Chartreuse
By
T.E. Ridener
Copyright ©T.E. Ridener, 2014
Author’s Note
These stories are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author.
Dedications
For S, because I absolutely adore you and I can never thank you enough for your inspiration behind this story.
For B & Z, your love is immortalized forever now.
To Jasmine, for your encouragement to give this story the attention it so greatly deserves.
To my street team, because you guys absolutely rock in every way possible. You go with the flow when it comes to my writing, and I can never thank you enough for being my cheerleaders.
To my Double J’s, because I love you so much. When you’re older, I hope you realize that love is beautiful and should be treated with the greatest of respects. I love you no matter what the future holds.
To the great people of the /r/boston community on Reddit, you really helped me out so much and I can’t thank you enough! Your descriptions of your beautiful city really helped paint the picture from Rowan’s perspective.
To my fans, you’re still on this journey with me so that must be a good sign! Thank you so much for your support and encouragement. I do what I do because of you.
A Message to the Reader
Perhaps you’re only looking for a sweet romance to read, but if there’s a chance you’re here because you have a void that needs filled, or you feel lonely and need a ray of hope, I just want you to know that everything will get better one day. This is a fight that shouldn’t have to be fought anymore, but please know I am fighting for you.
You are not alone.
If you need to reach out to someone, please contact The Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386.
You can learn more on their website as well.
http://www.thetrevorproject.org/
Love is love is love. ♥
Chapter One
Acceptance; it’s something that everyone should do for each other. No matter what color someone’s skin is, or how old they are, or even who they love. The world would be a much better place if everyone could just accept one another. But most importantly, a lesson all people have to learn during their time on this earth is to accept themselves.
That was something Kasen Reed had finally learned after he moved out on his own. Or perhaps it was something that he’d discovered before he left his mother’s. That may have been the reason he left his mom behind to start over. But could it really be considered starting over? Yes. It could. It wasn’t that his mother was a horrible person; she could be quite nice when she wanted to be. Or when her mood actually allowed that to be possible; which was rarely.
Kasen had grown immune to his mother’s mood swings. As a younger child, he had constantly worried that it was his fault when she was crying or when she was yelling and throwing things against the wall. Kasen could remember when he would approach her as a boy, hugging his arms around her waist and repeatedly saying sorry. Even today, he would shake his head at the thought. He’d never had anything to be sorry for. She had run his father off. She had made life so hard for the two of them.
But there was no use in living in the past. As a matter of fact, Kasen refused to do that. He had to move forward. So that’s what he was doing. The last eight months had been the best of his life. He’d gotten his own apartment down town; he had his dream job of being a radio personality. He loved music. He related to it in so many ways.
Music was good for the soul, or so he had heard. He wouldn’t argue that fact. He’d been listening to everything he could get his hands on for years. Technology had made it easier to obtain music though, seeing as music became highly accessible through the internet. He hadn’t even gotten his first computer until he was fifteen, and once he had that bad boy in his room, the rest was history. If it hadn’t been for his grandmother, he probably wouldn’t have even gotten that.
His grandmother was the sensible one in the family. He had no aunts or uncles, just his mother and grandmother. He couldn’t really recall ever having a male figure in his life. His father had only stayed around until he was three or so, and by then, his mother had done a sufficient job of driving the man insane. Enough was enough, he supposed. But why didn’t his dad take him with him?
These were thoughts that were always going through Kasen’s mind. Thoughts always ate at him, making him miserable on the inside even though he tried to keep himself relatively put together on the outside. Maybe his problem was that he never really talked about his issues with anyone. He didn’t feel comfortable on letting anyone in; and that was probably his biggest downfall.
He had once tried to open up to his mother about things. It had been a silly topic, really. But he’d been having a lot of issues with his school work during the tenth grade, and he decided he needed some extra tutoring.
“Don’t come at me with your problems,” She’d said. “I have enough to deal with without adding your crap onto mine.”
And that had taught him never to try to talk to her again. Or anyone, for that matter. If a guy couldn’t talk to the person who’d given him life, then who the hell was he supposed to talk to? And the craziest part about the ordeal was the fact she was always trying to boss him around. Always, always.
It seemed like he couldn’t do anything right. It was one of the many reasons that he moved out. Even now, with him living several blocks away from her, she still called every other hour. Sometimes he answered, but most times he took advantage of that beautiful ignore button.
No one could really blame him, could they? She was a nightmare. Kasen was glad to be out of that mess. Living on his own was definitely better. In the short amount of time he’d been living in his apartment, he’d felt an incredible weight lifted off his shoulders. Everything was finally going the way he’d always wanted it to, but of course, something was missing.
