"Echo," by Sol Crafter. Chapter Two. [mm contemporary romance]

Title: Echo
Series: The Brownstone Diaries
Author: Sol crafter
Genre: mm contemporary romance
Rating: adult

Summary: Painfully shy, Cole Heath has always had a hard time connecting to people outside of his family. So when he meets Anderson Bester for the first time, he doesn't really think anything of it. He certainly doesn't imagine that he'll end up falling in love.


Read: Chapter Two



CHAPTER TWO

Saturday was Cole's only real day to relax. He got to sleep in, eat unhealthy food, and play video games. It was like reliving his days as a teenager--the good parts at least.

He rolled out of bed at nearly ten-thirty and prepared himself a healthy breakfast of Cocoa-Puffs. From there he watched an hour of cartoons before getting dressed. It was time for him to go by the comic book store and see if the new issues were in. Plus, Jeremy was supposed to be there waiting for him.

He was rattling his doorknob to make sure the lock had caught when Mary's door opened next to him. Out stepped the brown haired guy from the night before, and he definitely looked good in the light of day.

About half a foot taller than Cole with a long, lean runner's build, he had kind of arrogant features offset by a pair of laughing blue eyes. He looked like he should have been cold to the world, maybe a bit cruel, especially with those cheekbones and sculpted lips, but those eyes... they were joyful and warm.

"Oh, it's you," the guy said, smiling brightly at Cole. "Good morning."

"Good morning," Cole echoed. "Though it's really more like good afternoon."

"Good afternoon then." The guy's eyes flicked over Cole's body, making him shift self-consciously. "Sorry about the noise last night,. Mary was celebrating some work thing. You know how it is."

"You know how it is. It was all right. Once the bass turned down, I couldn't even hear the music. Really thick walls."
Cole nodded, then blushed. He was such a nerd.

The other man smiled at him. "You're really kind of cute, you know that? I would have made a move last night, but I thought you were a kid."

Cole didn't know what to say, so he just blinked at the guy.

He'd been cursed with a dreadful baby face. It was one of the things that made it so hard for him to get people to take him seriously. Then when he talked and they experienced his echolalia first hand... It was always such a mess for him.

"Did I offend you?" the guy asked, sounding concerned. "I didn't mean to. My name's Anderson." He held out his hand.

Feeling awkward, but not wanting to seem like a jerk, Cole quickly shook the man's hand. His skin was warm and dry. "My name's Anderson. My name's Cole."

"Well, Cole, it's real nice to meet you." Anderson had a lot of perfectly white teeth. He could have done commercials.
"I've gotta go see my dad now, but do you think I could get your number so I can call you later?"

"So I can call you later," Cole echoed. His cheeks felt hot and his skin too tight. People so rarely tried to flirt with him and this was the first time it was someone his type--a man. Girls always seemed to think they could save him somehow, while guys usually saw him as a weird joke. "I guess so," he said, "but I don't have a pen."

Anderson grinned and pulled a fancy smartphone out of his jeans pocket. "Go ahead and give me your number."

"Go ahead and give me your number," Cole echoed, then hurriedly rattled off his phone number before he lost his nerve.

He couldn't help noticing how nice Anderson's hands were. Long fingers that moved with quick skill. His fingernails were neatly trimmed and clean. Cole couldn't help wondering what they would feel like against his skin; it made him blush.

"Thank you." Anderson smiled at him. "I'll call you."

"I'll call you. Okay." Cole felt stiff and uncomfortable and he wondered why such a hot guy would want to go on a date with a loser like him.

He couldn't help thinking that there was no way Anderson was going to call him. But it would be a nice fantasy for awhile.

"Well, I've gotta go, Anderson jerked a thumb over his shoulder down the hallway. "See you later."

"See you later," Cole echoed, watching the man jog off. His eyes couldn't help drifting down to the way those jeans hugged Anderson's ass. He kind of wished he could cup that ass with his hands.

Cole shook his head before he let himself get too far into the fantasy. There was no way a guy like that would ever really be interested in a loser like him.

He figured Anderson would forget all about him. Then his number would get erased sometime when Anderson was clearing out his phone.

That's just the way things seemed to work for Cole.


The comic book store was pretty busy, but he had no problem finding Jeremy. He was front and center in the midst of a crowd of fawning fanboys.

He grinned and waved when he saw Cole. "Hey, man, I'll be just a minute."

"I'll be just a minute," Cole echoed, then pointed toward the new arrival rack.

Jeremy nodded, then turned back to answering some questions. He seemed perfectly comfortable with all the attention. It was like he was born to be a star.

Cole looked through the new comics, trying to ignore all the people around him.

