Five Years Ch. 03

Colton sat down and rubbed his face. One week ago he brought his boss home after a car crash. He didn't really think about it. He did what any sane person would do. And now his boss wanted to be his friend. Colton wasn't sure what to do.

On one hand, he could finally have a friend after five years of self-induced solitary, or he could forget Jared in fear of being fired.

Both were tempting... But Colton was ready to just forget about making friends. Robert wanted him to make friends and that was such a bad idea. Colton just couldn't keep it in his pants.

He went to a therapist for it. She said that perhaps it was all in his head. He was always capable of stopping his cheating habit, but maybe he didn't want to stop it. It was a perfectly sound theory, but he never understood why he would want to cheat on Rob. Rob was perfect.

Colton stopped. He had to stop thinking about it. He stood up with his cane and walked to the kitchen where he made himself some tea.

Maybe it was time he made a friend. Thinking about Rob too much made Colton feel sick.

*

The phone rang and Jared sighed. He had been getting calls all morning and all he wanted was a short break.

"Colton Stag is on line one for you." His secretary said as she stuck her head into the office.

Jared smiled. Okay, so he finally got a bit of a break. It was his new found friend after all; perhaps he would make things a bit less annoying.

He lifted the phone to his ear and leaned into his leather computer chair.

"Hello, Colton! You got through to the line pretty easily, lucky you, Lucy is a hard guard to get through."

"Heh, well she thought I had important business to discuss with you. You know...Seeing as I am your web site designer and all..." Colton was nervous. He really couldn't afford to lose his job. But he also felt that he needed to be honest.

Jared looked at the computer screen. He was staring at his website and frowned. He knew that someone created it but he never actually met the man. The rest of the "Web" team knew who he was. Jared never really had to talk to his web designer because the other guys did it for him.

"Oh, you're the magical person who creates my site. I see, know I finally know who you are."

"Um, yup that's me," Colton's voice was quiet and unsure.

"How come you didn't tell me when we meet? And why haven't we met at work?" Jared wasn't mad but he was shocked. It didn't really make sense that he would be his boss and never actually met Colton.

There was an uncomfortable silence. Jared could tell that there was more to Colton, but that was made obvious when he stay at his house. After all, he had a husband who had died and yet he kept the ring on.

"Because of my accident I don't really like to leave to house. I work from home; the head of the internet department hired me. I never really had a reason to come to work. Just big meetings, and even then we usually do phone calls for that. They understand my situation pretty well."

Jared nodded even though he knew that Colton couldn't see him. "That makes sense."

There was another uncomfortable silence.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Jared asked. He didn't want to sound rude but he couldn't just sit on the phone and not do anything. He was at work and anyone could walk in.

"Oh...Um I was just wondering if you wanted to come over for coffee...Sometime. And chat maybe?"

Jared was about to agree but his cellphone beeped. He looked at the screen and sighed.

*We need to talk* was all it said. There was a phone number that his phone didn't recognize...so that meant it was his father.

"I would love to, Colton. I can't at the moment, but how about after work?"

Colton took a deep breath. "Sure, that sounds great. I'll see you later then."

Once he got off the phone, Lucy walked in. She looked flustered.

"Jared, um, your Father is here to see you..." She whispered. Her eyes were wide, and her hands were trembling slightly. She was doing her best to keep herself in check. Jared's father was no man to mess with, and if she got him to wait in the other room that meant she had to use her everything she had to stop him.

Poor girl was probably verbally assaulted. Jared's father wouldn't have known he did it because that man had no filter.

Jared stood up, it was time to get this all sorted out with the old man.

"Let him in," He said, raising his head and straightening his back. He was not the weaker person. He wasn't...

*

"Who the hell do you think you are?" *SLAP*

Jared was sent back into his chair, but quickly stood up again. He was sure that was going to leave a bruise on his right cheek.

"I don't give a damn how unhappy you are with that girl you WILL marry her. DO you understand me?" His father was a mean man. Short salt and pepper hair and cold blue eyes. He was older, almost in his sixties, but that didn't stop him from being strong.

