Chapter 150: Making An Omelette Together.

Vincent lifted Bryce onto the counter before taking an apron and moving toward the cooking area. Dave grabbed another apron and tied it around himself.

"For the two days you weren’t around, I couldn’t sleep properly. My sleep schedule was all over the place, so I used those nights to learn how to cook more things." Dave raised a spatula in a small, triumphant gesture. "So, name what you want for breakfast."

Bryce and Vincent exchanged amused, suspicious looks.

"Omelette," Bryce answered.

Dave stared at him as though the request had caught him completely off guard.

"Well?" Vincent prompted when Dave remained silent, making no move toward the ingredients.

"What about a sandwich for today? I’ll make you an omelette tomorrow," Dave suggested, uncertainty already creeping into his voice.

Bryce and Vincent cracked out laughing.

"Didn’t you just say you’d learned to cook more things?" Vincent teased. "And all you can offer is a sandwich?"

"I want an omelette," Bryce insisted.

"We can order," Vincent suggested.

"No. I want you to make it, I hear it’s the easiest to make." Bryce repeated, his determination leaving little room for negotiation.

Dave and Vincent glanced at each other, apparently unsure how to respond to the insistence.

"Fine. Let’s make it together," Bryce said, preparing to climb down from the counter, but Dave immediately reached for him and held him back onto it.

"No, you sit. We’ll make it," he said, then turned toward Vincent. "Right?"

"Yes, absolutely," Vincent agreed.

He was already searching for a recipe and the steps required to make an omelette.

Dave followed his instructions, and the two of them worked together, trying to make the breakfast Bryce had demanded.

The result was far from perfect, but it was edible, and that was enough.

By the time they settled around the kitchen table, the morning had grown more relaxed.

They ate and drank, talked, and laughed over the omelette they had managed to produce.

Dave’s phone rang again, interrupting their conversation.

The caller’s name was visible on the screen where he had left it.

Vincent stopped mid-bite. Bryce’s gaze shifted from the phone to Dave.

Dave silenced the ringing, but he didn’t end the call or pick up.

"He... He didn’t have anywhere to stay last night, so instead of letting him go to a hotel, I let him sleep at my house," Dave explained, even though neither of them had asked. "He doesn’t have anything to eat there, so he’s calling me about that. He wants me to go over and bring him something."

"Where did he suddenly come from after all these years? What happened to him?" Vincent asked.

The calmness in his voice, without the sarcasm that had colored his earlier remarks, caught Dave by surprise.

Dave flinched at the question. It seemed to bring back the most painful memories, the ones he had momentarily managed to set aside in the warmth of their company.

"After my dad killed his parents, he didn’t kill him too. He claimed Eli hadn’t wronged him the way his parents had, so he decided to punish him for being in a relationship with me instead."

Dave’s voice grew heavier as he spoke.

"He told Eli that he would always be dead to me, because that was what he intended to make me believe. Then he sold him on the black market as a gay pet."

Vincent and Bryce both flinched at the revelation.

With Bryce’s extended power, he could tell that Eli had been telling Dave the truth about what had happened to him.

He felt genuinely sorry for Eli. The horror of what he had endured struck him so deeply that, for several seconds, he could barely draw breath.

"A man bought him for that same purpose," Dave continued, "but beneath all of it, he was emotionally complicated and vulnerable. He couldn’t bring himself to touch Eli, but he couldn’t let him go either. He kept him locked up, even though he took care of everything else for him. They grew closer, but when Eli asked for the one thing he wanted, the man still refused to let him go."

Dave paused.

"He fell for Eli. And he was trying to make Eli fall for him, too. But after all those years, when nothing changed, he finally let him go. That’s how Eli came back."

"That’s cruel," Bryce said, his voice subdued. "I thought you said your dad was sorry for apparently killing Eli too, and that he didn’t know you two were together."

"It was all a pretense." Dave’s words came out bitterly. "Last night, I almost lost my mind trying to comprehend that he’d fooled me all along. He watched me go through all of it, and still kept the truth from me. He knew Eli was alive."

His fingers tightened around the edge of the table, his expression darkening.

"I was living in that house with a bunch of strangers who didn’t give a single damn about me. I was a total fool in front of them." His voice dropped, but the anger beneath it was unmistakable. "I wish that old man was still alive, he would have faced the wrath of messing with me like that!"

He clenched his teeth, the next words coming through them.

"I should have let him be buried away from his own fucking home."

"It’s all over now," Vincent said gently.

He reached out and placed a hand against Dave’s back, rubbing it with quiet reassurance. The touch seemed to reach him at once.

Dave’s anger and frustration began to ease, the tension in his expression subsiding beneath Vincent’s comfort.

Bryce glanced between them before asking, "So Eli is alone in that whole house?"

"Yeah," Dave answered.

"If he doesn’t mind, and he’s willing, why don’t you ask him to come here for as long as he’s planning to stay?"

Dave and Vincent both looked at Bryce, their expressions reflecting the same disbelief, as though they weren’t sure they had heard him correctly.

Bryce understood what he was suggesting. Having Eli stay with them, under the same roof as Dave, could be painful for Eli.

If he was still in love with Dave, watching him share his life with Bryce and Vincent could be difficult to bear.

Still, Bryce couldn’t allow Dave to keep going over to that house and spending most of his time with Eli there. If Eli wanted Dave’s company, he could come and stay with them instead.

Bryce only hoped they would be able to get along, so Eli wouldn’t have to spend his days alone in that enormous house.

Having Eli here would make things complicated, but at least they would all be together, and Dave wouldn’t have to choose between being with them and making sure Eli wasn’t alone.

"Are you sure?" Dave asked.

"Of course," Bryce answered firmly before turning to Vincent. "Is it okay with you, Vince?"

"Yeah. I mean, if he wants to, I don’t see a problem with it," Vincent replied.

"Okay, then. I’ll ask him," Dave said, reaching for his phone.

He sounded noticeably pleased, though he made no effort to show just how excited he was by the suggestion.