A Different Light

by Morningstar Ashley

Bennett smiled, because every pair that he’d unveiled to Mac, he’d told him that they were a gift from his best friend. Really, after the first few pair that Jaden got him, Bennett was hooked. He’d search online for hours sometimes trying to find boxers for his collection. And Mac figured him out.

  “What can I say, they’re addictive.” The boxers had a checklist of things a scientist would need with checkboxes in front of them. First, there was a picture of a brain with the word “Knowledge” next to it, under that was a condom with “Lab Coat,” then a dildo with “Equipment” and last there was a picture of a pair of boxers that said “Lucky Underwear” beside them. But what Mac didn’t know was what he couldn’t see.

  “There’s more.” Bennett looked down at Mac with a smile, and in response to the questioning look on Mac’s face, he turned around. Mac’s laughter triggered his own. The saying on the back was, “Go Forth And Do Good Sex.”

  Bennett loved his funny underwear, it was the only place he found that he could be funny. They were his secret.

  “Oh. My. God.” Mac was still chuckling when Bennett turned around. “And here I used to think that you didn’t have a sense of humor.”

  “I’m glad you enjoyed the show, but can we be done already, or are you going to do something useful while you’re on your knees?” Bennett winked, but man, he wanted Mac to do more than have them go to sleep.

  “Well, we do have all the items on the checklist.”

  “We do?” Bennett had no idea that Mac had toys. In all the time they’d been sleeping together, he’d never once mentioned it. Bennett wanted it, wanted Mac to use them on him.

  Mac pushed to his feet as he replied, “Oh yeah, Princess. Let me show you some secrets of my own.”

  Mac had been up for almost an hour getting ready for work, cursing that it was only Friday and not the weekend yet. He wanted to still be in bed with Bennett, cuddled around him. A lazy weekend sounded perfect to Mac.

  Bennett only moved in four days ago, and Mac was hard pressed to think of a time when he’d been happier. They didn’t spend as much time together as they had a couple of weeks ago when Bennett had still been painting at his parents’ house, but Mac was right next door; so he’d often come home for lunch and sit and talk to Bennett. Or, just like a few days ago, he’d come back for lunch and ended up fucking Bennett right there in the kitchen. That hadn’t been easy to recover from and go back to work, but he did and with a smile too.

  Mac’s phone rang in his pocket. Pulling it out, he saw it was Danny. “Hey, Danny.”

  “Hey, boss man. Just checking in that today is the last day for the Cole house, and I wanted to see if you could stop over at the Mills’ place. He called and asked if we could appraise a job for him.”

  “Yes, to the first question, it’ll be done today. I’m mainly just supervising the landscapers and clean up. On the later, Mr. Mills has been told he needs to schedule this shit in advance; so why would I go over there today?”

  “Cause he’s a good guy?” Danny asked.

  “No, a good guy makes appointments. Tell him I can come over on Monday and that we’re booked up for the day, which we are.”

  “Yeah, okay.”

  “And Danny?”

  “Yeah, Boss?”

  “That means you don’t go over after work today to do it, you hear me?” Mac said matter of factly, because it wouldn’t be the first time the stubborn, too giving man had done it.

  A pause from Danny meant that he was trying to figure out a way around it, but Mac wouldn’t let him. Then he responded with a quick, “Yeah, fine,” and hung up the phone.

  Mac made his way upstairs to wake up Bennett. The landscapers were coming in the next thirty minutes, and he wanted to say good morning before he left for the day.

  Bennett was lying cuddled under the blankets since Mac kept the air conditioning on during the summer months on cool, or as Bennett liked to call it, frigid. He looked so adorable all wrapped in the blankets. The last time Mac told Bennett that he thought he was adorable, he smacked him and said, “I am not adorable.” But Mac disagreed and proceeded to kiss Bennett until his Princess attitude went away.

  Climbing onto the bed, he straddled the lump that was his geek, and gently pulled the covers away from his face. Bennett’s hair was sticking up in places and, in others, it was sticking to his face. Mac definitely thought he was adorable.

