Dichotomy of Love - 22. Part Two. Chapter Ten.

“You don’t have to laugh,” Kyan said, sticking his bottom lip out like Gracie had done earlier that morning.

Perry lowered his hands, revealing his face, which was red from laughter, and apologized. “I’m sorry.” He tried hard not to smile, but when he looked at Kyan, he burst into laughter again.

Kyan shoved him. “See if I pour my heart out again.”

Still laughing, Perry covered Kyan with his warm, hard body, pressing him deliciously into the mattress. “I really am sorry. It’s just that your question threw me off. Am I going to tell you I love you? Kyan, what do you think I’ve been telling you for years?”

His brow furrowed. Had Perry told him he loved him?

Perry propped on his elbows, simply shook his head, almost patronizingly, but without malice. “There are ways to communicate beyond the spoken word. You weren’t ready to hear those three words, but everything I ever did for you spoke volumes about how much I loved you.”

“That might work for you but my parents are not big on affection. They never did nice things for me because they loved me. I don’t know their love language, or if they even have one, but it wasn’t through their actions. Dayna wasn’t big on it either. She was straightforward with her words, though. She was like, Hey, you, I want you. I want you to do this to me. I want you to kiss me like this. There was never a question with her. I would never know someone loved me because of what they did for me. I can see it now that you’ve brought it to my attention, but it’s very foreign.”

“Hey.” Perry wasn’t laughing anymore. He sought Kyan’s eyes, which were avoiding him. “I don’t know when I fell in love with you. I definitely thought you were cute when you walked into the house for the first time, all shy and nervous as hell. For years I had a little crush on you. Nothing crazy, but enough to show the holes in my relationship with Jarrett. It wasn’t until Dayna died those feelings grew into something more—fish only grow as big as their environment allows. It still wasn’t love—even if I thought it was—but it was more than a crush.

“One day I woke up wondering if your trash was taken to the road the night before. I realized it wasn’t the first morning my thoughts went to you, or afternoon, or evening. My heart revolved around you and the kids. Unrequited love is dangerous, but then we went to the club and everything changed.

“So, yes, I love you. I’m in love with you. It seems so obvious to me it’s laughable you could miss it, but I understand why. No one ever showed you they loved you. Well, guess what? If I have my way, I’ll never have to say it because I’ll show you every day until forever. Because to me, that’s how long I want to be with you. This isn’t dating. You’re the real deal. We’re the real deal.”

Kyan’s heart bumpity bumped in his chest, and he bit his lip. “Was that so hard?”

Perry cupped his head in his hands, and brought Kyan’s lips to his, giving him a light and feathery kiss. “I love you.”

Kyan’s phone rang from the kitchen. He thought about ignoring it because he didn’t want this moment to end. However, it might be Trudy and Jed. It might be about the kids. He used his brown eyes to apologize to Perry.

“Go,” his lover said, completely understanding why he had to grab the call.

Kyan slipped out of bed and froze. “Oww.”

“Your ass?”

“Yeah,” he said as he pulled on boxer-briefs before running bow-legged to snatch up his phone in the kitchen. “Hello?”

“How would you feel about elevating our friendship from a once-a-week coffee date to hanging out in person?”

Kyan laughed. Hanging out and talking had both been scarce since before Hawaii, but it was the first time Max had called him out of the blue, and it was kind of nice. “We always hang out in person.”

“Don’t be a jerk. It’s very unattractive.”

He laughed again. “Of course I want to hang out. When are you thinking?”

“I’m bored, and Keegan is with his mom today. Before I dropped him off, he used his nasty little fingers all over the inside of my windows, and the smears are driving me nuts. Do you have window cleaner?”

“Are you using me for window cleaner?”

Max huffed. “Do you want to hang out or not?”

Kyan looked in the direction of the bedroom. He wanted to spend the entire day with Perry–he hadn’t seen him in a week—but he also wanted this friendship with Max to be more than weekly coffee.

“Can you hang on a sec?”

“Sure.”

Muting his phone, Kyan headed back to the bedroom just in time to see Perry pulling his underwear over his butt. Damn, that man was hot. And his. “Do you mind if I hang out with Max for a bit? I know you and I are finally getting things straight between us, and I’d love to spend the day with you, but I don’t want to neglect my friendship with Max, either.”

