Decadent (16 page)

The hot spray of the shower woke Lachlan better than the alarm clock had. He felt refreshed and ready for anything after his extraordinary sleep the night before. But it was yet another Monday morning and he had to face school, which wasn't as daunting as it had been on Friday. All the aches and pains of the weekend chaos were soothed under the hot water. He stood there, hands pressed into the wall, letting the spray flow down the back of his head and his back, while he thought his private thoughts.

Cormag had left for the Museum ten minutes before, offering to drop him off at school on his way. But Lachlan was comfortable walking and taking his time getting ready. Mostly, all he could think about was his night with Cormag; so comfortable and casual without lacking the intimacy he had been searching for. He had been wrapped up in his arms all night, only leaving them to make them both a bacon sandwich when they got hungry. It had been completely breathtaking. He had never been so content doing nothing before.

As far as Lachlan was concerned he was with Cormag for the long haul. He wouldn't do anything to jeopardise that. So instead of lingering at the house, lost in his thoughts, he got out of the shower and spent a decent amount of time drying and changing. He still had to stop by his house to pick up his school bag and coursework, but that wouldn't take long. He was relieved that he'd already done his homework at Konnor's house on Thursday night and during the day on Friday morning. He wasn't capable of thinking clearly enough yet to do it before school.

He picked up an apple from the kitchen counter and made his way to the front door, a little surprised when the phone began ringing. He waited, hovering in the hall to hear the message to see if it was important. The minute he heard Harper's voice he rushed into the living room and answered the phone. “Hey, it's Lachlan,” he answered.

“Oh, he
y. I take it Cormag's not in?” he guessed.

“No. He left about an hour ago. Do you want me to take message?” Lachlan asked, picking up a pen and some paper from the coffee table. When he heard the message he put them away and pulled out his mobile to send a text.

“Tell him that he can't call Monroe today. Mum says he's got an orientation day, so he's in training all morning. It'll probably be best to call him tomorrow,” Harper explained.

“Got it.”

“Thanks kid. I've got a hectic day ahead of me, so tell him not to bother calling me back,” he continued.

“D
eal,” Lachlan promised to pass on the message and hung up. He was glad he'd given himself extra time before getting to school to stop by his house. If he hadn't he would have been late and everyone would have a reason to stop him from spending the night. Especially Konnor.

Lachlan arrived at school in time to walk into his registration class. Coly clasped his shoulder as they walked into the room at the same time. He took his seat beside Konnor, not even remembering
their previous arguments. “Hey.”

“Why are you so chipper? And why didn't I see you this morning?” Konnor wondered, frowning at him.

“I was on my way out the door when the phone went. Then I had to head home and grab my stuff,” he explained honestly, completely unaware of who he was talking to. When the teacher called his name from the register he answered his presence and relaxed.

“Why did you have to go home? Where were you?” Konnor asked with a bite.

“I stayed over at Cormag's. As long as the folks and Cormag agree I'll be staying over whenever I can.” He shrugged, offering Konnor a casual smile as he heard the bell going, marking the end of registration. He had a free period first thing and he was hoping to get some things done, so he grabbed his bag and took off for the cafeteria.

Lachlan made his way there and got himself a decent seat in a corner, where he could get some peace. He wanted to go over his English essay one more time, recheck the facts on his History homework and add a few highlights to his Art work, due for a few days time. Since everything was mostly finished anyway, he took out his phone first and fired off a quick text to Cormag, to check that he'd received his previous message about Harper's phone call.

Got it, thanks. Want to give me a call around one, now that my break is free?
Cormag shot back.

He was pleased that he asked, because he hadn't wanted to interrupt him at work. It was nice that he didn't have to ask.

Nah. Think I might sit here and sulk. Or talk to Konnor. I don't know which one will be more boring.

Lachlan rolled his eyes at the ridiculous nature of such a question. Of course he wanted to call him. In fact, he wanted to do more than call him. He wanted to see him, kiss him, talk to him, spend time with him. He wanted to do so many things that there wasn't enough time.

Glad to hear you're in a good mood.

He could imagine Cormag's laughter as he sent the text back.

Is it possible to be in a bad mood after
last night? I had the best time,
he confessed to what he'd been thinking all morning.

His brain was stuck in euphoric mode after their night together. It was so simple
, but so heart-warming; it made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside thinking about it. Not even talking to Konnor and hearing his unchanging attitude could break through that. There was a moment when there was no reply and he wondered if he'd been wrong to say such a thing, even though it was the truth.

Me too. Same tonight?
Cormag replied.

Lachlan let out a breath of relief. His mother had made it perfectly clear the night before, when he text to say he wouldn't be home, that she didn't care. In fact, she'd made a particularly intriguing comment about him being of age to go wherever he wanted without having to keep checking in with her. So he decided to go along with it.

If I come over I might not leave again,
he replied, smiling to himself.

I can deal with that.

Lachlan was lost in his own little world during the entire free period. He had plans within plans going around his head as to what the night would hold, standing by his locker and thinking about his dinner with Cormag. He was right. Just because he could cook didn't mean that he should do it all the time.

He was old enough that he should know how to cook something successfully by now, even if it was something simple. He put his experience with the fajitas down to being distracted by the conversation with his mother and Konnor. He would head along to the market after school and pick up something he could make for dinner so that Cormag didn't have to cook. It would be a surprise, whether he succeeded or not.

