Chapter 104: The New Version.

The more Bryce thought about Vincent and Dave’s hands on him, the more his own touch seemed to lose its effect on his body.

No matter what he did, he could no longer feel anything. All he wanted were the hands that no longer belonged to him.

Frustration mounted until he could hardly stand it, but there was nothing he could do. He got off the bed and went into the bathroom, turning the water down until it was freezing.

The cold struck his skin hard enough to make him flinch, but even the icy water could not reach the heat consuming him from within.

He tried to summon the power within him, the same power that had made his scent fade slightly and eased the effects of his heat, but even that failed him.

The uncomfortable shower offered him no relief either, leaving him no closer to regaining control of his body than he had been before stepping beneath the freezing water.

Once he was done, he returned to his room, changed into his loose clothes, and made his way toward the living room.

Dave was sitting on the couch, his attention fixed on his phone as he scrolled through the screen, though his movements lacked any real focus.

His concentration seemed absent, as if his mind were occupied by something far removed from whatever was in front of him.

Bryce could already sense the distress woven through Dave’s emotions. He approached slowly.

"Hey," Bryce murmured.

Dave lifted his eyes, giving him a brief glance.

"Hey," he answered before returning his attention to his phone.

The response confirmed Bryce’s suspicion about his mood, and uneasiness settled over him. What troubled him most was the possibility that Dave had realized what had just happened between him and Vincent.

Bryce could also feel Vincent’s presence nearby. He glanced around the room and found him in the dining area.

Food had already been arranged across the table, but Vincent was not eating. He was dressed in his usual expensive black suit, looking as though he had already freshened up and was preparing to leave.

Bryce frowned.

Vincent was going somewhere?

He walked toward him, and the moment he turned his back on Dave, he felt Dave’s eyes settle on him.

He forced his increasingly unsteady legs to carry him toward the dining room, fighting against the weakness that threatened to give way beneath the weight of that stare, until he finally reached it.

"Going somewhere?" Bryce asked when he reached the table, lowering himself into the chair across from Vincent.

"To work. The FIFA project is forcing me to go there since I made a promise, but after that, I’ll have nothing keeping me there. I’ll stay at home with you. I’ll make sure it’s all over today," Vincent answered.

His face was still flushed, and his eyes remained fixed on Bryce.

Bryce said nothing, even though Vincent had mentioned that he intended to stay home with him afterward. There was no reason for him to.

"Actually, the call I had this morning... It was about you, from work."

Bryce’s frown deepened, confusion passing through his eyes. "About me? From work?" he asked.

"Yeah. They said they can’t get the design right. There were some details missing, and Adam and the others said they couldn’t connect the dots to the part you worked on."

Vincent paused, his attention never leaving Bryce. "I don’t want to bother you with anything concerning work, but if you’re willing, can you come? Just for that one specific part. Once it’s done, I’ll bring you straight home."

Bryce remained quiet, staring at him blankly. Then his attention shifted toward Dave.

"Can he coming too? He..." His voice faltered intentionally.

He did not even know what he had intended to add, only that he did not want Dave to feel excluded when it was already obvious that something was weighing heavily on him.

"He’s free to come if he wants," Vincent answered.

He turned his attention toward Dave as well, who was still absorbed in his phone.

"He’s mad and emotionally disturbed," Bryce said hesitantly.

"I can tell that too," Vincent replied.

There was something knowing in his tone, something that made Bryce narrow his eyes at him.

"You know why?" he asked before he could stop himself.

Vincent hesitated.

That hesitation immediately made Bryce more certain that he knew something.

"Well?" Bryce pressed.

"He might have seen me come out of your room aroused," Vincent admitted hesitantly.

"What?" Bryce stared at him in disbelief. "And you just let him see it?"

"I couldn’t hide it in any way. Besides, I didn’t know I was supposed to keep a secret from him if we had a moment together."

The last words carried an unmistakable edge of jealousy.

"What are you actually planning, Bryce?"