Living in the tiny town of Chartreuse, Alabama, it was difficult for Kasen to even hope that he’d ever find love. The final reason he’d ultimately decided to move out from under his mother’s roof, was because of her reaction to his admittance of being gay. It hadn’t settled well with her, and despite the fact she hadn’t said much on the subject, Kasen could see the disappointment in her eyes every time she looked at him.
It’s a gut wrenching feeling to know that your mother is disgusted with you. But he tried not to think about it too much. Lots of people had issues with their parents, right? And he wasn’t even going to attempt to open the can of worms with his father. That was a lost cause entirely, in his mind. Besides, he didn’t even know how to get a hold of the guy.
So today, he was doing what he’d always done, which included enjoying a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch while reading the newspaper, counting down the minutes until it was time to head in to work; even though work didn’t start until eight forty five at night. He liked the fact he worked until around two in the morning. He didn’t have to work many hours, but still he made a decent paycheck. It paid for his apartment and the few other things in life that he actually got pleasure from.
For instance, the internet. He could browse videos for hours. He also liked to look up random facts and
gain useless information. He wasn’t entirely hard to please. His day would go as usual; he would finish eating his cereal and wash the bowl, putting it back into the dish drain just to be used again tomorrow. Then he’d wander about until he found Houston, his five month old Weimeraner, who was normally always cuddled up somewhere in the bedroom.
“Houston. C’mon, Boy,” he said, clapping his hands together. The puppy lifted his head lazily, glancing towards his master before putting his head back down and closing his eyes. He was always disinterested until Kasen pulled out the leash, and then he was ready to go outside.
The morning air was chilly, and Kasen had to hug his denim jacket a little tighter around himself as they walked down the sidewalk, nearing the park that the city had previously put in a year before. Too many dogs were getting hit by cars. Kasen thought it was a great idea, really. He enjoyed the safety the park provided. He didn’t have to be paranoid about Houston getting away from him and trying to chase him down in a panic.
As soon as he was inside the park, he shut the gate behind him and released Houston from his temporary restraint. The puppy happily bounded off while Kasen smiled, moving to sit down on a bench to take a breather. And by breather, that meant pulling out a pack of cigarettes to light one up. As the flame danced from the tip of the plastic blue contraption, Kasen’s eyes lifted upwards to see a large brown dog that was curiously sniffing at Houston.
Kasen quickly stood up, but calmly approached the two pooches who were now very interested in one another. His brows furrowed slightly. He wasn’t sure if the other dog was very friendly or not.
“Don’t worry,” A deep, smooth voice said. “He’s as gentle as a teddy bear.”
Kasen turned to see a man standing there, and though he honestly wished he could say he noticed his height first, it was actually his eyes. They were almost the color of caramel. They seemed warm. Kind. Kasen smiled nervously.
“I wasn’t worried,” He replied sheepishly as he shoved a hand into his pocket, pulling his cigarette from between his lips so he could actually talk. It was weird how he could talk to anyone while at work, though they were always on the phone. Being in person with someone was entirely different. He became shy and stammered; it was an all-around mess.
“Come here, Napoleon,” The man knelt down, snapping his fingers a few times before his dog came back to him, wagging his tail. Kasen watched him in silence, chewing at his bottom lip as the man began to pet his dog, allowing him to lick his cheek as he chuckled.
Kasen was sure he’d never seen him around before. Which was weird, because with such a tiny town, he saw the same people at least twice a week if not more. And it was just like that, he was certain the man was reading his mind as he glanced up at him, catching Kasen staring at him. Kasen’s entire face heated up as he quickly looked down again.
“Well, I guess I should be heading out,” The man said, straightening up again. Kasen could feel his eyes on him, but he was afraid to look up. He didn’t like seeing the disappointment on people’s faces.
“See you around then,” The man added after another few seconds of awkward silence. Kasen just nodded his head a bit, taking another drag of his cigarette between tightly pursed lips as he watched the man disappear from his peripheral vision.
Christ. He was an idiot. He couldn’t even achieve being normal around a seemingly nice person. Not to mention the fact he’d been all but drooling over him. “Come on, Houston,” He said, patting his thigh. His days had started out weirder before, hadn’t they?
Chapter Two
Well, that was an odd encounter. Rowan had only been in town for two weeks, and his hopes of getting acquainted with the locals were beginning to wane. He had moved here to start over. He had hoped for a better life. So far, he had been doing well. Opening up his very own animal clinic to a small town that obviously had a love for animals was a good idea, but he was noticing that the residents of Chartreuse were very, very different than those of Boston.
He liked that it was so small here. He liked that while buying groceries, the cashiers knew customers by name. He hadn’t really seen anything like that before. It felt like a tight knit community. It was a place that he really wanted to fit in with, although he wasn’t sure just how open he could be about himself.