Jeremy was his slightly older cousin and best friend. They'd grown up together and they were more like brothers than cousins.

Jeremy had looked after him when they were younger. He'd kept the bullies away with his complete fearlessness and bravery.

From the time they were kids, Jeremy had always said he was going to be a famous actor. Cole had never doubted it for a moment, and here they were.

Though he wasn't quite super famous yet, Jeremy did have a recurring role in a popular sci-fi show. And there was talk about him appearing in a movie. His fanbase was growing daily.

Pretty soon he won't be able to meet me at the comic book store anymore, Cole thought. Not with the way his fans always crowded around demanding his attention.

"Why do you look so sad?" Jeremy asked, slinging an arm across Cole's shoulder. He was wearing some nice smelling cologne.

Rather than answer, Cole shrugged, then half-turned in Jeremy's arms. He pressed his cheek against his cousin's chest and sniffed loudly. He could feel the warmth of Jeremy's skin radiating through the thin material of his tee shirt.

Jeremy's laugh reverberated against Cole's face. "God, but you're so weird. You're my favorite person in the whole world."

"You're my favorite person in the whole world," Cole agreed. He snuggled closer to Jeremy, not caring that he should probably be embarrassed about doing it, especially in public. "There's nothing I really want here. Wanna go play video games with me now?"

Jeremy snorted. "Of course. We can pick up some takeout on the way to your place. I'm kinda in the mood for Korean barbeque."

Cole's stomach gurgled agreeably and they laughed.

This was why he loved Saturdays. He got to sleep in, eat whatever he wanted, and play video games with Jeremy. Life was good.

* * *

Anderson wanted to stab a pen into his brain.

He'd thought his dad had called him over to have some lunch and maybe a casual discussion of the business. Instead, when he rolled up to his dad's house, he was immediately introduced to some woman.

Jessica Finely. Her father was some bigwig in electronics.

She was beautiful. She was smart. She had a sharp nose for business. She was a woman.

Anderson had never hidden the fact that he was gay. He'd always been straight up and honest about the fact that vaginas were not his thing. He'd always had a fondness for dick.

So why was his dad trying to hook him up with this woman? It was baffling and also mildly infuriating.

From Laura's crossed arms and pinched lips, it was obvious his dad's girlfriend agreed.

They were eating on the patio outside. His father had a crazy fondness for barbecuing and had tossed on some steaks--as well as one lone chicken breast for Jessica.

"So I hear you're thinking about buying a house in the neighborhood," Jessica said.

Anderson looked at her like she was crazy. "Huh?"

She licked her plump lower lip. She must have used some serious kind of lip stain because none of the color came off. "Well, I live about a block away, and there's a house available pretty close to mine. You might start looking there."

Anderson had no idea what she was talking about. He had no plans of moving out of his penthouse apartment. "What are you talking about? Who told you I'm going to move here?"

Jessica blinked. "Your dad said you were looking for a place in the area. I'm a realtor."

Anderson looked at his dad, who was attempting to look innocent while sipping his beer and nibbling on toast points slathered in spinach-artichoke spread.

"Dad?" Anderson questioned.

George Bester had never been someone to mess around with. He'd been swimming with the sharks since he was twenty years old. He'd made grown men cry.

He at least had the grace to look a bit embarrassed. "I'm not trying to set you up or anything. I just wanted to present you with some options."

"Options for what?"

George's eyes flicked to Jessica, then back to Anderson. "You live so far away; it took you nearly forty minutes to get here. But there are houses available in the area now, and you know this is a good neighborhood."

Anderson gave him an irritated look. "I like where I live now, you know that. Plus I'm only ten minutes from work and I have a great view of the city."

George made sad eyes at him. He'd gotten pretty good at coming off as a nice old man. Anderson wasn't buying what he was selling.

On seeing that he wasn't just going to get his way, George dropped the loveable old man act. "Look, we don't see nearly enough of you. I thought that if you moved a bit closer you might visit more often."

Anderson made a face at him, then reached over to take one of the prepared toast points off George's plate. He took a bite, humming in appreciation of the spread. "I'm sorry to tell you this, Dad, but you're stuck with me as a son. I'll visit more often, I promise, but at this point in my life I'm just more comfortable in the city." He grinned mischievously. "But if you buy me a place here, I promise to at least vacation here."

He'd meant it as a joke, but by the spark that entered George's eyes he took it as a challenge. "Deal." He turned to Jessica, who had been watching their interactions with a bemused expression. "We'll take that one house we were talking about earlier."

"It's forty-six million," Jessica said. She didn't seem to know how to deal with George's abruptness.

George shrugged. "Bring me the paperwork to sign and I'll have my accountants release the money."

