Your Whisper in the Dark

The Men of Marionville, #4

Kenzie Zahn is starting over as a single man. Left with few immediate options, he accepts a friend’s invitation to visit and house sit. It’s the perfect opportunity for Kenzie to put a little space between the past and present while figuring out the best path for his future.  

Mason Hall enjoys the carefree single life. He works hard, plays a little harder, and doesn’t think much about settling down. The right man will come along – or not – and he’s content to wait. A night out to enjoy a little dancing leads to a hook-up with Kenzie, the kind of man Mason has only ever fantasized about. Mason can’t let him get away. 

Kenzie’s smitten. Mason is irresistible, but home is a thousand miles away and a long-distance romance isn’t workable. A strange twist of identity brings a linked past to light. Kenzie and Mason are brought to the realization that even when Fate arranges a man’s destiny, he still has to take a leap of faith, or lose out on love.
 * * * * * *

I couldn’t think about anything except getting the hell away from him. “I’m leaving, and neither one of us is going to make a scene. Goodbye, Mason.” 

I stood, turned on my heel, and left him sitting there. I needed fresh air, to somehow manage to breathe again. If I could get out the door, I could quiet the pounding ‘why, why, why’ beating inside my skull. Was this what people meant by a surreal experience?  I fumbled my car keys, dropping them. I bent over to retrieve them without paying attention to how close to the car I was and whacked my head on the car door. 

“Damn it!”  I plopped down on the frozen tundra of blacktop and grabbed the right side of my head to make sure my brains weren’t spilling out. 

Great. Every time I went queen-out, something nasty happened and it was usually my own fault. Like now. I welcomed Mason’s body heat as he knelt beside me. 

“Kenzie? Are you okay?”

I kept my right palm pressed to my forehead and glared at him. “What do you think? Just tell me if I’m bleeding.”

Mason hesitated, then stroked my face with cold fingertips. “The skin isn’t broken, but I think you’re going to have a bump.” He eased down beside me and I hoped his balls would freeze fast to the macadam through his jeans and stick when he got up. “Please talk to me, Kenzie.”

I suspected there was no way to avoid a conversation with him. Self-induced concussion aside, I seemed to have regained some composure. Maybe. I had one burning question for him.

“Mason, why even tell me? Why not let me live in blissful ignorance?”

He reached for my hand but stopped short of taking it. I sighed and held it out to him. His chilly fingers closed around my equally cold ones. My gloves were in the car instead of my pocket. Score another point for the home team.

“I had to tell you, Kenzie. It was the only right thing to do once I realized who you were.” He started to put his arm around me but I froze him with a look.

Yes, it was. I had to agree with him on that point. He could have kept it from me. How would I ever learn of it? Dennis and I weren’t in touch, and as far as I was concerned, we never would be. It was all in the past, his and mine, and it couldn’t be changed. Generally, I held with the belief that if there was one thing gay men had no right to judge, it was another gay man’s past history – casting the first stone and all that crap.

My immediate thought was he’d blown that out of the water, but maybe not. He’d taken a big risk by telling me about knowing my ex-partner. Lord, my head hurt. 

“So you told me. Now you can screw me guilt free.”