Chapter 5 Thunder Over Blackthorn #2
"That's not an answer."
"It's close enough."
"It absolutely isn't."
Mason shook his head.
The kid was persistent.
"About twelve years."
That seemed to satisfy him.
"For someone who grew up moving around so much, that's a long time."
The observation surprised Mason.
He'd almost forgotten sharing details about his childhood.
Most people in town knew pieces of the story.
Very few knew all of it.
Eli remembered everything.
"Guess it is."
"What made you stay?"
The question lingered between them.
Mason looked toward the rain-covered doorway.
The honest answer wasn't simple.
Blackthorn had given him stability.
Work.
Purpose.
A chance to rebuild after years of bad decisions.
Most importantly, it had given him a place to belong.
For someone who spent childhood bouncing between foster homes, belonging meant everything.
"I got tired of leaving."
Eli's expression softened.
The answer clearly made sense to him.
For some reason, that felt important.
"What about you?" Mason asked.
The younger man blinked.
"What about me?"
"You could've spent the summer anywhere."
The question had been bothering him for days.
"You chose a brickworks."
A smile appeared.
"I know."
"Why?"
Eli looked down at his hands for a moment.
When he finally spoke, his voice carried a quiet honesty.
"Because nobody expected me to."
Mason frowned slightly.
The younger man continued.
"My grandfather already had a plan for my life."
No surprise there.
"Business school. Corporate experience. Family connections."
The smile faded.
"I spent years following directions."
Mason listened.
Outside, thunder rolled through the darkness.
Inside, the shed felt strangely isolated from the rest of the world.
Like the storm had created its own temporary universe.
A place where conversations happened more easily.
"Eventually I realized none of those things felt like mine."
The words came quietly.
"I was living someone else's version of my life."
Mason understood that feeling better than he wanted to admit.
Trying to become someone else rarely worked.
Usually it just left people miserable.
"So you rebelled."
Eli laughed.
"When you say it like that, I sound much cooler."
"You climbed into a brickworks."
"Fair point."
The laughter faded.
A comfortable silence followed.
Not awkward.
Not forced.
Just easy.
Mason found himself studying the younger man again.
The habit was becoming increasingly difficult to break.
Eli sat with one leg folded beneath him, absently turning a pen between his fingers.
The storm's dim light softened his features.
Made him look younger.
Warmer.
More approachable.
Dangerous thoughts.
Very dangerous thoughts.
Mason looked away.
Immediately.
Unfortunately, that didn't stop him from being aware of everything.
The quiet.
The closeness.
The fact that they were alone.
For hours, apparently.
The storm showed no sign of stopping.
Neither of them seemed eager to end the conversation.
That realization settled heavily inside his chest.
Because lately, every moment spent with Eli left him wanting more.
More conversations.
More smiles.
More reasons to linger.
And that was a problem.
A serious one.
The younger man shifted slightly.
Their eyes met.
Neither looked away immediately.
Something changed.
The atmosphere.
The air.
The silence.
Mason couldn't explain it.
He only felt it.
The same awareness that had been growing between them for weeks.
Stronger now.
More difficult to ignore.
Eli's expression softened.
His gaze dropped briefly to Mason's mouth before returning to his eyes.
The small movement hit Mason like a punch.
A realization.
A possibility.
The storm seemed quieter suddenly.
The distance between them felt smaller.
Far smaller.
Without thinking, Mason took a step forward.
Just one.
Eli didn't move.
Didn't look away.
The younger man's breathing slowed.
Or maybe Mason simply became more aware of it.
Every instinct warned him to stop.
To remember who he was.
Who Eli was.
Why this was a terrible idea.
Yet none of those thoughts seemed particularly convincing.
Not right now.
Not in this moment.
Another step.
Closer.
Close enough to see individual flecks of color in Eli's eyes.
Close enough to notice the faint rise and fall of his chest.
Close enough that the attraction Mason had been fighting for weeks felt impossible to deny.
The urge hit him suddenly.
Powerfully.
A simple, reckless desire to close the remaining distance.
To find out what would happen.
For one dangerous second, he almost did.
Then reality crashed back.
Hard.
Mason stepped backward immediately.
The movement felt abrupt.
Almost violent.
Like waking from a dream.
Eli blinked.
Confusion flickered across his face.
Followed by something that looked suspiciously like disappointment.
That made everything worse.
Much worse.
Mason dragged a hand across the back of his neck.
His pulse hammered.
His self-control felt dangerously thin.
What the hell was he doing?
This was exactly why he'd spent weeks trying to maintain distance.
Because moments like this happened.
Moments where common sense disappeared.
Moments where he forgot every reason this was a bad idea.
The silence that followed felt heavier than before.
Neither knew what to say.
Outside, thunder rolled across Blackthorn once more.
Inside, Mason stared toward the storm and tried to regain control of his thoughts.
Because for one reckless second, he'd come dangerously close to crossing a line that couldn't be uncrossed.
And the fact that part of him regretted stopping was what scared him most.
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