Anderson mentally groaned. Now he was going to have to spend time in the area.

It wasn't that he didn't like visiting his dad and Laura, it was just that his dad always tried to take over his life.
It would start with a friendly visit, then things would move on to how Anderson was living his life and when was he going to start having some kids.

The last visit had ended badly when George had brought out a list of surrogate mothers he'd had prepared. All those beautiful women with their attached bios. Anderson had practically fled the scene after yelling at his dad that there would be no grandkids until he had a steady partner or husband.

"I can't believe you're buying me a house here." Anderson rolled his eyes with a huff.

"Once you have some kids, I'll want to spend some time with them," George said. "Have you met the man of your dreams yet?"

"Oh Jesus." Anderson slid down in the chair. "Is this going to be the new Waterloo or what?"

George bared his teeth at him. "This ain't no Waterloo, boy. This is the continuation of the Bester line and neither one of us is getting any younger."

"I'm twenty-six," Anderson said.

"Exactly."

Anderson groaned softly. It was going to be one of those visits.

He couldn't help thinking rather regretfully about Mary's comfortably lumpy couch. Then, of course, he had to think of adorably shy Cole with his soulful dark brown eyes.

* * *

"I own you!" Jeremy pointed his finger right in Cole's face obnoxiously.

Cole moved his head back to keep from getting poked in the eye. Jeremy was the world's worst loser. He balanced it out by also being the world's worst winner.

He sighed and threw his controller down on the table. He stood up and started gathering up empty soda cans. "Do you want another soda?"

"Sure," Jeremy said. He flopped backward on the couch and put his feet up on the coffee table. He was settled in for the long haul.

"Sure," Cole echoed. "Get your feet off the table you heathen. What would your mother say?"

"That I'm her handsome little man," Jeremy grinned.

Cole shook his head and walked into the kitchen. Jeremy was in a class all his own and nothing was going to change him.
Certainly not the bitching of his younger cousin.

"Do you want some ice cream?" he asked, poking his head out the kitchen door.

"You got strawberry?" Jeremy asked. He had started another game and his fingers were fast on the controller.

"You got strawberry? Of course I have strawberry. I knew you were coming over, didn't I?"

"Great. I'll take a bowl."

Cole gave him a thumbs up, then went back in the kitchen.

Two sodas and two bowls of ice cream--one strawberry and one rocky road. It was a real balancing act getting them onto the coffee table. Jeremy didn't lift a finger to help, of course.

"Lazy bastard," he said fondly.

"Huh?" Jeremy barely lifted his eyes from the screen.

"Huh? Nothing," Cole said, settling back into his spot.

He watched the side of Jeremy's face while he ate his rocky road. The tip of Jeremy's tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth and his cheeks flexed and twitched while he worked the controller.

Jeremy wanted to finish the level before pausing. His ice cream was probably going to turn into a melted mass of pink strawberry soup by the time he got around to it, then he would complain bitterly even as he slurped down every drop. It was the same thing he did nearly every time.

Cole couldn't help feeling a bit sad when he thought about how this was all going to change. Jeremy was really becoming someone and soon he wouldn't have time to just hang out on Saturdays wasting time. He would be on location in far off places and eventually he would forget about Cole altogether.

"Stop it, you're bringing me down," Jeremy said.

"You're bringing me down," Cole echoed. "What do you mean?"

Jeremy shot him an irritated look. "You're getting all depressed or something, I can feel the vibes you're putting out. There's no reason for it. You're my best friend."

"You're my best friend. I wasn't getting all depressed," Cole protested.

Jeremy snorted. "Yeah, you were. You're getting all 'I have no friends. I'm gonna be so lonely when you're gone.' But like I've told you before, you're stuck with me forever. We're cousins and we're friends. Nothing is going to take that away."

Unable to help himself, Cole threw himself into Jeremy's arms.

Jeremy grunted and hurriedly hit PAUSE on his controller before dropping it on the floor next to the couch. He wrapped his arms tight around Cole. "I just don't know why you've always gotta be so down on yourself. You're a great guy and people are blind not to see it."

Cole made a wordless sound against Jeremy's neck.

"Yeah, yeah, but your speech impediment isn't all there is to you. If I could go back and kick the asses of all those assholes in junior high and high school, I would." Jeremy sighed and pressed a quick kiss against Cole's forehead. "All right, let's get back to the game. It's time to pull yourself together."

"It's time to pull yourself together," Cole agreed, sitting up. He scrubbed at his sandy eyes with the palms of his hands. "I'm gonna kick your ass at Halo."

They went back to playing video games like nothing ever happened. It was their usual routine when Cole had one of his moments.