Ripped - 25. Chapter 25

--Bailey—

Bailey sagged against the bathroom door as soon as he'd closed it. He could hear Micah and Logan laughing and talking from behind the closed door on the other side of the bathroom. He shook his head at Declan's suitemates, a tiny grin lifting the corners of his mouth. They had given Declan a hard time, but Bailey could tell they were good friends.

At least his body had recovered from waking this morning secured in Declan's arms, even if his mind hadn't. That feeling of being wanted, needed... loved might be too much quite yet, but it was close... struck Bailey hard. He'd grabbed onto Declan's arm before he could move, holding him in place—holding onto the feelings Declan was awakening in him again. He'd felt dead, lost, aching, for so long, it seemed like he'd never feel hope or happiness again.

He pushed away from the door and quickly dressed. After brushing his teeth, he splashed some cold water on his face, taking an extra minute to get himself together.

Declan's nervousness had surprised him, and Bailey hadn't expected to be the one in control. It was endearing how unsure Declan had been, but the guy had begun to relax a little after his initial horror at realizing he'd been rubbing against Bailey's back. Declan hadn't even realized that his fingers had been stroking Bailey's skin... but Bailey had sure as hell noticed. The teasing slide of Declan's fingers had been etching fiery trails on his hip and belly, making it nearly impossible for Bailey to ignore. But he'd wanted to calm Declan's mind, set him at ease, so he'd focused on Declan's words—how he'd never done anything more than kiss a girl.

But damn if Declan's fingers, and then his mouth with that searing kiss, hadn't chased away the nightmare his life had become recently, quieting his tormented mind better than... it... ever had.

***

Breakfast in the dining hall had been somewhat quieter than Bailey was used to seeing, probably because students had a wider range of time to saunter down on the weekends, rather than everyone trying to scramble in during the hour before classes started. Some students also tended to skip the earlier meal, sleeping in or munching on something in their room. Bailey had been surprised at how comfortable he was around Micah and Logan. Before, his teammates had pretty much been the only people he would have even considered hanging around with.

Being with Declan, the small, innocent touches here and there Declan kept making, had anxiety Bailey hadn't realized he'd been holding in slowly seeping away. Maybe the reason he wasn't ignored anymore had less to do with Declan himself than how much more open Bailey had recently become because of him.

"You don't mind Micah and Logan, do you?" Declan asked on their way across the Square.

Bailey frowned. "What do you mean?"

There was a hint of red on Declan's cheeks, and it wasn't from his morning shave. "Their ribbing and joking this morning. I don't want them to scare you off or anything."

Bailey laughed. "No. It's fine. I told you that already."

"I know, I know. I just want to make sure. At least, they were somewhat behaved during breakfast, probably because there was hardly anybody else around to annoy."

"Yeah, I didn't even see Justin or anybody else from my team."

"If I remember correctly, I've seen them up pretty late on the weekends. If Evan had been here, we might never had made it to breakfast. For a damn runner, he's pretty lazy about getting up in the mornings."

Bailey laughed as they approached the house. "Yeah, you'd think I'd have seen a few of the track guys at least when I run in the morning."

"Well, you go at the ass-crack of dawn."

Bailey nudged him. "I recall running into you a few times that early."

Declan shrugged. "Well, the first time, I was pissed and hadn't been able to sleep. Then, well, the other times... That's... well, that's when you were running."

"Awww, you saying I'm worth cutting into your beauty sleep to get up early for?" Bailey teased, tilting his chin up so he could meet Declan's eyes.

Declan scrunched his nose and brows like he was considering it, rubbing at his chin. "Hmmm, maybe. But then don't have a lot to improve upon." He swept his hand up and down his body. "All this... is natural awesomeness."

Bailey almost tripped on the step to his front porch from laughing so hard. He was still giggling when the front door opened in front of them.

"Bailey, you're home." His mom's eyes were wide with wonder as she stared at him.

"Hi, mom," he greeted distractedly as he edged inside. "Declan came with me. He said he'd help me with the yard stuff." He stopped suddenly when she only stared open mouthed at him. "What?"

Her eyes glittered, dancing between the two boys. "You're just..." she breathed out on an awed whisper, and Bailey frowned as she waved her hand at him to come to her. She reached forward, pulling him into a tight hug.

"You okay, mom? Did something happen last night?" Bailey asked worriedly.

She glanced over at Declan before looking back at him and slowly nodding. "Yes, yes, I believe it did," she said softly.

