Molly burst out, sharing that stupid

nickname with the kitchen at large. “Subtitled: Mad, Bad,

and Dangerous to Know. It was incredible!”

“Incredible,”

Alex

repeated

dryly,

and

George

uncomfortably resettled at his side, the frown he shared with

his son very much in evidence.

“It was bullshit is what it was,” Everett called out from

too far away, and Alex closed his eyes at the sweeping

wildfires under his skin and the cold hollow in his gut.

“Little ears!” Rachel shouted. Alex opened his eyes in

time to see her sweeping her brother into a hug despite her

protests about his language. Alex adored Rachel, her steady

gaze, her self-assurance, but his stare bypassed her and

went straight to Everett as though Rachel momentarily did

not exist.

As his gaze flew to Everett, every atom of his only-too-

mortal body wanted to do the same. He was alight and could

only vaguely wonder that others could not see the glow. It

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A Wealth of Unsaid Words • R. Cooper

seemed reflected at a distance, as though Everett burned

from within as he turned, and for a second, their eyes met.

Alex couldn"t even fault himself for staring. Everett

commanded attention, not that he seemed to expect it. He

ducked his head at eyes on him and showed no sign that he

was aware of his attractiveness. Perhaps he wasn"t. He was

tall and built like an athlete, but the charm in his face came

from something inside of him rather than his individual

features.

Alex had been called handsome, even beautiful, but it

was Everett he"d never been able to stop watching, with his

short hair and slightly big ears, his curving mouth, and

those wide hazel eyes that always had faint shadows under

them, as though his nights were not easy. He had on a

winter coat and a scarf over a dark purple knitted sweater

that looked like a present from last year that he was wearing

to let someone know how much he"d loved it. His ears were

red from the cold, and he was shivering a little, but he

dropped everything he was holding to squeeze his sister and

say something to her that made her laugh.

Everett, who had never lacked boyfriends since college,

though they had never lasted long. Everett, who had kept

mysteries from him.

His mother ran over to Everett for her share of his

embrace, demanding to know why he hadn"t driven down

with Alex and getting an answer about work that was

probably at least a partial truth, though it did not satisfy

Ally. But she was quickly followed by some of the children

and had no chance to press the question.

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A Wealth of Unsaid Words • R. Cooper

The last time Alex had seen Everett in person had been

months ago at his birthday dinner in the city, safely

surrounded by others so he could stick to the promise he"d

made to himself, but Everett looked the same as he had

then, as he usually did, tired from his work but happy. He

hadn"t smiled as he"d blown out the candles on his cake, so

many more than there used to be, but he had locked gazes

with Alex as though he had caught him counting.

Or perhaps, Alex"s traitorous, hungry mind had

whispered, Everett had been counting too.

Just as he had then, Everett raised his head with no

warning, finally looking over to Alex while swinging around a

delighted toddler, and when he grinned, Alex pushed away

the whiskey so he could stand up.

He was as young as those children for a moment,

impatient and irritable, and then George forced his daughter

to move, and he was free. Everett left his bags on the floor to

come over to meet him, and the raw panic that took over

Alex"s body was something no amount of salts or liquors

could ever deaden, though for a moment he nearly wished

they could. He exhaled shakily into the collar of Everett"s

thick coat and could barely remember to keep the touch

light, his mind was so full of thoughts of Everett, the burning

chill of the skin of his face, the scent of aftershave by his

mouth, the held breath that Everett only released as Alex

came closer. His arms locked tight around Alex, holding him

up when his knees almost failed him.

Alex"s lips moved, but no sound emerged. He tried to pat

Everett on the back, aware that others could be watching,

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A Wealth of Unsaid Words • R. Cooper

but Everett didn"t bother with any pretense that he wasn"t

happy to see him again. He wrapped his arms around Alex

and crushed their bodies together, then sent Alex"s pulse

racing with one gentle, chiding whisper into his ear before he

let go.

“Hey, stranger, how"ve you been?” The question echoed

among Alex"s swirling, delirious thoughts while Everett

turned away to kiss his sister"s cheek and embrace his father

and meet Ty. Alex had the suspicion that he"d been set up by

the very public question; Everett only played a saint on

weekdays, and he was annoyingly mischievous when he

chose to be. When Everett turned back to him, Alex had

recovered enough to control his expression, though not

enough to stop his gaze from sweeping over Everett"s face.

“We live in the same city, but I never see you.”

Everett, the clever angel, spoke just loud enough for his

mother to hear.

“What do you mean?” Ally was frowning now,

concerned, and Everett turned back to him. He had one

eyebrow up, but on him the expression was more concerned

than arch. Alex looked him over again, noticing how carefully

he was being studied in return and trying not to react

externally, though his heart he could do nothing about.

Everett was probably searching for signs of trouble, and Alex

was very proud of the fact that he wouldn"t find any. He

couldn"t expect Everett to take care of him forever. Everett

deserved a life of his own.

But Ally didn"t know about his deal with himself, the

strangled proposition he"d put to Everett last Christmas,

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