  Mac peppered soft kisses all over the side of Bennett’s face as he spoke, “Good morning, Princess.”

  A grunt was Bennett’s response. He was not a morning person.

  “Come on. It’s time to wake up and give me proper kisses before I go out into the big, bad world.”

  The lump under him started to shake with laughter and Mac smiled. Bennett wiggled a little and his muffled voice said, “Get off, you big ass,” and Mac did, but he took the blankets with him.

  “Hey!” Bennett whined.

  “I know, I know, but I need my kiss and you take forever to wake up.”

  Bennett rolled toward him with a grumpy pout on his face. “I don’t like you in the morning,” he grumbled.

  “I think you’re adorable in the morning.” Mac smiled teasingly at him as he moved closer to get his kiss. Bennett started to roll away from Mac, so he straddled his legs once again, preventing him from moving. “Come on, Princess, just give me a kiss and I’ll leave you to your adorable cuddles.” Mac puckered his lips, making the kissing sound.

  Bennett tried to hold on to his pout, but Mac knew the way to make him smile. “You are a big dork, Mitchell Alexander.”

  “Oh, look at you, pulling out the big guns. I guess you don’t want that kiss.” Mac started to pull away only for Bennett’s arms to come and wrap around him.

  And Mac began kissing those smiling lips good morning.

  Ten minutes later, as he got the rest of his things together, Bennett had come walking down the stairs, sadly dressed in sweats.

  “Don’t pout. You can see my underwear later.” Bennett laughed at Mac as he shook his head.

  What could he say, he had a thing for the geeky boxers. “Fine. I’ll be next door for about three hours then I have some other jobs I have to check on, one is up the mountain, and they need me to fix the water pump in their creek.”

  “So, no lunch together today?”

  “No, I want to get to these other jobs, so I can get home early. It’s Friday, baby!” Mac whooped as he said it. Happy it was finally the end of the week.

  “Okay, dork, calm down. I’ll be here either way. But text me and let me know if you can pick up Chinese for dinner.”

  Bennett had been sitting in the family room, laptop sitting on his legs nearly all day, reading over the project he was expected to start working on in two weeks. He had to admit to himself that he missed Mac at lunch. He started to look forward to every minute they spent together, and that’s when the fact that he lived with Mac really started to be a double-edged sword. He loved it, but he was starting to get used to it, the rightness of every moment, every text, every kiss. How would he adjust to living alone in a city he’d never been to but for a short visit, and most especially, without Mac?

  Mac had quickly become the home he hadn’t had in a long time. White Acre would always hold memories for him, a place that was special, but Mac was starting to be the center of all that Bennett held dear.

  And him leaving had started to become a painful reminder of everything he had once only dreamed of having. Love.

  He’d always hoped when he was a teenager that he’d find someone for himself, but by the time he was old enough to truly understand what that meant, he’d grown too jaded and guarded from the actions of others. He’d forgotten that, along with excelling in the career he had worked so hard for, he wanted someone just for him. To be able to find a man that let him just be who he was without the worry of trusting them, because he wouldn’t have reason to doubt them. Bennett always hated that his first thought when he was dating or even making a new friend was, “Is this
who they truly are?, Do they mean what they say?”, and the worst was, “When will they hurt me?” Those thoughts were such a part of who he was that he forgot what it was like to trust someone at their word. It had become innate to his every day thinking.

  When he’d get too bad, too down about yet another person who failed to meet his expectations, wants, or needs, Jaden was there. Bringing everything back into focus. He used to go through periods of time thinking, “Why couldn’t Jaden be that man for me?” But, the love he had for Jaden was nothing like what he was feeling for Mac. Bennett was still forever grateful for his best friend and for that horrible physics class they’d met in years ago.

  Two things had always gotten him through the down times of life, one was Jaden pulling him up, and the other was the memory of that night and the hand that held onto his as tightly as he had held onto theirs.

  The doorbell ringing broke into his morose thoughts. Picking up his cell, he saw that it was just about the time Mac had texted to him earlier that he’d be home. Hopefully with Chinese food, because Bennett was hungry.

