Taetum's Muse

Chapter 5

Keelan's P.O.V.

"Keelan, do you like Taetum?" Kenley questions from the backseat behind the front passenger seat.

Glancing briefly at him through the rear view mirror before focusing on the road, and answering him; "Yeah. He is really nice. Does he bother you?"

"He reminds me of Frankie," he mumbles with a slight sniffle.

Frankie is Kenley's biological father. Ken has nightmares of the shit Frankie physically did to him when he was littler. Taetum looks similar to the picture I have seen of Frankie that is in Kenley's paperwork that dad has in his office. Dad has my paperwork in his office, too. Now, I am aware some people might find it hard to believe that Kenley can remember those events, but those were traumatic enough for him to remember in his nightmares. I can understand Kenley's slight fear of Taetum, but I know he is aware that Taetum is not Frankie, and that he will not hurt him, but that fear is still there.

"You know he is not Frankie, right?" I still gently question, just to make sure that he is aware of this.

"Yeah, I know," he whispers with a wobbly voice.

"If it will make you comfortable, I will make sure you are never alone with Taetum until you are comfortable with him?" I suggest, hoping that this will help ease his anxiety.

"Okay," he quickly agrees with a tiny smile, and he looks slightly relieved.

Arriving back at the company, dad comes outside to climb into the driver's seat once I climbed over the middle armrest, and onto the passenger seat. Kenley and I went to the store alone since dad needed to handle a couple of last minute items before he could leave for the day.

"Did you get everything we needed?" dad questions as he starts driving us home.

"Yup!" Kenley giggles cheerfully.

"That's good," dad chuckles with a grin as I smile at my brother's enthusiasm.

I am going to mention the situation with Taetum with dad privately. I will not do this in front of Kenley because I do not want to embarrass my brother, or cause him to panic about the topic. After dad parks the car, turning off the engine, Kenley and I carry in the bags inside the house. We place the bags on the kitchen counter, and I place away everything as dad and Ken do whatever, and I do not mind this at all since it is a small amount of items.

"Oh, hey, Billy's gonna be here Friday night, so if you want to invite Em, that is cool," dad says while stepping into the kitchen as I finish my task.

He had gone to change out of his work clothes, and into a pair of dark gray joggers, and a black long sleeve shirt.

"Okay. I will ask when we are talking later," I reply with a smile.

Emmett and I have planned for a video call later this evening since we have not talked since Wednesday. He and I do not attend the same school since I am in my last year of high school, and he is in his third year of college for fashion design. So, we only see each other if we are at dad's company at the same time.

Dad's company is where I met Emmett, and we became instant friends. I will sadly admit that Emmett is my only friend since I came out as gay two years ago. The two other friends I had, Mitch and Rory did not want to be friends or associate with the "fag." They never said or did anything bad to me, but they stopped associating with me. Their loss, I guess, but it still hurt like a bitch when it happened.

Wandering up to the bedroom, I lie on my made bed on my back to stare at the white ceiling silently. Pulling my cell from my front right pocket to scroll through my social media to run through my time until I can video call with Em in an hour.

"Kee-Kee?" Kenley mumbles as he enters our bedroom with a tearful expression.

"Come here, bub," I gently say, opening my arms wide for him to cuddle with me.

He quickly rushes over to me, climbing onto the bed to lie down on his side, cuddling into my side. Kenley digs his face into my neck as he drapes his arm and leg over me as he inhales deeply. We lie there quietly for several minutes before I realize he has fallen asleep. Softly smiling at this, I set an alarm on my phone for ten minutes before I am supposed to call Emmett, and fall asleep myself.

When my alarm blares, I blindly turn it off, and slowly blink the sleep from my eyes. Kenley is still cuddled into me, and is still asleep which makes me smile. I do not even care that my arm is numb from Kenley's head. Pulling up Emmett's contact, and video call him, and he answers on the third ring with a bright smile.

"He Kee! How are you?" he quietly asks when he notices Kenley sleeping against me.

"Hey Em! I am doing well. How are you?" I reply quietly with my own grin.

"I am doing good," he murmurs as he fondly looks at Kenley and me.

We talk for a few minutes before I ask if he wants to come over to mine on Friday night, and he agrees which makes me excited. He says he is going to come to mine at 5:30 p.m., and he is going to bring junk food and drinks for us.

"How was work today?" he asks curiously after we settle on all the details for Friday night.

"It was good," I answer with a shy smile as I think of Taetum. "There is a new guy that started today."

"Really, is he cute?" Emmett replies, and seems very excited.

Frowning at him instantly as I answer; "Yes to both."

Now, he frowns at me; "What's wrong? Oh my! You like him, like him romantically, don't you?"

My entire body burns at his question; "No, I don't!"