Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 5

"This probably isn't the place for me," he said finally, and he tried to make the words sound light. "It's really beautiful, and everyone seems nice. But you've got things set up here, you have your traditions, and, you know…"
    "No, I don't know," Aiden said when Cade didn't finish his sentence. "Yes, it's beautiful, and yes, everyone's nice. And, yeah, there're traditions, but that was the whole point of dragging you up here. I want you to be part of the traditions." His hands were gentle, finding Cade's and weaving their fingers together. "I love this place, Cade, and I love these people. And I love you." He'd said it before, but it was still new, and it normally gave Cade a happy chill every time he heard the words. But this time, they felt oppressive. Aiden didn't seem to notice Cade's reaction, though, just gave him a gentle kiss and said, "I know it's not your thing, but I swear, tomorrow will be better. Everyone will be back in their own cottages and it'll just be me and you and Todd and Taylor and Sarah. We'll swim and goof off and if we're feeling really, really ambitious we'll take the boat out. Okay?" Even in the moonlight, away from the sun that was so clearly his guiding body, he was beautiful. "Okay?" he asked again.
    "I love you," Cade said. He'd never meant it more, never felt the bond more deeply than he did now that he was facing the likelihood of losing it. "I want to be with you. I came here for you. But I just..."
    Again, Cade couldn't finish. And again, Aiden didn't understand. "Just nothing , Cade. I know, you're tired, and this day has sucked, and my mom's being a bitch." He brightened. "Hey, let's sleep in the fort! I'll get blankets, and there's air mattresses in the boat house. We can camp out. It'll be fun and woodsy, and I'll deal with her shit tomorrow, and we'll take it from there. Okay?"
    Cade wanted to be honest. He knew he should explain, should keep this beautiful, innocent man from being hurt by further deception. But the thought of one more night of warmth and love was too much to walk away from. So he let himself be led off the dock, and he waited patiently while Aiden burrowed around in the boat house for air mattresses and then snuck into the house for blankets. He followed Aiden up the winding path through the forest until they saw the yellow glow of candles shining through a poorly-fitted window.
    "The fort," Aiden said proudly. "It's not bad for a bunch of twelve-year-olds, right?"
    Cade squeezed Aiden's hand. "It's beautiful. No help at all?"
    "We had financial backing," Aiden conceded. "We wanted to scavenge the materials, but the parents felt that would be inappropriate, so they bought us stuff. But we drew up the plans, and we did the work." He kissed Cade on the temple. "It's ours." Cade could feel Aiden's lips curve into a smile. "It's honestly the thing I'm the most proud of in my entire life, next to you. So the chance to have you visit it… a pretty big occasion, for me."
    God damn it. Cade was so in love he thought he might cry, and he had no idea how he was going to survive if he lost it all. He turned to Aiden and found his lips, desperately, hungrily, and he tried to memorize every sensation. If things went as badly as they seemed likely to, he would need something to call back to, something to console himself through the long, lonely nights.
    ****
    Cade woke to the sounds of birds singing, and Todd snoring.
    When the others had heard about the sleep-over, they'd insisted that they be part of it. That had been fine with Cade, who didn't care whether he had sex as long as he got to fall asleep with Aiden's breath on his cheek, but Aiden hadn't looked too impressed. Todd had just smirked, said, "Cock block!" and headed back to his family's cottage to scavenge extra blankets and mattresses.
    And it had been fun, listening to the cousins reminisce, laughing at them as they all gave relationship advice to Sarah, who quite clearly didn't need it. It had been nice to feel as if he was a part of something.
    But morning had come, as morning always did, and nothing was any clearer in the daylight hours. At least Cade didn't drink. The others had passed a bottle around, but when it came to Aiden, he'd taken his gulp and then sent it right past Cade with a smile. "My boy's pretty straight," he'd said, "with the one notable exception."
    "You're legal up here," Todd had said. "Drinking age is nineteen in Ontario."
    But they hadn't made a big deal when Cade just shook his