Bailey's hands clenched at the thought of Daniel Kirsch hurting his mother in any way, especially after wheedling his way into their lives like he had. "Did Daniel—"

His mom jerked at his angry tone, obviously not expecting it. "Oh no, no, sweetheart. Nothing like that," she assured, waving her hand dismissively. "Daniel and I had a wonderful time. We went to the Melting Pot. You know that fondue place. He had flowers and chocolate covered strawberries waiting... They even took a picture of us and put it in one of those little cardboard memory frames." She paused, obviously briefly lost in the happy memory. She pursed her lips, frowning slightly as she glanced around like she was looking for something. "Hmm, I must have left it in Daniel's car. I'll have to ask him about it."

As much as he was glad his mom was happy, Bailey didn't want to hear about her date with another man. Knowing the man was seeing his mom was one thing. And even though he'd sort of offered his blessing on Daniel taking his mother out for the evening, he still wasn't quite sure he was ready to accept the man in his own life. He was slowly becoming to accept that Daniel Kirsch was here to stay in his mother's life—at least for a while. But how much did the man have to intrude on Bailey's life?

Maybe it was time to consider moving to the dorms at the beginning of the next semester. He wouldn't be faced with his mother and Daniel's growing relationship on a daily basis. And it seemed like his mom didn't need him at home like she had when... when... his father's death was so raw and painful.

"Let's drop our stuff in my room first," Bailey told Declan, before facing his mom. "He brought a change of clothes in case he gets too dirty or sweaty. You can put it up here."

Bailey headed toward the stairs, and Declan moved to follow with a polite nod to Bailey's mom. Bailey was at the door to his room before he realized Declan wasn't right behind him. He turned to see Declan just now starting up the stairs. Bailey lifted a brow in question and Declan cleared his throat and shrugged.

"Your mom just wanted to say, uh, thanks for coming to help you out," Declan explained.

"Really?"

"Yup." Declan edged past Bailey to drop his bag with a change of clothes in it inside Bailey's room. Then he rubbed his hands. "So... let's get dirty."

Bailey burst out laughing.

****

--Declan—

Declan hadn't been prepared for Bailey's mother to grab him as he started up the stairs behind Bailey, but her words had him stunned.

"Thank you. For making my boy smile and laugh again."

Hell, he'd known Bailey had had trouble dealing with his father's death, but... God, those words had nearly knocked the breath out of him. Had Bailey been that lost, that broken?

He suspected Mrs. McIntyre may have been much the same way at least until this Daniel Kirsch guy came along. He knew Bailey resented the man, but Mrs. McIntyre came alive when she'd spoken about their night out.

When he'd gotten Bailey to laugh again before they headed outside, the sound resonated through Declan's soul in a whole new light. Their jovial banter as they walked back downstairs and to the back shed had Declan grinning like a fool that he affected Bailey in such a way.

"So what, exactly, do we have to do?"

Bailey waved at the yard. "Well, mow of course. Edge along the fence, since I haven't done it in a while as you can see."

Declan noticed the longer blades of grass and weeds sticking up along the fence line. Hell, had he weed-whacked at all this summer?

"Pull up the weeds in the flower beds and put the mulch down," Bailey finished with a wave at the bags of mulch stacked along the fence.

The height of the grass and weeds around the bags indicated they'd been there for quite a while, maybe even before—

Oh, hell. Declan suddenly realized that, other than the mowing, the other yard chores apparently hadn't been done since Bailey's father had been killed. Neither Bailey nor his mom had bothered with more than minimal upkeep since the man's passing. He was surprised Mrs. McIntyre hadn't at least called in a lawn guy to do it. It just told him how deeply the man's death had affected the mother and son.

"Okay, yeah. I can do that," Declan announced as cheerfully as he could. "Maybe. I think so anyway."

Bailey stopped halfway across the yard, turning and quirking a brow at him. "You think so?"

"Well, I've never really done this before," Declan admitted.

Bailey threw his arms wide in amusement, chuckling. "What do you mean you haven't done this? You mean mowing? Yard work?"

Declan grinned. At least he still had Bailey laughing. "Well, yeah, hello? Private boarding school, duh."

"What about the summer?" Bailey challenged. "Or before you started boarding school?"

"Um, yeah, I've always been to boarding school, and in the summer I'm either training for the next season or we're taking our family trips."

"Family trips? Like where?"