“It’s fine. Thank you for asking, though. I need to run home, anyway. Reid and I were in the middle of business when I ran out on him last night. We’re supposed to meet this morning, and it’s almost eleven. I don’t want to bail on him twice. You and I have nothing but time.”

Perry kissed him, then gathered the rest of his clothes to finish dressing. Kyan unmuted his phone. “I’m free until my in-laws decide to bring the kids back.”

“Are you going to tell me where you live, or do you want me to close my eyes and feel my way there?”

Kyan smiled, trying not to laugh, but Max was too funny. “I live on the street by Rosewood Market. I’ll text you my address.” He ended the call, sent the text, then took a quick shower.

Clean, Kyan was about to get dressed when Perry came back into the bedroom, fully dressed, his cap on backwards.

“You and Reid had a business thing last night? The cameras?” Kyan asked.

“Yeah, getting better security set up at the house.”

“And you left because I called?’

Perry walked over and pecked Kyan on the lips. “Because I love you.” Hearing something, he perked up, listening carefully. “I think Max is here.”

Shit. Kyan hurried to get dressed. Bending still hurt a little, from having Perry inside him. It was uncomfortable, yet he was ready to do it again… in a few days. Maybe after he returned the favor.

Max was in the living room when Kyan walked out, watching out the window as Perry pulled out of the driveway. “Do you think he thinks I’m an idiot for behaving so poorly at the club and basically losing all dignity as I threw myself at him when he clearly wasn’t interested?”

Kyan laughed. “I’m sure he was flattered.”

“Ugh.” Max stood with his arms crossed until Perry disappeared from view, then turned to Kyan and smiled like he had never wasted a single second worrying about anything. “Window cleaner? It’s supposed to rain soon, and I hate trying to clean windows when they’re all foggy and nasty.”

Kyan grabbed the cleaner from under the sink only to discover there was maybe one spray left, but he recalled having a backup in the garage, so he led Max through the house on a mission for window cleaner.

“Your place is really cute.”

Code for tiny, and that was fine. Kyan had no illusions. His home was nothing compared to Max’s brick mini-mansion with a circular drive, wrought-iron gate, and White House level security system. Besides, an itty-bitty, teeny-tiny voice in his head said Perry’s home would be his home one day. If things went the way he hoped they would, his living situation would change. It wasn’t like Perry would move into Kyan’s twelve-hundred-foot ranch-style rental when he had a gorgeous, custom-built Craftsman home with acreage and room for everyone to thrive.

He didn’t think it would happen anytime soon, but… maybe someday.

They stepped into the garage and went to an old, shabby double-door cabinet the owner had made of plywood. Kyan looked at the rusty lock and dropped his head back in frustration. “Noah. I should have thrown that lock away, but it’s the owner’s, and I didn’t want to piss him off. Noah kept messing with it, fascinated by it. Now, I locked the cabinet, and I don't think the key exists.”

Max turned the lock in his fingers, studying it, then left the garage without a word. When he returned, he held a slim black leather case. He unzipped it, removed what looked like a dental tool, put it in his mouth, holding it with his lips while he pulled out another dental-looking tool and got to work.

In less than ten seconds, Max picked the lock, dismantled it into several pieces, tossed the fragments into a nearby trash can, opened the cabinet door, found the window cleaner, and left the garage. It took longer for Kyan to pick his jaw up off the floor than for Max to desecrate the rusty lock.

He blinked, looked in the trash can to verify he saw what he saw, then ran after Max. Kyan found him in the driveway, cleaning the inside windows of his Range Rover.

“What was that?”

“It’s not as impressive as it seems. Most locks aren’t as secure as people think they are.”

“I’m pretty sure most people can’t just crumble a lock with their bare hands.”

Max grinned proudly as he wiped the windows clean until there wasn’t a streak anywhere. When he finished, Kyan took the cleaner inside and put it away. He was about to ask Max what he wanted to do when a phone rang.

“Is that yours?” Kyan asked.

Max held up his phone, which wasn’t ringing. Kyan’s phone wasn’t ringing either. Max found the phone sitting by the front door on the shoe bench.