"I completely understand. But I don't want it. I don't like her and she doesn't like me. She's not my type and I'm not hers." Jared looked his father in the eye, steady as he could. He wasn't weak.

"I don't really care. Of course she isn't your type, you're a fag. We all know it, but you're too fucking weak to tell anyone. That girl had to tell me. You are pathetic."

Jared's heart tightened. It's been a week since Elizabeth left and that's what she's been doing? She went around telling his family that he was gay! It wasn't fair... But he also knew that what he was doing to Elizabeth wasn't fair either.

"Well, then I guess you know that I won't be marrying her." Jared smiled.

His father's eyes squinted and moved closer to Jared's face. He could smell coffee on his father's breath.

"Oh how wrong you are. You will marry her whether you like it or not. And if you don't not only will you be fired, but you will be disowned and I will tell the whole company what a fag you truly are."

A rock or a hard place. He didn't actually have a choice. He could be married to a woman that hates him or he can be ridiculed in front of everyone. There was no choice...

"You pick. I'm fine with either of the outcomes." His father walked to the door and opened it. "Oh, and you better not tell anyone about this. Fucking pussy..."

It was game over for Jared.

*

Colton was beginning to think that Jared decided to ditch him. It was at least an hour after their decided time and he had yet to show up. Colton was on his third mug of coffee when he thought that perhaps it would be better for him if he just abandoned companions altogether. He was in his early thirties and there was just no way any 'young gun' would find any fun with him. Plus he was broken.

Robert died because of Colton's actions. Robert died in their bathtub because Colton couldn't...no, wouldn't, stop cheating. After Robert's death, his own family stop talking to him. His family loved Robert, probably more than they loved Colton.

On Colton's way home after seeing his husbands body...The tears wouldn't stop flowing. He couldn't get Robert's face out of his mind .He felt Rob's cold lips...and the more he thought the more he cried. Then he saw the transport truck. Too late, of course, and Colton did try to swerve but he knew deep down he didn't try hard enough. The truck hit him, he recalled every bad deed he had ever done and realized what a shitty life he led. Every night the pain from that day hits him, like a reminder of what he did. Colton was sure that he was dead, because the very last thing he remembered was Rob. A smiling Rob, waving at him, telling him that everything was okay. After everything Colton had done to him there was no way that Rob would have been that forgiving.

Colton couldn't risk having friends and lovers. There was something wrong with him, something he couldn't pin point and fix. He wasn't like a computer, and he hated that about him.

The doorbell ringing pulled him out of his memory depression and that he was thankful for. Any more memories of Rob and Colton was sure he would pull a blade out and end it all. Though...no, he couldn't do it. He would never do it. It was sad enough that Rob did, he didn't want to be like that. He wanted to get over whatever this was.

He griped his cane and hobbled to the door. The trek from the kitchen wasn't too bad, the living area wasn't too large that he couldn't just walk through it.

He checked the peephole and swung the red door wide open. Before the startled Jared could even say "boo" Colton pulled him in by the arm. He dropped his cane and pushed the younger man into the front wall.

"Whatever you're thing of doing, stop!" Colton yelled. "Don't ever! *Ever*! Think about doing it."

Jared looked up at him, confused. "Just what on Earth do you think I plan on doing?"

"Don't kill yourself. It's not worth it, you are so much stronger."

"H-how did you...?" He trailed off and looked at the wood floor. "No one even knows about my cutting habit, so how do you know?"

"Because the look you had on your face before I opened the door was the same one my husband did the very last time I saw him." He sighed and eased the pressure of Jared. "And if I'm being honest it's the same look I see when I look in the mirror."

*****

Hey, long time no see! Sorry it's been a while since an update of any sort. I've been busy with personal life situations, plus I got a real nasty writer's block. I know that this chapter is really short, I get that y'all would like to have longer chapters to read. But currently I can only do a few short chapters at a time. Please, I hope you enjoy!