Could Tell a Love 3

I smiled back before going into the house. I was afraid of who could be in the house that made both Jared and Beau pissed. I opened the door and heard no yelling, only quiet talking, probably Jared trying to calm Beau down, or vice versa. I walked through the kitchen into the living room and stopped dead in my tracks.

"Daniel? Why the hell are you here?" I asked, now knowing why Beau was so pissed. Before Daniel could answer, both Beau and Jared left the room and went outside. Once I was sure we were alone, I asked, "Well?"

"Miranda told me about what happened between you two, and I wanted to see if you were alright."

"Why should you be concerned? And why were you talking to her in the first place?"

"She called and asked for a ride from the hospital, and I’m concerned because I still care about you." He said, getting quieter at the last part. He stepped closer to me and put his hand on the side of my neck, rubbing it gently, giving me one of his more seductive looks.

I shook my head, pushing his hand down, holding it in my own. "Daniel, I can’t do this. I promised Miranda I wouldn’t go after anyone else while we were separated, and she promised as well."

Daniel bit his lip and looked at the floor. He looked like a kicked puppy, and I’m sure he was just doing that so I could fall for it. He was doing a pretty good job.

"Once. Please. I miss you so much." Daniel said quietly, looking at me with his perfect puppy eyes.

"Once what?" I asked, not really knowing what he wanted.

"Just kiss me. Once. I don’t care how into it you get. I just need to know what it feels like again." Daniel said, gently pulling me closer, looking straight into my eyes. I leaned in slowly, and I could feel our breaths colliding, both of us breathing heavily. Our lips touched, and even though I didn’t get the same amazing feeling I got when Beau kissed me, it still felt incredible. I put my hands on each side of his face while his hands found my hips, lacing his fingers through my belt loops.

I pulled away from Daniel before we could get busted by Beau or Jared, or before the situation could get too heated.

Daniel was smiling. "That’s exactly what I wanted." He sighed. "I wish you didn’t have to go back to Miranda. I think we would be perfect together."

"I didn’t marry her to go off with someone else. I married her to stay with her forever, through amazing times and also through shitty times. This just happens to be a pretty shitty time right now." I explained quietly.

"I could make it better. She said she didn’t want to see you for a few days, maybe weeks. I could make those days, or weeks, less shitty for you."

"Look, Daniel," I started. "This was really hard to do. I basically just went back on my word to Miranda, that I wouldn’t go with anyone else during this..."

"It was just a kiss, it’s not like we’re together now or anything." He said, rubbing my shoulder.

"But I still like you, a lot, so it’s gonna be hard for me to stay away now that I know you like me so much."

"Then why try?" He asked quietly, now rubbing my neck. "It’s obviously gonna be harder for you to stay away then to not, so just....don’t." He gave me a sideways smile and started leaning in for another kiss.

Before we could kiss again, I pulled away from him. "No. It’s not gonna work out. I’m sorry, Daniel, but a promise is a promise."

He looked at the floor again and sighed. "Fine. I guess I’ll see you around, then." He sounded so sad, but that’s how it has to be. I’m not gonna make the same mistake twice.

"Maybe we can try again if you two break it off for good." Daniel said quietly before shutting the door.

I sat on the couch and buried my face in my hands, feeling very frustrated.

I heard the backdoor open and someone walking into the living room. I felt them sit next to me and put their arm around me.

"I really hate him, Beau." I said into my hands.

"Yeah, well I think that makes three of us." I heard him say quietly. "What did he say to you?"

"Oh, that he missed me and that he wanted to be with me and all this other shit. He said that he wants to be with me if Miranda and I break it off for good."

"And what did you say?" Jared asked, sitting on the other side of me.

"I told him no, of course! I promised Miranda that I’d stay loyal to her through this whole mess, and I’m not gonna back out of that promise just because he’s still extremely attracted to me and I don’t feel the same." I said, lying a little bit at the end. I was still attracted to him, but I didn’t want him. At all. "And even if I did feel that way, even though it’d be hard to control myself, I didn’t marry Daniel. I married Miranda, and that’s how it’s gonna stay. No side flings. It’s not like dating." I said, reminding myself and making a point.

I felt Beau and Jared put their arms around me. "It’s okay Eric. He tried doing that to me, too, telling me that he wanted to be with me and all that shit." Beau said quietly.

"Fucking whore." I said harshly.

"Yeah, pretty much." Jared added on, a slight bitterness in his voice. "And I was hoping that I’d never have to see him again."

"I think we were all thinking the same thing." Beau said.

"But why would Miranda call Daniel, of all people, to come and pick her up? She hates his guts. And she knows that he’s just a bunch of drama and trouble."

"Probably a last resort." Beau and Jared said together.

"But now look what’s started up again." I said, exhaling sharply out of frustration.

"It’s not that bad, Eric. At least he didn’t try to lay any moves on you." Beau said, sounding slightly disgusted and guilty at the last part.

I just looked at Beau with a face of disgust.

"Oh, he did not. That’s so gross. He was probably doing it out of pity, too. That’s so fucking low, trying to get some when someone’s at their lowest." Jared said, getting more pissed as he talked.

Beau leaned behind me and tried calming Jared down.

I started laughing to myself, but it wasn’t joyful laughter. "I can’t believe I almost fucking fell for his shit. Again."

"I’m gonna go get Skylar." Jared said, storming out of the room.