Rowan Kelly had been openly living as a homosexual for nearly half of his life. He came out to his mother when he was thirteen. The only response she’d given was “Good for you.” Before she’d gone back to her romance novel, and Rowan figured that he’d prefer getting that reaction rather than hate. He was certain that many other people, especially kids, received responses from their parents that could be heartbreaking.
Though Rowan rarely felt pain like that. He’d put up a shield long ago to anything of the sort. He didn’t have to worry about getting hurt if he didn’t put himself in that situation in the first place. He had dated several men in his lifetime. His most recent ex, and by recent he meant three years ago, was the ‘one’, or at least he’d thought so. He had seriously considered propositioning an engagement, making things more serious. But that’s not what his partner had in mind, apparently. Because when Rowan returned home one day, he discovered his boyfriend tangled up in the sheets with a barely legal waitress.
He’d been on the run ever since. He put up walls to guard himself, and he didn’t really attempt to date anymore. He devoted every waking moment to animals, because he’d always loved them. At least animals were loyal, and never hurt people on purpose. That’s how Rowan saw it.
As he took the short walk to the clinic with Napoleon in tow, his mind went back to the seemingly shy young fellow back at the park. Maybe it was his Bostonian accent that had thrown the kid off. Or maybe he just didn’t like people. But that didn’t make sense considering he’d gone to the most public place in town. Ah well. Why was it Rowan’s business anyway? It wasn’t.
“Good morning, Doctor Kelly,” He was immediately greeted by his assistant, Natasha. She seemed like a nice enough girl, and she had been super eager for the job when he’d posted the listing on Craig’s List.
“Morning,” He replied with a nod. He took off his black jacket, trading it in for the solid white one as he watched Napoleon travel off towards the back. That dog was too spoiled. But really, how many dogs got to say they could go to work with their master? Well, if dogs could talk, that is. “Do I have any messages?”
“Uh,” Natasha went through a stack of papers. “Oh, yes. Mrs. Birmingham called. Again. She said FiFi’s not getting any better.”
Rowan rolled his eyes. He knew better than that. He’d checked the dog out three times already, and she was perfectly fine. He’d dealt with women like Mrs. Birmingham before. She was a lonely housewife, desperate for attention, but she was barking up the wrong tree; pardon the dog humor.
“Should I schedule her another appointment?”
“Just call her back and tell her that FiFi deserves some more vitamins in her diet. If that’s not satisfactory, I suppose you can schedule her for next week,” He replied, before he disappeared into the sanctuary of his office.
Once inside, he slid into his chair and gazed at the black computer screen. He loved his job, he really did. It was probably the best thing that had ever happened to him. He’d always loved animals, and he’d rather deal with them than people to be honest. It wasn’t that he wasn’t a people person, because he definitely was, he just preferred animals.
“You want some breakfast?” Natasha asked, leaning against his doorframe.
“If it’s not from that store you went to yesterday,” He replied, quirking a brow. That had honestly been the worst pork chop biscuit he’d ever tasted. He didn’t want to experience it again.
“Nah. I’ve got some Krispy Kremes. I thought you’d enjoy those more.”
He quirked a brow, “Krispy Kremes? I’d be insane to say no. Bring me one. Or two,” He gave her a small smile as she turned to disappear back down the hallway. He sighed, leaning back into his chair again.
At any time now, the animals of Chartreuse would be filing in for check ups and he would be ready to greet them with the same warm smile he’d been famously known for in Boston. This was definitely the life he’d always wanted. But something was missing…..
Chapter Three
There were only two things in this world that really made Kasen nervous. Being face to face with people- and his mother. No sooner than he’d gotten back home, his house phone was ringing off the hook. No one ever called him. At least not at home. It was very different than from work. Everybody called in to have a quick chat with ‘Cool Kasey’, make a dedication or request, and then they’d hang up, leaving him to feel somewhat liked and popular.
But as soon as he answered the phone, he already knew who it was without looking at the caller ID.
“And just where have you been?” His mother asked. She had some way of saying hello, didn’t she?
“Hello to you, too,” He said. “I took Houston for a walk at the park.”
“Well, you could’ve called to let me know. I’ve called eight times, Kasen. I was worried sick,” He rolled his eyes. She wasn’t worried, she was just upset that she couldn’t keep tabs on him all the time. It must’ve been so difficult to do since he’d moved out.
“I have a cellphone,” He replied.
“Well I didn’t want to call your cellphone. It plays annoying music.”
“It’s called a ring back tone.”
“Are you getting smart with me?”
Again, he rolled his eyes. He’d been able to tell straight away that this wasn’t one of her better moods, and that bothered him. He honestly couldn’t remember the last time she’d been in a happy mood. She was always so mean lately.
“No, Ma’am. But I have to go, Mom. I’ve got things to do,” Which wasn’t a lie. He needed to shower before he started browsing videos on YouTube.
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