  When he opened the door, all he could do was stare. It was like his mind couldn’t register what he saw standing in front of him.

  “Bennett Cole! How could you not tell me your parents’ house sold, and that you moved in with the hunky construction guy?”

  “What? How?...Jaden?” Jaden, his best friend of eight years, was standing in front of him, in White Acre.

  “Oh, sweetie, stop stalling and let me in the damn house.”

  Bennett stepped back, still trying to understand why Jaden was there, and damn it, how. Jaden glided into the room like always, and Bennett decided to peek out the door to see if maybe this was a prank of some kind. Something he wouldn’t put past Jaden to do. Nothing and no one was there, so he went to find Jaden.

  “You can’t stay still for one second, can you?” Bennett said as he turned to find Jaden scoping out Mac’s living room, touching odds and ends around the room, making faces at the things he found ugly.

  Jaden had money, old family money, but he worked every day as a geneticist after years and years of schooling. His income from that alone was more than enough for one person to live off, but he saved and bought a house and spent his family money on an expensive wardrobe. Jaden was high end.

  “Why are you ignoring the more pertinent question, my dear? Why didn’t you tell me? I came all this way thinking you needed a supportive friend, but instead, I find you shacking up like some harlot for a summer fling.”

  “Oh Jesus, Jaden. A harlot?” Bennett was already exasperated.

  “It’s better than calling you a slut, so hush, and answer the question.” Jaden stopped examining Mac’s house to stand there, hands on his hips and the full power of his glare leveled at Bennett.

  “I’ve been busy—”

  “I wasn’t asking about your bedroom activities, sweetie.” Jaden had always reminded Bennett of those people that enunciated every word making them sound haughty and as if they believed that, just by speaking to you, they were doing you a favor. Thankfully, it was just the way he was raised to speak by his tutors and parents, not something that was part of who he was.

  “If you’d let me speak, I would’ve said I’ve been busy with reading the papers the firm sent me about the project they are working on, and there were last minute touches to the house that needed to be…” At the less than impressed look from Jaden, he stopped talking. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t know what to say or how to say it.”

  Jaden sighed, dropping his hands from his hips and walked to Bennett. He must have seen something on Bennett’s face because he was immediately wrapped up in the arms of his best friend. Bennett sighed, putting his head down on his shoulder. He loved Jaden hugs. He might be slender, but he was strong, and when he hugged Bennett, he always felt better.

  Two minutes later, Mac walked in through the garage door, finding them hugging. “You alright, B?”

  Jaden immediately stepped back and turned to face Mac. Bennett had always wanted them to meet each other, the two most important people in his world besides his parents. “Hey, Mac. I’m fine. This is Jaden, my best friend. He decided to surprise me.”

  “Hi, Jaden, Bennett has told me a lot about you.” Mac walked over after dropping his gear by the door, reaching out his hand for Jaden to shake.

  Without letting go of his hand, Jaden replied, “He clearly has not told me enough about you. You have gorgeous eyes.”

  “Jaden!” Bennett complained.

  “Oh hush, sweetie. It’s called a compliment.”

  “You’re flirting with him,” Bennett pointed out.

  “Not at all, dear. It’s just how all compliments I give sound.” Jaden let go of Mac’s hand—finally—and turned beaming at him.

  “Now, you have to answer as to why you’re here, and better yet, why you didn’t call me to tell me you were coming?” It was Bennett’s turn to put his hands on his hips and glare.

  “I told you already. I’m here for you. Isn’t that what best friends are for?”

  Bennett turned to Mac as he waved a hand at Jaden. “You see what I deal with?”

  Mac chuckled as he finally walked over to Bennett, kissing him soundly on the mouth before replying, “I do see, Princess. I see that you and Jaden are a perfect fit.” At Bennett’s indignant huff and Jaden’s boisterous laugh, Mac gave him one last kiss and said he’d be in his studio so that the two of them could have some time alone.

  They settled on the couch in the living room, both sitting side by side facing each other in the middle.

  “Bennett, Bennett. There seems to be a lot that you’ve left out in our conversations.”

