Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 96260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Casey sniffled. “Really?”
“Of course. I’m sure we can find all sorts of guys who’ll dance with you tonight. You know they’re falling out of the closet left and right in this town.”
“I don’t know how I’d feel about anyone else dancing with Casey tonight,” a voice came from behind us.
We turned together to see Steve approaching, dressed in his old prom tux, indicated by some dust he still hadn’t cleaned off it and a missing button. Although, he’d combed his hair and even pulled out his dress shoes, trying to put on the best appearance he could manage on such short notice.
Holy hell.
I could hardly believe my eyes.
Steve had done nothing but given us both a hard time about dressing up for this.
“I guess other guys can dance with you,” Steve said, “as long as I get to have you first.”
“You said you weren’t coming,” Casey said, wiping his hands over his face quickly, like he didn’t want Steve to see him cry.
Steve shrugged. “I’m not a big fan of dances, but my buddy is. I think we’re long overdue for a dance anyway.”
It was such an incredible gesture. Evidently, after Steve heard what happened to Casey, he’d pulled out that old suit and hurried down here…all for his friend.
Once again, I was reminded how lucky I was to have these guys.
“You didn’t have to come here for me,” Casey said.
“Somebody has to treat you the way you deserve to be treated, so I guess it might as well be me.”
Casey lost it, tears flowing as he trembled. Steve’s body seemed magnetized to Casey’s as he wrapped his arms around him, pulling him close for a hug.
I waved to Steve to catch his attention before indicating the flask and shaking my head. He nodded and winked at me, and I slipped away, figuring they could use a moment to chat before making their way to the dance floor.
I found Owen not far away in a corner by himself. “I guess you saw more than you probably should have,” I said as I approached.
“I think just as much as I needed to.”
He had this look in his eyes, as though something about me was particularly fascinating to him. “What?” I asked. “Is it the suit? Or the way I fixed my hair?”
“Everything,” he said. “You’re kind of amazing, Keegan Kruse.”
“I think Steve gets the friend award of the night.”
“That was definitely thoughtful of him to come and save the day, but you have this natural way about you…always willing to jump in and help, whether it’s with someone’s lost niece or acting like you’re in a relationship for a good cause. Or soothing a man with a damaged past. You always step up to the challenge. I heard a wise man in an interview once say not to judge a person by their age, but by how they respond when ‘shit hits the fan.’”
“We’ve both been there when it hits the fan,” I said, thinking about his dark past, the demons he’d fought throughout his life. So similar to my own. Such different worlds we came from, but with each passing day, I only felt I was growing closer and closer with this enigmatic man standing before me.
I continued, “Generosity comes in many forms. Like when a man stands against his entire country and family to do the right thing. To stand up for a group of people who don’t have the kind of power or voice to say what must be said. It can be so big or even something as small as allowing a lover to move at a pace he’s most comfortable with, simply because you care about him. Or jumping in and helping with some bizarre fundraising event because he wants to help where he can.”
He made such a big deal about my shit, but truly, he hadn’t shined that mirror on himself.
He wasn’t a prince to me. He was my amazing O with the steel-blue eyes and a heart that so many couldn’t truly see, not as I had.
Not when he pushed everyone else away.
As I looked at him in the soft light, seeing him for all that he was, I had to acknowledge that despite the crazy circumstances that had brought us together, I found myself falling hopelessly in love with Prince Owen Hawthorne III.
His eyes shifted as he seemed to notice the music had started up. “Come on. I think we owe it to ourselves to enjoy this song.”
32
Owen
We joined the rest of the event guests on the dance floor, Keegan and I sharing a slow dance.
In the time we’d been seeing one another, we hadn’t yet slow danced. How was that even possible, considering how effortless it was for us to move together?
As he gazed into my eyes that night, it was as though he was looking right into my soul.