"I don't know, dude, places. Skiing, beaches... Mexico, Bermuda, the Alps.... Oh, but my favorite was Jamaica man!" He grinned evilly. "No minimum drinking age!"

Bailey just rolled his eyes. "Shoulda known."

Declan grimaced. "Yeah, the morning after wasn't so great."

"So you've never had to take care of your own lawn?"

Declan shook his head. "No, we always had people come and do that."

"People?"

Declan glared at him. "Don't say people like that. Just because I didn't mow lawns growing up doesn't mean I've been deprived of some major life skill."

Bailey cocked his head, his hands on his hips. "Yeah, it kinda does. What happens when you don't have people to help you anymore?"

He grinned. "I'll always have people."

"So sure of yourself, huh?"

Declan sauntered over, almost stalking towards Bailey before gripping his hip and whispering in his ear. "Well, right now I have YOU to help me learn how to get down and dirty. So, teach me, sensei."

Declan felt Bailey quiver in his arms as he sucked in a breath. Bailey ghosted his lips across Declan's stubbly jaw to whisper back. "Then come on padawan, let's teach you how to use a mower."

Declan snorted. "Padawan? What are you, my Jedi master?"

"I find your lack of faith disturbing." Bailey continued on to the shed, and Declan couldn't keep from smiling. "One of us can mow while the other weeds. I can show you how—"

Bailey yanked on the shed door, and it flew open, causing Bailey to stumble back. Declan jumped forward intending to... do something... catch him maybe, but he wasn't sure what had happened or why.

Bailey righted himself, his body going rigid and his jaw clenching. "That son-of-a-bitch... how dare he... he had no right... the goddamn bastard...!"

Declan blinked, opening his mouth to say something, but Bailey's abrupt tirade shocked him. What the hell?

Bailey was glaring at the shed door like it had personally offended him, shouting at it, slamming it open and closed. It took several moments before Declan managed to break out of his stunned paralysis to catch Bailey by the bicep and pull him back away from the offending shed door.

Declan stepped in front of Bailey, grasping both biceps to still his angry flailing as well as force Bailey's focus off the shed and onto him so he could figure out what was going on. What the hell had caused Bailey to go ballistic over the opening of the shed door?

"Woah, woah there, Yoda, come on, it's okay. Come back from the dark side."

Bailey's mouth was open, about to spit out more profanities at the shed door, before he blinked those soft gray eyes and lifted them to Declan's. Declan bit his lip to keep from smirking at rendering Bailey silent for a moment as he processed what Declan had said.

Bailey squinted up at him. "Yoda? What the hell? I'm that short." Declan shrugged as Bailey shoved Declan off of him, the tension in his body dissipating.

"Should I have called you Darth Vader? You were certainly pissed off enough at the shed there." Declan figured continuing to use movie references was helping to lighten the mood.

Bailey's shoulders sagged defeatedly. "If anyone is Darth Vader, it's Daniel Kirsch."

Declan glanced at the offending shed door, swinging innocuously on its hinges. "And what did he do to become a Sith besides being a lawyer?"

That caused Bailey to huff out a laugh, and Declan saw even more of his anger slip away, leaving behind the raw misery glimmering in his eyes. Bailey's gaze darted briefly back to the shed door before wiping the edge of his eye on his shoulder. The tell-tale dampness of tears still stained his lashes, but he looked up at Declan with a wan smile.

"It's nothing really. I shouldn't have gotten that upset over it, but it's just..." Bailey took another calming breath. "My dad was supposed to fix that shed door, but he never got around to it before he got—got deployed. It's stupid, but I guess I kept putting off fixing it myself because of him... He was supposed to do it, but even though he's... he's dead... I still wanted to leave it for him to fix. Does that make any sense at all?" Bailey practically begged Declan to understand, and Declan had to fight back the emotions clogging his throat at Bailey's anguish.

"Yeah, yeah, it makes sense."

Bailey dropped his head, looking lost and defeated. "I know I shouldn't have gotten that upset at Daniel fixing something that I should have done a month ago, but it's like he just... I don't know... just stole something that was dad's. God," he groaned, rubbing his hands over his face, "I'm not making any sense."

"No, no. It's makes perfect sense," Declan assured, grasping Bailey's wrists and pulling them away from his face. "I can't imagine what you're having to go through. Sorting through your life without your father and allowing new people in. I'm glad you let me in. And I know you're trying to let Daniel in, when you suggested he and your mom have a night out together. I could tell your mom appreciated it, but I know it was hard for you to do as well."