Perry’s phone.

“Oh fuck.”

“Is he close by?” Max asked. “We can drop it off to him. I don’t have anywhere to be.”

They got into the Range Rover and drove to Perry’s house. Kyan didn’t know where he was meeting Reid, but didn’t think it was at his house. It surprised him to see Perry’s truck in the driveway, next to a high-end rental coupe.

“Perry is in a meeting with Reid, finalizing a new security system. If you pull up to the porch, I’ll run in and give him his phone.”

Max slowly turned and looked at Kyan in utter disbelief. “Did you say he’s meeting with Reid about a security system?”

“Yes?”

“Reid Martindale?”

“Yeah…”

Max blinked. Then, quicker than he picked the lock earlier, flew out of the SUV, leaving the engine running. Kyan quickly unbuckled and ran after him, sliding through the patio’s French doors as Max stormed to the kitchen.

“You sonofabitch!” Max yelled, his back tense and his fist balled up.

Perry and Reid were sitting at the island with an iPad and a couple of half-eaten sandwiches between them.

Reid leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, the corner of his mouth curled in amusement. “Ah, Max.”

“Don’t you dare ‘Ah Max’ me. You have no right coming here, poaching my friends, and trying to sell them your ghetto security system. There is no reason for you to be in Oregon. It’s not your territory.”

“You don’t get the call dibs on Oregon just cause you live here. I sell my stuff wherever I please, including Oregon. Besides, these are my friends. We vacationed together in Hawaii.”

Well, that was a bit of a stretch, Kyan thought.

Max marched over, and grabbed the iPad off the counter, then started poking at the screen with his finger, groaning when it didn’t do what he wanted. “Why can’t you do paper contracts like everyone else? It would make tearing your contract into smithereens a lot easier. Lucky for you, I won’t throw your stupid iPad across Perry’s house, but I damn-well want to!”

He shoved it at Reid, then pointed to the door. “You’re dismissed.”

Reid stared at him for a moment, more amused than anything else, then slipped the iPad into his slim leather brief and stood up. He looked at Perry. “I think we should finish this later. I’m in town for a few more days.”

Before Perry could respond, Max reached up to grab Reid by his broad shoulders and pushed him out the door, growling with gritted teeth. “Go back to Texas, you wannabe cowboy.” When Reid was outside, Max slammed the door and waved, wiggling his fingers.

Reid shook his head and walked to his car.

As if a switch flipped, Max smoothed out his baby blue oxford shirt, turned to them with his ever-charming smile, and took Reid’s spot next to Perry. “You’re making a mistake,” he said, then took a big bite out of Reid’s sandwich, chewing furiously. “He’s pushing the Beelik package, which is fine, but you should upgrade to the Aleeto package. The cameras are some of the best on the market for the price point. The resolution is insane. The Beelik is HD—fine for the common folk, but the Aleeto is 8k. You can zoom the length of a football field at night and count the wrinkles on someone’s face. But in the end, you can spend two-thousand, five-thousand, or one-hundred-thousand dollars on security cameras, but if you have those—” he pointed at the French doors, “—cheesy Amazon knock-off locks, what’s the point? Security cameras are a great tool, but good locks are the best prevention.”

He drank the rest of Reid’s coffee, sighed, and looked pointedly at Perry. “So. What’s it going to be?”

“I—” Perry looked at Kyan for help, still processing the tornado of events that just touched down without warning. Kyan had never seen the man at a loss for words like this. It was kind of hot.

“It’s your call. I agree with upgrading the locks, though.” Having seen what Max did to the one left him with a lot of questions.

Perry looked at Max with a look of surrender. Do what you will.

Max grabbed his phone and made a call. “If Perry is your friend, as you claim, you wouldn’t have sold him that shitty Beelik package. He will get the Aleeto, which is what you should’ve sold him from the get-go. Stop pandering your shitting cameras—”

While Max ripped Reid a new asshole, Kyan tiptoed over to Perry, partially hiding behind him, and whispered in his ear, “New evidence has come to light. I’m convinced Max might be James Bond, or maybe the guy from Mission Impossible. I watched him pick a lock today and destroy it with his bare hands in less than ten seconds. He didn’t even break a sweat.”