Beau looked like he wanted to go after Jared and comfort him, but he stayed with me.

"You can go by him if you want. I’ll be fine." I said.

He shook his head. "He just needs to blow off some steam, and I’m pretty sure whatever I have to say will make it worse. His emotions are really escalated when he’s mad about something, which is rare. It’s kind of scary to see him mad."

"I’m not gonna disagree with you on that." I said. "I still think you should go talk to him. You know him better than anyone else, and you know how to comfort him and calm him down."

"Yeah I know.." Beau said, still sounding unsure.

"Do you know what he’s mad about specifically?" I asked.

"Well, Daniel being here, Daniel trying to lay moves on me with Jared right there, and I think the thing that set him off was what he did with you. What happened exactly?"

"So he started talking about how he missed me and then he kissed me. I backed away and told him no, and then he started coming at me again, saying that Miranda didn’t have to know and that I wouldn’t be breaking my promise if we weren’t actually together and all this shit. I told him no again and he finally left, but before he shut the door he said that he wanted to be with me if Miranda and I split for good."

"Oh my god, he’s such a jackass!" Beau said, rather, yelled.

"What did he do to you? He obviously couldn’t do much with Jared in the room."

He scoffed, then shook his head. "He didn’t do much less to me than what he did to you. I think the only thing he didn’t do was physically kiss me, even though he would’ve if I wouldn’t have started yelling at him."

"He’s such a terrible person. I really hope he doesn’t go after Miranda with this shit and tell her a twisted version of what happened so it works to his advantage." I said, pulling out my phone, thinking about calling Miranda before he got there and telling her what was going on just in case he went over there.

"If you don’t call her, I’m going to." Beau said, taking my phone out of my hand.

"She’ll probably listen to you more so than me, anyways." I said as he scrolled through my contacts, finding Miranda’s number.

I heard the phone ringing and she answered. Beau got off the couch and went into the kitchen. I heard the fridge open and glass clanking. I put my face in my hands when I realized that they were bottles of beer. He only drank when he was really upset.

"So yeah, if he comes over there, don’t believe any of his shit, ‘cause it’s all a bunch of bull. If you wanna hear the same story two more times by two different people, you can talk to Eric and Jared, too, but probably not right now. Jared’s...really pissed." He cracked open his beer and set it on his leg while he listened to Miranda talk, well, question him. He tilted the bottle to his lips and took a huge gulp before answering. "He’s just mad about this while situation with Daniel and what he did and all that. I wanna go out there and talk to him, but I think he just needs to blow off some steam before either of us talks to him...Eric’s right here, why?"

My head perked up at the sound of my name.

"Okay, hold on." Beau handed the phone to me. I took it, confused, and put it to my ear. "Miranda?"

"Tell me everything that happened today with Daniel." She said sternly, but she didn’t sound pissed.

I sighed and told her everything that happened, in detail, while Beau sat there, staring at the wall in front of him, taking drinks of his beer here and there.

"And the same thing basically happened to Beau." I finished, feeling emotionally drained from all the crap I’ve gone through today.

"That little fucker. I knew I should’ve just walked or something." She said.

"It’s not your fault, you didn’t know it was going to happen." I said.

She sighed. "I have to go. If he comes over here, I’ll just tell him to fuck off and leave me and the rest of you guys alone, like he has been doing."

"Sounds good, and we’ll do the same. I love you, Miranda." I said, wanting to be with her.

"I love you, too, Eric." She sounded like she missed me already, but I wasn’t gonna say anything.

"Bye." I said, pulling the phone away from my ear, ending the call. I let my head hit the back of the couch. "I need sleep. I am so drained."

"Go ahead. The couch is all yours. I’ll be outside with Jared and Skylar. Hopefully Jared’s simmered down enough so I can talk to him."

"Alright, thanks so much, Beau, again, for letting me stay here." I said, lying down.

He smiled at me. "No problem." He opened the door and went outside to the backyard, leaving me to fall asleep in a quiet house. It took a good half hour for my mind to stop racing before I finally dozed off.

I jumped awake, not knowing why, and looked around. It was darker in the house, but the kitchen light was on and I heard Beau and Jared talking. I looked at the clock: 10:45 pm. Wow, I’ve been out for a while. I sat up and stretched, letting my vision focus itself.

I heard them both laughing, which made me feel a little better. At least Jared was all better. I got off the couch and went into the kitchen to join them.

"Well look who finally decided to wake up. You missed dinner." Jared said.

"What was it?" I asked, yawning.

"Frozen pizza, nothing too fancy. There’s some in the fridge if you want it."

"Sweet." I opened the fridge and pulled out the three or four pieces that were left.

"So do you feel better now that you slept?" Beau asked.

"Much better." I said with a mouthful of pizza. "What about you, Jared? Are you alright?" I sat at the table.

"Definitely." He said, looking at Beau and smiling.

I assumed what they did. "I’m surprised I didn’t hear you guys." I said, smirking.

"Told you we weren’t that loud." Beau said, also smiling. "Then again, you were always a heavy sleeper."

I just smiled and shook my head, not really believing that I was discussing their sex life with them. "Has Miranda called at all?"

Beau and Jared shook their heads. "I’m guessing she either took care of Daniel or he didn’t even go over there."

"Both of which I would be fine with." I said, getting up to throw away the plate the pizza was on.