  So Bennett started at the beginning and told Jaden everything. The fighting, the night ten years ago with the formerly missing piece, the heat that Mac and Bennet shared, even the motorcycle lessons and camping trip from hell. How they told each other I love you.

  And finally, how confused Bennett was.

  “I don’t know what to do, or how to handle the feelings I have for him and have my dream job,” Bennett whispered the confession, something he had yet to share with anyone but himself. Was he really thinking about not taking the job in Boston?

  Jaden wrapped an arm around his shoulders and squeezed. “I cannot give you the answers you need. Only you can make this kind of decision. You need to ask yourself some really tough questions. Is a job worth more than what you have with that gorgeous hunk of man?” Bennett chuckled at Jaden’s description. “Or maybe he’d be willing to give up his life here…okay, I see the very vigorous shaking of your head, and I take that as an adamant no, but why?”

  “Jaden, you don’t understand what he’s had to deal with, even in the two months I’ve been here. This isn’t just a place for him, this is his home, one he fought to be accepted into and that he loves. And his company means everything to him.”

  “You mean like your career in Boston means everything to you?” Jaden’s question gave him pause. Did the job hold the same appeal it once had before he reconnected with Mac?

  “I…I honestly don’t know.”

  “Then I think that’s what you need to figure out.” Jaden stopped, and for the first time, Bennett saw a look he never thought he’d ever see on Jaden’s face, heartbreak. Then it was gone, and he was speaking again. “Just…be sure, Bennett. Be sure of where you stand with Mac before you make that decision. I know I’m typically the one telling you to throw caution to the wind, but with this, when it comes to your beautiful heart, just be sure Mac really loves you if you’re thinking of giving it all up to be with him.”

  Bennett knew that more was going on with Jaden than he was probably willing to talk about, because there was no way that advice was coming from his own situation. “Jaden, whenever you’re ready to talk about who hurt you, I’m here.”

  Jaden waved his hand, dismissing Bennett’s words, but he wouldn’t forget them, and when he was ready, he’d come and tell him.

&nbs
p; “Now, since my plan was to stay with you in your parents’ home, do you think you might have room for me here?”

  “I’m sure Mac would be fine with it. He’ll be in his studio for a while. Why don’t we go get dinner, and we can talk to him about it when we get back. I’m starving.”

  “Okay, sweetie, let’s hit the town,” Jaden exclaimed as he stood from the couch.

  “Yeah, the town has nothing to hit, Jaden.”

  “Sadly, I saw that as I was driving in. Either way, I’m starving so I hope there’s at least good food. “

  “Let me show you where I grew up.”

  It had been five days since Jaden showed up and moved into one of the spare bedrooms, and Bennett felt no closer to figuring his life out than he had when he talked to his best friend the first time.

  Jaden was bored and pestered Bennett until he drove him out of White Acre to do some shopping and sightseeing. That night though, they were having a get together at Mac’s. Mac had invited Allie and Danny over for pizza, wings, and beer, and Bennett was looking forward to introducing his best friend to Mac’s family. Because that was what they were. Mac had chosen his own family after dealing with the horrible one he was born into.

  Bennett had set out to clean the house for the company they were going to have when Mac stopped him.

  “B, it’s just Danny and Allie, they don’t need special treatment. Plus, the house is already clean.”

  Bennett knew he was right, but he was nervous. Merging Mac’s people with his, showing Jaden the other sides of Mac, was making him anxious. He had the overwhelming urge to prove to Jaden that Mac was worth it, was the special guy he thought he was. In the end, after Jaden had reprimanded him for nesting, he realized he wasn’t nervous about Jaden thinking anything bad about Mac, but he was trying to prove to himself that they could merge their lives. Then, if he decided to stay, he would know it would work.

  He was starting to drive himself crazy.

  Soon enough, Mac’s friends showed up, and Bennett introduced them to Jaden. Allie was the first to arrive, decked out in short shorts, Converse, and a gray sleeveless shirt that showed off all of her tattoos. Her hair, as usual, was pulled up into a messy bun.