By six-fifty, Chester peeled of the wig and sat down through the fifth episode of stranger things. Brock came in. He plopped beside him, wrapping an arm around his torso. "Hey, love."
He picked up the remote, flipping the channel to sports then leaned back and drew Chester closer. "How was your day?"
"Busy per usual," Chester stated simply while turning to give him a quick kiss. Brock shifted to the side, trying to deepen it but Chester smartly pulled away — turning his attention back to the TV. So many evenings he'd felt pity, hoping that their passionate make-out sessions and hasty sex served as amendments for the time they spent apart from each other. Chester was tired of sacrificing, tired of being fooled. Now he was prepared to be more careful and deal with the hurdles with twice as much wisdom.
Brock tilted his head back, noting his appearance for the first time. "You look... different. Did you go to the spa?"
Chester grinned. "I thought I might surprise you tonight, so I called Preston over to give me a few brush-ups. I hope you like it?"
He nodded. "It's beautiful. You look great."
Chester forced a smile. "Why, thank you so much."
If he kept up the element of surprise, Brock would finally realize just how wonderful he could be.
Chester continued smiling at him, wondering if he'd detect his pain, anger. Brock chose not to notice for he kept his eyes glued to the screen, tired lines appearing on his forehead out of nowhere. Chester patted himself mentally, moving entirely to the other side of the couch — out of Brock's reach. Changes felt good when blended with the right dose of revenge. Brock eyed him discreetly, sighing over and over again in frustration. Chester had always been the one to initiate the sex routine but tonight... seemed confusing. At last, he flicked the TV off just as Chester yawned. "Ugh, I'm so sleepy. Guess I'll turn in early."
He stood up, navigating past Brock who blinked in increasing confusion. No goodnight kiss or tease — Chester had him in a really good loop.
The nights wore on and at the first gusts of dawn, Chester swung his legs off the bed, padding into the kitchen to fix coffee. Brock laid till six, then got up to check the emails. When he finally emerged, Chester had set out the breakfast table and was picking around the garden outside.
"You're different now hun," he held Chester's gaze as they discussed while eating. "Not that I'm complaining. It's a miracle to finally get you to start working around here. Why the sudden change of heart?"
"It's nothing." Chester mused, feeling appreciated. "There's gonna be a whole new Chester from now on, that's for sure."
He looked dubious. "What do you have in mind?"
Chester felt relieved at the opening. "Well, I was thinking why don't I accompany you to your lawsuit today, I trust the Beasly case is still on so I want to see how far things have gone and perhaps meet some of your colleagues."
Brock choked on his juice, setting the glass down. "Today? You want to visit?"
Chester steeled himself. "Yeah. Why do you seem shocked? It's just a suggestion."
Brock shook his head adamantly. "No. I'm just... you can't come."
Chester's heart sank at this, confirming his suspicions. "But why not?"
"Come on dear, it's a lawsuit we're talking about here. There's always a lot of noise and arguments with men hurling curses here and there... you don't want to see that."
"It's my type of scene if you ask me." Chester struggled to sound cheerful, light-headed while his heart was cutting up in bits. Up until now, he'd hoped he was wrong. That those notes were false.
"I'm sorry hun but it's final. You can't come, don't push it."
"But tell me why — "
"I've just told you, there's gonna be a lot of action and swearing and you shouldn't be there. This is a man thing."
"Oh, now you think I'm not man enough to be there with you?"
"It's not what I meant. What I'm saying is that you're too sensitive and might want to leave early. By then I won't be able to bring you home."
"My father was a lawyer," Chester fumed. "And I spent most of my days with him in court. I can handle anything."
Brock's face hardened. "When I say you can't come, you can't come."
Chester whirled out in defiance, making sure to slam the bedroom door so hard that the neighborhood trembled. The house lapsed into silence until moments later, he came out of the room again and strutted over to his seat in the dining room. Brock did not comment as he downed his juice.
They ate in silence.
"I want to come with you Brock, but why can't you let me? I swear I'm not so busy." he pleaded softly.
"This is the final lawsuit for the Beaslys. I trust there would be a lot of people and events to prevent me from keeping an eye on you... and your candy shop? Your customers would be devastated if they don't find you."
"They'll understand." Chester was sure his voice sounded so far away. "I just want people to see us together more often. I want to support you."
"I know you do," Brock sighed sympathetically. Chester was seized with an idea to ram his head into the buttered bread he was eating. That would have made him feel better. "But you can't. There are a lot of ways we could spend time together. Dinner maybe?"
Chester hesitated. "I'll think about it."
He watched him stomp off to the shower, partly annoyed at his schemes. He would need to get them both red-handed but Brock wasn't making it any easier.
He left the house afterward, leading Chester to sprint off upstairs. He found the Android phone chunked in a tuxedo pocket — straight-up dead. No worry though, he thought. The computer was pretty much alive.
He plugged it with a USB cord and powered it on. True to his suspicions, Brock had informed Rita of all the latest happenings starting from last night and was urging her to change plans.
But Rita was as thick-headed as anyone shameless could be. "No. I've missed you so much to wait another day. I've already made plans at the hotel. There's no going back now." She wrote. "I'm not someone you can joke about with and when I want something, I want it complete. I'll send Sven to come to pick you up once the court proceedings end."
A wave of fear swept all over him. They had a hookup planned. What a perfect day to get exposed.