***

Cormag took a sip of his morning coffee and checked the draft entry in the database. The young student volunteer they'd had in over a week ago had been tasked with uploading a few items into the database for cataloguing. It was a good thing he'd remembered to check the details before confirming the entry; half of it was wrong and the other half was missing.

He sighed and turned to the box on the floor by his desk. Someone had donated an entire three boxes worth of photographs linked to a prominent local provost from the eighteen hundred's and it was the volunteer's job to catalogue each photograph. They hoped to do an entire display of artefacts related to local heroes and prominent members during the summer, but now he wasn't convinced they would make their deadline. And if they did, he would have to be the one doing the donkey work. The volunteer was either lazy or incompetent. It couldn't be that she didn't know what she was doing because he'd sat with her, doing an entire box as he showed her how to do every single thing.

The more he thought about the task ahead of him; having to completely redo all three boxes to check there were no mistakes; the more he looked forward to talking to Lachlan on his lunch break. He might even have to tell him that he would be home later than expected for their dinner together. He wasn't allowed to do a lot of overtime because his wages were coming from the local council and were set at the minimum wage, but he might get an hour or so. And if not, he might have to do some unpaid weekend hours to meet their deadline.

“Cormag.”

He looked up at the unfamiliar voice and spotted Konnor standing in the doorway. For a moment he frowned to himself and rubbed his eyes, positive he wasn't really there.

“Can I come in? I'd like to talk to you,” he said, his hand on the door handle.

“Yes,” w
as all he managed to say. He didn't know what he was doing there, but he had no idea whether it would be good or bad. He saved his recent work and closed down the windows and then the computer. He would need to collect the boxes from the inventory warehouse at the back of the museum before he did anything else. After that last incident, when the routine practice fire alarm set off the sprinkler system and fried his computer, he wasn't taking any chances that he might lose his work.

“Well, to what do I owe this visit?” Cormag asked, as he moved around his desk and perched on the corner. He gestured for Konnor to sit, but he shook his head and stood inside the door, shuffling his feet.

“I saw you with Lachlan this weekend, after dinner. You thought we'd all gone into the bar to watch the game, but I realised Lachlan wasn't behind me any more so I came back and heard you talking,” Konnor began, sounding nervous.

Cormag raised an eyebrow at him, surprised that he was admitting that much when he spent most of his time trying not to acknowledge that he was in a relationship with Lachlan in the first place. “I believe
we were doing more than talking,” he said casually.

“Yeah. Well, I figure that maybe Lachlan's got a point.” The words clearly stuck in his throat because he swallowed and looked away.

Cormag wasn't going to argue; it seemed like he was trying to do what Lachlan wanted because he loved him enough to try. He was important to Lachlan and Cormag didn't want to ruin their friendship, so he listened.

“Maybe I was trying to smother him and I didn't give you a fair chance. I'm going to, from now on. I…it's hard for me. He's always been the same person the whole time I've known him. Suddenly you s
how up and he's not Lachlan anymore,” Konnor complained, pacing the floor as he talked.

“You're not thinking about this logically, Konnor. You're thinking with your emotions, because you're afraid that after Orion hurt him he's going to get hurt by me as well and it will be too much for him. I might not have known him long, but Lachlan means a lot to me. I've never felt this way for anyone before.”

Cormag hated telling Konnor something so personal. But he was of the mind that he and Lachlan needed to be as honest and open as possible for Konnor to understand what was happening. He was taking it especially hard, which he was sorry for. But it wasn't his fault.

“What you need to do now is decide if you
can deal with him being with me,” he asked, hoping he might get an answer soon so that he could ease Lachlan's mind about the whole thing. He thought he was going to lose Konnor forever; he didn't want that to be true.

“
He's no different to the Lachlan you've always known. It's just that when he's with me he's happy and he likes to flirt a lot. That's why you've never seen him that way before; not because he's been hiding it from you or because I've changed him. It's just that he knows how he feels about me and he isn't afraid to admit that,” he tried to explain the situation as best as he could. But short of getting Lachlan to explain, he wasn't sure what he could say that Konnor would believe.

“Just because he's never flirted with you it's something you're unfamiliar with. But he was like that from the minute I met hi
m. We had an instant connection,” he tried to reassure him that it wasn't anyone's fault. “I understand that if it were you I'd found in his state, you would have been different. You would never think to notice if another guy was attractive or not and you would never think to flirt with him, even if he was flirting with you.” Cormag wanted Konnor to accept that Lachlan wasn't the straight-laced guy he was used to. Nothing else had changed.

“That's where Lachlan is different. He looked at me and he didn't see gay or straight. He saw a guy he was attracted to on a physical and intellectual level and he k
new that I was attracted to him,” he said, keeping a close eye on Konnor as he stood there, shaking his head. He didn't know what it meant, but it symbolised the end of his friendship with Lachlan. He knew then that he would never understand their relationship.

“The only thing coming between you right now is that you don't trust him to take care of himself and be smart about our relationship. You're afraid he's going to get hurt. Which, believe me, I appreciate. I don't
want to see him get hurt either,” Cormag reassured Konnor that he would never let anything hurt Lachlan, even if their relationship might. He would rather lose him than hurt him. “But what you need to understand is that Lachlan
is
being smart. And he trusts himself to make the right choices. He's taking his first big risk in life, being with me and it's only because he knows, as I do, that it's a risk worth taking,” he reasoned.

“So you're saying I don't know this 'intimate' side of Lachlan, so I can't be expected to adjust easily?” Konnor asked, with a tone of voice that said he wanted to seriously punch his lights out.