I just needed to breathe and think about what I wanted to do here. I entered the bathroom and stopped frozen in spot when I saw one single shelf that was so out of place here that it screamed Karl. It was methodically stacked with about ten oils and lotions, a toothbrush, a shaving kit, and a fancy-looking blowdryer.
It would be just slightly less weird if Donald weren’t bald. The rest of the bathroom was… let’s just say, in the state, you would guess by being in this house, but this shelf was like catalog-picture-perfect. I looked in the shower and found another three bottles that were in striking contrast to Don’s things. I took out my phone and looked up one cream in front of me.
“Who the fuck spends three hundred bucks on face cream?!” I whispered to myself.
This is definitely not fling! If Karl keeps thousands of dollars worth of cosmetics here, they must have been dating for years, not fucking a couple of times!
.
I stormed out of the bathroom and looked at Don. Just that moment, I realized that if Don keeps that here he must care a lot for Karl too. I didn’t give a damn about Karl’s feelings, but I sure as hell cared about Don’s. That calmed me down, and I felt a bit of camaraderie with this guy. Didn’t I like Kyle a bit too much as well?
“How long are you two dating?”
He frowned and realized why I may have asked that. He looked behind me to the bathroom door and crossed his arms in front of his chest again.
“Why?”
“Don.”
“It’s none of your business.”
“Does Kyle know about that?”
Don looked at me intently, observing me.
“Why do you ask?” He definitely had suspicion now.
“Okay, Don. Can we just calm down? Let’s agree that whatever we say now will not leave this room.”
Don nodded.
.
“I know, Kyle. We didn’t sleep together, but he is kind of my buddy.”
“How do you know him? Other than that encounter in the garage.”
“I started to go to boulder gym and met him there. He is helping me now with rebuilding my basement.”
“You finally doing that?”
“Yeah, you know now when I have time.”
“Cool.” He nodded, still observing me. “Do you like him?”
“Do you love Karl?” I can’t imagine Don letting Karl leave his things here like that otherwise.
We stared at each other in silence for a few moments.
.
“Okay, cut all bullshit and swear nothing goes out?”
I nodded. “I suppose we both have few things on each other we could use if we would be like that. And I find that beneath me, especially to do it to a friend.” I said.
He nodded. “Same.”
“Fine. Yes, I do.”
“Does he know that?”
“I am pretty sure he does.”
“Same.”
Great, we got somewhere, but I suppose we were still too worried just to expose it all.
“How long is it going on?”
“How about you?”
I had to chuckle. This was getting ridiculous.
“I met him just a couple of weeks back. He tried to keep his distance from me most of the time. I suppose he felt ashamed that he had sucked me off, but we became good friends after a while. That’s how I found out. When we were talking on the phone, he mentioned Karl working overtime, and it didn’t add up to me, being the middle of December. So I got kind of angry that Karl may be cheating on him and wanted to know before I said something to Kyle and made a mess of things.
“So you asked Phil to look at cameras if Karl is really at work?”
“In a way, yes. He wasn’t excited about doing that.”
“Still, you probably persuaded him.”
“Yes.”
“What did you see?”
“Your Friday farewell.”
Don’s lips curved slightly up. “What do you want to do about it now?”
“I don’t know, man. Nothing, I just felt like you should know, and I wanted to talk to you. I know that I would want to know if that was me.”
Don let down his arms and sat down. “Well, to answer your question. We’ve been together for quite a long, and yes, Kyle knows.”
“Why the fuck he didn’t tell me?”
Don frowned, observing me.
“I suppose he didn’t feel like exposing his fiancé.”
“Still! He could have told me.”
“I suppose he didn’t want to.”
I sat down, frustrated.
.
“You do like him, do you?”
“He’s a bro.”
“We said to cut the bullshit, Ross.”
I looked at him, defeated.
Don sighed, came to me, patted my shoulder, and went to the kitchen for another beer.
“Just to be sure. Does anyone else know?” he asked.
“No, just Phil. But don’t worry. We got your back. We were just shocked.”
“Trust me. I was shocked myself the first two years.” I heard his soft laugh when he emerged from the kitchen.
“First two years?!”
“Yeah, we had our third anniversary a few weeks ago.”
“Man!”
“This cannot get out,” he pointed his index finger at me.
“Then you should take better care of the footage.”
“I suppose you are right. But it’s really hot,” he smirked at me.
“True.”
“So that thing on your shirt is cum?”
“What?” I looked, and he was right. With everything going on, I forgot I shot on my shirt. “Shit. Yeah.”
He looked amused. And just laughed at it as he sat down.
.
“You liking McCoy. How long is that going on?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t fucked, well….”
“Well?”
“Kyle is top. He is not open to being fucked.”
“I heard that is kind of your type. Straight and tops. I was genuinely stunned you managed to get him.”
“Yeah, well, experience,” I smirked. “Not like it helped me much further.”
“So, why do you bother?”
“He kind of grew on me.”
I told him a very short version of our relationship. I was intentionally leaving out sexual things we did. He listened non-judgingly and just drank from his bottle.
.
“Just don’t.”
“Not like you can judge me, Don.”
“I am not. But I can see you already care for him. Trust me. It’s not worth it.”
“Why?”
“They will never break up. Save yourself the heartache.”
“Look who is talking.”
He shrugged his shoulders, admitting my point with a sad laugh.
.
“Karl. Does he love you?”
“He says so, but there is no point in that. I will never be good enough.”
“What the fuck?”
“It’s nice that you don’t know. I suppose there is still a chance for you to run away.”
“What do you mean, man?”
“Did you see the house they live in?”
“No. I don’t even know the street they’re on.”
“Good. Keep it like that. Seriously.”
“Why?”
“Man, they live pretty much in a palace. They can never show guys like us to their posh parents. I suppose they can keep coming back and saying the first year how much they hate it, but even when you get through that, and they realize they love you, they just can’t be with you.”
“I am not saying I want to marry him.”
“Good, keep it that way. Cos you can’t.”
“You seem so sure.”
“You know nothing Ross Garret.”
“Don’t Game of Thrones me, dude. Tell me.”
“Their parents got them pretty much by the balls. If they split and got together with someone as we are, they would renounce them.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. I already asked him that. I can’t count the number of fights we had over this. After a while, I just resigned.”
.
“How does Kyle deal with that Karl is with you?”
“I think he doesn’t ask. From what I know, they have a kind of agreement. They don’t even fuck.”
“What do you mean they don’t fuck?”
“It’s a sham marriage.”
“That’s what Karl told you?”
Don nodded.
Great, give me more drama that I need to think about whether I want to get involved in… I don’t need this shit. I decided to let it slide this time. I will ask Kyle first. We definitely need to talk after this.