My dignity was fleeting. Mister perfect, former captain of the cross-country team had seen all of me naked for months. I had good genes but I liked beer and Oreos way too much to ever look that good naked.
I beelined straight for the door. I had to get out of my house. Away from the situation. Away from what would be the final nail in my brother’s and my already strained relationship. I could not lose the brother who still talked to me. It would kill Mom and Dad. I pulled open the front door, not sure where I was going to go naked in the cold. But you know, I was a smart guy. I’d figure it out. Met with a wall of white confusion hit me. Had I suddenly lost my vision?
Had someone walled me in in the middle of the night so I could spend eternity with my biggest mistake? Or at least until my brother got home and chiseled me out, only to find my shame. This was like a damn comedy of errors.
My brain finally caught up and I realized it was snow. Snow filled my doorway. I turned to find a window.
White, everywhere I looked.
Trapped in my cabin, snowed in with my brother’s best friend.
Who I’d already fucked.
With my family coming for Christmas in two days.
“Aiden.” Jensen grabbed me by the arm, stopping my frantic short circuit. “Can you stop for a minute and at least let me clean you up and figure out where you’re bleeding from?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m going to go ahead and grab a shovel and dig us out.”
He stood back and scrubbed a hand over his face.
I tied the sheet around me like a toga and went to dig in the closet. I had to have something someplace. I found a sand pail and shovel.
Desperate times.
I tied the sheet tighter around myself, and returned to the still-open door, skin prickling with the cold and started to fill the bucket.
“Have you lost your mind, Aiden?” There was humor to Jensen’s tone but I ignored it.
“It’s going to take me two fucking days to dig myself out of here but better that than my brother finding me here with you.”
He sighed. “You’re going to catch a cold.”
“It’s fine. Pneumonia is better than Adam’s wrath.” I kept digging. He’d ban me from the bar.
“Aiden.” His tone was stern this time.
I ignored him, teeth clattering.
“Aiden.”
“I have to open the library!”
“Prince.” I felt the bite to his word and stilled. That evil bastard was using my weakness against me. “No one is going to the library in this mess.”
He pried the shovel from my hand and picked me up, kicking the door closed before carrying me to the sofa.
“We are going to talk, and you are going to listen.” He set me down and backed up a few paces.
“Are we going to talk, or am I going to listen?” I stared at him, crossing my arms over my chest.
At some point in my meltdown, he’d put jeans on. Good. At least I could look at him and focus now.
“You’re going to listen.”
“Or I could go back to shoveling my way out of impending doom.”
“Doom?” He sighed. “Prince, if you don’t sit and listen, there will be a punishment.”
His words had rendered me mute.
“Good.” He sat on the edge of the coffee table in front of me. “I’m the same person. It’s me. We’ve been doing this for months.”
“No, you’ve been doing this for months. I’ve been an unknowing participant in your crimes.” That was it. Turn Adam against him. Mitigate the damage.
He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees and covered his mouth with a hand. He looked a little like he was going to strangle me, which turned me on more than I’ll ever admit to.
“I know you like me, too. I can see it in your eyes.”
“I plead the fifth.”
“This isn’t court. This is you and I talking.” He was sounding more exasperated by the minute.
“I’m still not incriminating myself.” I shook my head. “Nope.” I threw back. Adam could have cameras all over this place for all I knew.
“Aiden.”
“Jensen,”
“Prince,” he snapped.
I squared my shoulders and straightened my back. Fuck. Like a damn well-trained dog.
“Down on your knees and I’d like you to remain quiet until I’m finished.”
I growled at him. But dropped to one knee then the other, kneeling between his thighs.
A hint of a smile ate at the corners of his lips. “But first we are going into the bathroom and I’m going to clean you up before you ruin all your furniture.”
I glanced down and realized I had soaked a huge spot on the sheet.
“Is that why I feel light-headed?” I closed one eye and tilted my head.
“You stubborn pain in my ass.” He picked me up again and carried me to the bathroom, muttering about how I didn’t even know what was good for me.
I ignored him, too floaty to care. He set me down on the counter and started to unwrap the sheet. I desperately clung to it.
“I have to see where you’re bleeding from.”
“The sheet needs to stay. You cannot see me naked.”
He sighed through his teeth. “I’ve seen you naked three dozen times at least.”
“This is different.” I lifted my chin.
He grabbed it and made me look at him. “There is no fucking way to get you out of this cabin right now, and if you lose too much blood I am going to be mad. Do you understand me?” Jensen’s daddy voice was back and so much different than his normal tone.
I tried to nod, but his grip on my chin was too tight. “Yes, Daddy.”
He released me and took the sheet off of me. “Fucks sake.”
He poked and prodded my thigh. I didn’t dare look at it. Blood made me queasy.
“I think you need stitches,” he said.
“I don’t need stitches. I barely tripped.” I glanced down and wished I hadn’t. I clapped a hand over my eyes and my vision started to go.
“I wish you would trust me.”
“If I speak, I may vomit on you.”
He pressed the ruined sheet back into my thigh firmly. “I have my bag with me, my first aid kit is in it. I’m glad I carried it in from my truck last night.”
I slumped back against the mirror, not listening to him at all and fighting a brain that wanted to check out.
“Can you sit here while I grab it?”
“Sure, sure, sure.”
He let go of me and I started to fall to the side.
“Aiden!”
I opened one eye. “Yes.”
He pressed his eyes closed and set his jaw. “Prince, you’re going to sit up straight.”
My body did what he asked of its own accord.
“And you’re going to press this sheet firmly into your thigh and keep your eyes closed.”
My hands found where he was talking about.
“I want to hear you acknowledge me.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“If you stay right there like a good boy while I go get my bag, there will be a big reward later.”
“A reward?” I almost opened my eyes to look at him but I remembered his instructions and kept them closed.