Chapter 6 Daniel
DANIEL
I arrived back in NYC early Saturday morning, two days earlier than originally planned. John picked me up from JFK, and on the drive back home, I noticed the sky.
It was a beautiful blue, just like his eyes.
Thinking about Elliot, he’d be happy to hear I was home earlier than expected.
Although I’d first have to see Claudia and Maya.
After all, my suitcase was packed with gifts for them.
I might have also had one more gift for Elliot, but it truly was nothing big.
On one of our phone calls, he mentioned how he was late everywhere because he never noticed the time.
It so happened that the following day, I saw a beautiful watch in the showcase of a jewelry store near my hotel.
Since there was nothing more elegant on a man than a fine watch on his wrist, I couldn’t help but buy one for Elliot.
Hopefully, he’d like it.
“Is everything okay, sir?” John asked from the driver’s seat.
“Yes. Why?”
“It’s just that I’m not used to seeing you smiling. Did you have a good business trip?”
Was it a good trip? Well, Father did buy that company he wanted, and I got the chance to fall asleep to Elliot’s sweet voice almost every night.
“It seems that way, yes.”
I glanced back at the window, watching how spring had already taken over the city. Typically, winter felt unnecessarily long in here, extending its cold grip week after week. Yet somehow, this year, it was remarkably short.
The house was awfully quiet as I snuck in.
Since it was Saturday and still early, I wasn’t surprised that the girls were asleep.
Leaving my suitcase by the front door, I quietly climbed upstairs.
First, I peeked inside Maya’s room, only to see my little girl deep asleep with her teddy bears.
Not wanting to wake her up, I closed her door before going to check on Claudia.
My wife was tossed on the bed like a dead person—she often slept as if the wind carried her in, with her blonde curls spread around her head like a lioness’s mane. It was quite funny, considering it suited her vibrant personality.
She grunted as I sat down on the edge of the bed and scrunched her Greek nose after I stroked her cheek.
“Daniel?” she murmured, still half-asleep.
“Good morning.” I smiled.
She stretched her arms before moving to push her hair out of the way. “What time is it?”
“Still early. You can sleep some more.”
Closing her eyes, she yawned. “Yeah…”
“I think I’ll go for a run. I’ll be back by the time you’re awake.”
My wife didn’t seem to care, already shooing me away so she could go back to her beauty sleep. Maya clearly inherited her sleeping habits from her mother, considering how she could sleep the whole day unless woken up.
After telling Claudia goodbye, I quickly changed into my running clothes and walked outside. The air was still a bit chilly, and while I despised the cold, I did appreciate how the frosty breeze awakened all of my senses.
I stretched my arms and legs and did a few jumps to warm up while looking around the empty street. I didn’t get to run while being in Chicago, so my body ached for a good workout. My running route went along Central Park and was around ten miles.
Isn’t Brooklyn the same distance?
Following the passing thought, I began running in a different direction than my usual route.
Without thinking about it, I allowed my legs to carry me through the blocks of Manhattan until I reached the Brooklyn Bridge.
Still early, the traffic was low, although it was getting busier with each mile I finished.
The panoramic view of the East River from the bridge was breathtakingly beautiful, especially with the warm rays of the sun that mixed with the blue hue of the sky.
Increasing my pace, I was running at eight miles per hour to get there faster.
With my body filled with juvenile excitement, I turned right down the street leading to Elliot’s apartment complex, then left.
The reason I knew his address was to ensure he lived in a proper neighborhood.
He definitely could have found a better place, but as was already established before, I wasn’t in the position to simply move him to a new home.
Although the thought was alluring, to say the least, considering Elliot would look fantastic in a penthouse overlooking Central Park.
Like one of those luxurious condos that had marble bathrooms with large window walls so you could watch the city while taking a long bubble bath.
The images of him washing his smooth skin erupted in my mind like a summer storm, making me even hotter than I already was.
A block away from his place, I noticed a small bakery.
Knowing how much he loved eating his bread fresh, it would be nice to bring him some.
Fortunately, there was no line, and I quickly left with a baguette I knew Elliot would complain about and some delicious-looking muffins for myself.
My stomach growled, as running here had developed my appetite.
That, along with thoughts about Elliot’s food I’d missed the taste of.
I hadn’t had the pleasure of having him cook breakfast for me yet, so perhaps today could be a first.
I walked the remaining distance to his address, thinking of his warm smile that I missed seeing.
Was my longing for him wrong? Probably yes, although maybe not?
Thus far, I hadn’t crossed any line, or so I kept telling myself.
While I had developed some sort of an attachment toward him, I didn’t plan to act on it.
Elliot was just a small guilty pleasure of mine, the same as eating a dessert after a good meal.
His presence satisfied the sides of me no one else knew about, and it hurt no one.
It was selfish of me, I knew this much, but sometimes life required one to be egocentric.
Finally, I reached his row of buildings, which was just a cluster of brown brick compounds. All the structures looked the same, and the only way to tell them apart was by their address. Noticing I was on the wrong side of the street, I was ready to cross it when I spotted Elliot from afar.
With his eyes closed and a cigarette tucked between his lips, he leaned shirtless on one of the fire-escape rails.
He rarely smoked near me, and while I hated the idea of him poisoning himself, I couldn’t deny how sexy he looked while he did.
His dark hair was a bit of a mess, giving him the look of a rebellious rock star, especially with the hoop earring on his right ear.
But above his striking features, which I never seemed to get used to, what truly captivated me was how lost in thought he seemed to be.
What are you thinking about, Little Prince?
Calmness spread through me as I remained rooted to the ground, admiring him like a man to God.
Still lost in the clouds, Elliot took another puff from his cigarette before slowly blowing out the dense smoke into the air.
The way he held the cigarette between two elegant fingers was almost a form of art, and I watched with awe each time his lips wrapped around the tip as he took another inhale.
I would have stayed there and watched him until dusk if not for the burning need inside me to get closer to him.
Close enough so the smell of his cigarette would stick to my clothes.
Just then, Elliot opened his eyes. I thought he’d look down on the street and notice me, but instead, he turned to glance over his shoulder at a person who climbed out of his apartment’s window and came to join him on the fire escape.
Not just a person, but a man. A young, shirtless man with a nice body and dark hair who shamelessly wrapped an arm around Elliot.
There was no mistake about the nature of their relationship, not with how this stranger planted a kiss on Elliot’s neck.
My gut twisted, knotted tight with barely contained fury at the sight of them, and I felt sick with anger—the type of rage that gripped the mouth like a sip of sour milk.
Enraged, I stayed where I was and watched how those two flirted with one another for a long minute before they snuck back inside the apartment.
This unfortunate encounter confirmed to me what I’d already suspected, and that was that Elliot, the same as me, was interested in men.
Except for the past few months since I’d known him, he was the only man I was interested in.
Ignoring my blunt admission that I wanted him, I focused on the bigger issue, which was Elliot, currently sharing his bed with a man who wasn’t me.
Ha… So what I was feeling wasn’t anger but jealousy.
The pitiful jealousy of a man with a wounded ego.
To think I got so excited over Elliot’s confession of missing me that I literally ran to see him.
I couldn’t have reached any lower, even if I tried.
Heat flared in my chest with the mere thought of my patheticness. I was a grown man, for Christ’s sake.
A married man.
Clenching the damn baguette tighter in my fist, I tossed it and those ridiculous muffins into a nearby trash can, not caring that it startled a poor stray cat, which ran away with its tail between its legs.
The same way I ran back home—to the wife I nearly forgot I had and to the daughter who deserved a lot more.