Bryce didn’t hesitate.

"Since you’re going to work, we’ll talk about it in the evening. The three of us," Bryce answered straightforwardly.

Vincent’s fingers trembled slightly against the table. For the briefest moment, an emotion resembling uncertain panic crossed his expression before vanishing almost immediately, leaving his face composed once more.

"Okay."

Silence settled between them for a moment, neither Bryce nor Vincent saying anything further. Vincent eventually swallowed and broke the quiet.

"Dave, breakfast," he called, raising his voice just enough for it to carry to the couch.

"Coming," Dave answered shortly without turning toward them.

Vincent looked back at Bryce without another word. "Have breakfast."

He reached for the food and served Bryce, placing it in front of him. Bryce picked up the smoothie and took a sip.

"Are you coming?" Vincent asked.

Bryce hesitated.

His thoughts immediately turned to the mess he was sure to find waiting for him at the company, about him and Vincent.

He could already imagine the whispers, the speculation, and the curious glances that would follow him the moment he stepped through the doors.

By now, though, people had probably talked about it until there was little left to say. Besides, he no longer cared what people thought of him.

"Yeah," he answered.

A brief smile appeared on Vincent’s face.

It was faint, but it transformed his expression in a way Bryce had never seen before.

The smile softened his features and brightened his face, giving him a captivating quality that held Bryce’s attention far longer than he intended.

For a moment, Bryce simply looked at him, unable to understand why that small change in Vincent’s expression had affected him so much.

Vincent was looking at him too.

Their eyes remained locked, neither seeming willing to be the first to look away. The space between them suddenly felt strangely intimate, as though the rest of the room had fallen away and there was nothing left for either of them to notice but each other.

The sudden scrape of a chair against the floor broke the moment.

Their attention shifted at once, only to realized that Dave had already come over from the couch.

His heart seemed to stop.

Only then did he fully register how intimate the moment between him and Vincent had appeared.

The way they had been looking at each other, the complete absence of anything else in their attention, was not something Dave could have missed.

Bryce felt an immediate urge to explain.

He wanted to say something about everything that had happened, perhaps even explain the decision he had made, but the words remained trapped behind his lips.

"We’re going to work. You should come."

The words left Bryce’s mouth before he had properly considered them.

The instant he heard himself say them, he regretted it.

He could have phrased it differently. Or atleast waited. Instead, he had spoken with such awkward haste that it sounded almost as though he had been caught doing something wrong and was desperately trying to redirect the tension toward something else.

Dave, however, gave no indication that he had taken offense.

"No, thanks. I’ll stay. I need to go somewhere anyway," he answered calmly.

His voice was even, his expression controlled, but there was nothing about his presence that suggested genuine calm.

"Where?" Bryce asked before he could stop himself.

The question came instinctively, his attention fixed on Dave as he waited for an answer.

"No where important, just... around the place to clear my head," Dave answered as he bit into a waffle.

Bryce felt a flicker of irritation at the answer. He had never particularly liked the old Dave, but this version of him was no easier for Bryce to deal with.

Neither of them seemed capable of giving him what he wanted, and somehow, the current Dave was proving even more unsettling.

The old Dave would have said exactly what was on his mind. He would have made no effort to conceal what was bothering him, and if he were angry about something in this moment, Bryce had no doubt he would have said it outright.

This Dave was different.

He was withdrawing into himself, refusing to say what was clearly weighing on him, and that silence was beginning to irritate Bryce more than an argument would have.

Bryce stared at him for a moment, trying to hold back the frustration rising inside him.

"Sorry, but I can’t stand this, okay?"

The words slipped out before Bryce could restrain himself.

"So I’m just going to say it. I don’t like this new version of you, okay? I’m not asking you to go back to your old self, controlling and possessive, but this is just irritating me."

He paused only briefly, his frustration refusing to let him stop there.

"If something is upsetting you right now, just say it."

The words came spilling out of Bryce without hesitation.