Page 78 of The Only Seconds that Matter
“Hmm?”Sebastian moaned as he rolled halfway onto his back.“Hey.”
“I’m going to head out,” Victor said, sadness clinging to the inside of his throat.“Just wanted to let you know.”
“What?Oh, no, I can make you breakfast or something.”
“That’s very kind of you but not necessary.I’ve already taken up enough of your time.”
“I don’t mind!”Sebastian shoved himself to a sit and reached for the sheets over his legs.“I can make something quick.”
“Sebastian, it’s fine.”Victor rested a hand on his arm, unable to keep himself from rubbing a thumb over his skin.“I really do have to get going.The horses don’t feed themselves.”
“Oh.Okay.”Sebastian’s expression fell, and Victor felt terrible even though they’d both known this was as far as their relationship could go.“Well… thank you.I had a lot of fun last night, and not just the sex parts.Everything else, too.”
“Me, too.”
Sebastian stared at him a second, then pounced forward and yanked Victor into a hug.Victor embraced him as tightly as his chest felt, tucking his face into the gap of Sebastian’s shoulder just to have a moment to cement his scent in memory.
“You’re like a real cowboy,” Sebastian whispered against Victor’s neck.“Running off into the sunset.”Sebastian sighed and released Victor, looking defeated.“Sorry.I don’t want to be weird and clingy.”
Victor stood, then took Sebastian’s face between both his hands.Maybe his breath was still funky, but he didn’t care as he placed a firm kiss on Sebastian’s mouth.When Sebastian’s big brown eyes looked up at him like a stray at his doorstep, Victor rubbed a thumb along his cheekbone.
“What did I say about apologizing?”Victor said softly.
Sebastian’s mouth flickered with a sad smile.“To not do it.”
“Thatta boy.”Victor patted Sebastian’s cheek, then headed out of the room.He paused briefly at a lit aquarium, taking another look before leaning back to view Sebastian through the crack in the door.“Hey, what’s in this aquarium thing?”
“My tarantula,” Sebastian called back.
Victor winced and made a beeline for the door.Maybe Sebastian admired his manly ways, but there was no man inside of him that wanted anything to do with spiders.
* * *
Both of his boarders and Jade were showing today, so Victor spent most of the day at the barn, making sure they had everything they needed for their classes.In the meantime, he and Taylor sat in lawn chairs in the empty stall that served as their tack room, chatting about school and how consistently she was completing her homework.The girl could not sit still for the life of her.For this reason, he’d given her a toothbrush and some saddle soap and put her to work cleaning every saddle and bridle in their collection.When he asked her what her uncle was up to, she shrugged.Apparently he’d dropped her off with Victor and vanished for the morning.Victor hoped he wasn’t up to something stupid.
“Victor?”Taylor asked as she scrubbed.“Last night you said that guy was your date.”
“I did?”
“Yeah.And I’ve been thinking about it.Was he really your date or were you just joking?”
Victor looked over at Taylor, who was staring at him with the plaintive look of a curious child.Victor had never been called a slur by a child, so it wasn’t so much Taylor he was worried about as it was her parents.If they figured out a gay man was mentoring their daughter, would they move her to a different barn?
“I was being serious,” Victor said, mouth dry.
“So… you like boys?”she asked.
“Uh, yeah.”
“Do you like girls too?”
“No, just boys.”
“Do you like my uncle?”
Victor nearly dropped his phone in shock at the question but caught it right before it hit the concrete.“Your uncle and I are just friends.”
Taylor pursed her lips as if she were doubtful, and Victor felt like chiding her for being such a precocious child.His love life was none of her business.“He’s been real grumpy lately, and I was wondering if you two are fighting or something.”