Perry turned slowly and raised a brow, no shit. Kyan nodded firmly and continued. “Then he shows up here and talks about security cameras picking up wrinkles and house locks. Max might look like a cute, young Prince William who takes freshly baked muffins to the pediatric oncology unit, but I think he might be Liam Neeson behind closed doors.”

Perry then looked back at Max, who was pacing a circle by the patio door. “—So you better get your scuzzy camera-slinging ass back here and sell them a decent unit before I light your ass up.” Max ended the call and shivered like he’d just stepped on a slug barefoot. “God, I hate talking to him.”

Kyan and Perry stayed where they were, safely on the other side of the island, and watched Max cautiously.

Max glanced at them and then did a double-take. “What?”

They stared.

“Why are you looking at me like I’m the bad guy? I just got you a superior system at a discount, no less, and I’m changing all your door locks at cost. You should be thanking me.”

Kyan ducked further behind Perry.

“Oh, you know what? Fuck you,” Max said with a laugh. “Fuck both of you. Goddammit.” He walked around the kitchen island to pull Kyan out from behind Perry. “I don’t want to be here when Reid gets back. Can we please go?”

“Only if you tell me what we just witnessed. Are you CIA?”

Max laughed. “And make peanuts? Absolutely not. I make way too much money doing what I do.”

“Which is what exactly?” Kyan queried, not for the first time in the last hour—the last six months. Their friendship had revolved around Max questioning Kyan about Perry. He hardly had time to question Max about Max.

“Not much these days, but in my past life, I contracted with lock companies to figure out weaknesses. More recently, I developed my own line of locks. Now I do whatever I want.”

Kyan walked to the patio door and looked at the lock. It was a black box with a digital keypad. “Could you break into this?”

“That thing?” Max burst into laughter. “With my eyes closed.”

“Then do it,” Kyan challenged.

Max looked at Perry.

Perry didn’t have a say in the matter, and he knew it. “You break it, you buy it.”

Max thought about it, then walked to his SUV, opened the back hatch, and returned with a leather pouch that matched the one he had earlier, only bigger. He closed and locked the patio door from outside, then took a small handheld device from the pouch. Five seconds later, the lock disengaged. Max opened the door, poked his head through, and grinned.

“Viola.”

Then, he closed the door and engaged the lock once more. He put the handheld device away and pulled out the smaller leather pouch from earlier.

The next thing Kyan knew, the door was open, and the lock was lying on the ground in pieces. On cue, Reid strolled in with his hands in his pockets, the leather folio under his arm, and stepped over the lock parts on the floor. “I see Max is showing off again.”

Max glared. “I see you’re underselling as always.”

Kyan saw where this was going, so he went to Perry and tugged on his shirt, pulling him close. “We’re gonna leave. When I get the kids back from your parents, we’ll come straight over?”

Perry slid his hands over Kyan’s hips and pulled him closer, smiling brightly. “Just have my parents drop the kids off here when they’re done.”

“I would, but their car is at my house.”

Perry frowned and kissed him sweetly. “Don’t take too long.”

Ignoring the butterflies in his stomach, Kyan smiled. This was his life now, and Kyan couldn’t be more excited to see things on the right track.

“I want a commission for this sale,” Max demanded. Something about Reid set him off.

Kyan had a feeling this happened a lot between the men. He grabbed Max’s arm and pulled him away from Reid.

“This isn’t over, Martindale!”

“I wish it were!” Reid yelled after them.

When they were in the Range Rover, Kyan looked at Max with something akin to wonder. “There is so much I want to know about you.”

Max smiled his charming, charismatic smile like it was a compliment. Maybe it was. He was so handsome and wholesome looking, with his blond hair, bright blue oxford shirt, and crisp designer jeans. It was the perfect cover for being some lock-picking genius. Kyan couldn’t help but wonder about his life and the things he’d done. There was no way someone with that particular skill set walked on the right side of the law. While it was hard to imagine him lurking in the darkness, it seemed likely.

It was always the criminals who flipped sides and worked for the good guys to make life harder for other crooks and lawbreakers.

Max turned around in the drive and headed down the driveway. Grinning like the Cheshire cat, he asked, “Where do you want me to start?”