"I guess it pisses me off that he just did it. He didn't even ask," Bailey admitted.

"I'm sure he didn't mean any harm by it. Probably just thought he'd save you and your mom some trouble."

Bailey nodded. "Yeah, I know. Just not even sure why he'd be out here in the first place."

"Maybe needed some tools?" Declan gestured at the shelving inside the door where several tools were stored.

"I guess." Bailey stood staring at the shed for so long that Declan thought maybe he'd forgotten why they were out there in the first place.

"So mowing? Weeding?" Declan prompted, earning him a blank stare, so he dropped to his knees, clasping his hands together. "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope."

Bailey huffed, stifling his laughter as he smacked Declan playfully on the back of the head. "You're a dork."

Declan just grinned as Bailey turned to the shed with a smile, his body now relaxed and cheerful as he pulled out the lawnmower and a gas can, followed by gloves and several tools. Declan let Bailey direct him on how the mower worked—pretty simple stuff—as well as how to weed the flower beds around the front of the house before given Declan the option on which job he wanted to tackle. Declan chose the mowing. No way was he interested in crawling around on his hands and knees with all the ants and spiders, let alone any worms or other creepy crawlies. Besides he didn't want to accidently pull up something that he shouldn't. Some of those plants didn't look much different from some of the weeds to him.

Declan finished before Bailey, so he sat on the back steps watching Bailey work the weed-whacker along the back fenceline. His t-shirt was damp and sweaty and sticky to muscles in all the right places. Declan kept hoping he'd take it off.

He lifted the bottom of his own shirt to wipe the sweat from his face and looked back up to catch Bailey staring at him. A slow grin curved his lips, and he winked. Bailey jerked a little, realizing he'd been caught staring, and refocused on zapping the tall blades trying to climb the fence.

The screen door opened behind him, and Declan turned to see Mrs. McIntyre bringing a couple bottles of Gatorade out, their sides dripping with condensation. Declan felt his mouth go even dryer at the thought of the cool liquid quenching his thirst.

"I thought you boys might need something to drink." She handed Declan one as she watched Bailey move to finish edging along the sides of the shed.

Declan cracked open the bottle, lifting it towards her in a pseudo-toast. "Thanks, Mrs. McIntyre."

"So it looks like you did all the hard work, pushing that monstrosity of a mower around," she teased.

"Nah. I just didn't want to crawl in the dirt with the bugs. No offense to your flowers or anything."

She laughed. "None taken. Thank you for helping Bailey out."

Declan debated telling her about Bailey's reaction to the fixed shed door but figured it wasn't his place. He was too new to have any right to intercede into their family life. Bailey would probably tell her later. Declan could see him confronting Daniel about it at dinner even... maybe...

The weed-whacker shut off, and Bailey propped it up against the side of the shed before walking over to them and saying hi to his mom as she handed him the drink.

"Thanks, mom. I think we're almost done," he said between gulps of the icy cold drink. Declan felt his chest tighten as he watched Bailey's throat, the muscles moving as he swallowed, the sweat dripping down the side of his neck and into his damp shirt. "We just need to put that mulch down. Then maybe we can watch a movie or something."

Declan cleared his throat. "Yeah, sounds good."

"Well, if you boys don't need anything, I'm going to run to the store." Bailey's mom opened the screen door but paused to eye them both. Declan thought that was funny as he wouldn't consider asking her for anything. She settled her gaze on her son. "Bailey? Need anything?"

"No, mom. I'm good. Thanks." Bailey gave her a little wave before gulping down some more Gatorade.

After she had disappeared into the house, Bailey settled on the step next to Declan. "Glad you brought a change of clothes now?"

Declan chuckled, lifting the front collar of his t-shirt to wipe the sweat from his eyes. "Yeah, definitely."

"So, what movie you want to watch when we're done?"

He shrugged. "Doesn't matter." And he really didn't care. He was just enjoying hanging out with Bailey no matter what they did. And the sooner they got the damn mulch done they could get to the fun stuff.

Declan felt Bailey nudge his side as he glared at the bags of mulch.

"That's not how the Force works," Bailey laughed, taking another swallow of Gatorade.

Declan grinned, wiping more sweat from his forehead. "The Force is strong in my family, my father had it, I have it, my sister has it..."

Bailey smiled around the lip of the bottle. "So, Star Wars it is."