Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 105080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 525(@200wpm)___ 420(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 525(@200wpm)___ 420(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
It wasn’t until later that afternoon, when Elias said he was getting fatigued and needed to go, that Anson asked, “What about Mom? Do you think…do you think she’ll be okay?”
I frowned. I had no idea if that meant he was planning on telling her right away. If it was important to him, I wanted Anson to have that, but I didn’t want him to do it for me.
“I think she’ll struggle to understand,” Elias said. “I know that sounds ridiculous. What’s there to understand? You’re attracted to who you’re attracted to, and you love who you love, but she’s from a different era and has outdated ideas. It’ll come as a surprise, and it might take her some time to wrap her head around it, but she loves you. Mom would never walk away from you. She’d never disown you. She wants you to be happy, and she’d only need to see you with him to know he does that for you. Even though it might not be what she saw for you, ultimately that’ll be all that matters. Are you thinking of telling her soon?”
My heart stopped dead at Elias’s question.
“I don’t know. I just… Maybe?” Anson wouldn’t look my way, as if he’d somehow disappointed me.
“It’s not a race, Bashful. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Okay, the nickname thing is great. My big, tough brother gets all soft every time you say it.”
“Fuck off.” Anson gave him the finger, but there was no heat behind it, just brotherly affection. He flicked Elias’s ear, and his brother punched him in the arm.
I liked seeing him with his family, being a part of this with him.
“Anyway, I’ll leave you guys to it. I know you have limited time together. I’d like it if we could talk some more, though, Ans…about your guilt and what that says to me.”
“Yeah, of course.”
Elias looked at me. “It was really great to meet you…and not in the way we did at the Super Bowl. I’m glad dumbass over here has you, and I meant what I said about you being my family now.”
I’d somehow swallowed a damn rock or something, my words getting stuck in my throat. There was no way to express how much what he’d just said meant to me. “Thank you,” was all I could manage, and that was only after Anson rested his hand on the back of my neck in support.
“I’ll see myself out,” Elias said, and left.
“I can’t believe you did that,” I admitted to Anson when we were alone.
“I think…I think this was maybe the best day of my life.”
I pulled him close and held him, then dropped to my knees to blow him and show him just how happy I was too.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Anson
It was silly and mushy, but every day that went by felt better than the last. I wished I could slow time to make the two weeks I had with West last. He’d managed to work out a couple of extra days, but it was the most he could do. I was going to fly to California to see him, but he would be busy and our time limited. When we’d first decided to come to my house, I’d been worried. I’d wanted to go to his place because it felt safer, but being in my home with him felt right. I liked seeing West in my space and smelling him on my sheets and seeing him interact with my brother.
The life we were living right now was the life we deserved.
It had been a few days since I’d told Elias, and today I had the shoot for the commercial with Darren, so I’d been gone since early that morning. The afternoon sun was beating down on us. It was an outdoor commercial for a clothing brand, in which we both talked and then I ran out to the end zone so Darren could throw me a pass.
I couldn’t say how many takes we’d shot. All I knew was, commercials weren’t my thing. Half the takes seemed perfect to me, but they always found something wrong, so we had to do it again.
By the time we finished, it was almost five. Darren and I were walking to our vehicles together when he asked, “Wanna go grab a bite to eat?”
“Nah, thanks, though. I’m doing a program, and it’s all clean, home-cooked food.” I was such a fucking liar. I’d spent most of the day thinking about how great it was that my brother knew about West and me, and there I was, making up stories to Darren.
“Then cook for my ass.” He nudged me. “I’ll come over.”
Fuck. I should have seen that coming. Any other time, if West wasn’t there, I would have gladly had Darren over, or hell, I would have invited him myself. Tell him, whispered through my head, but I didn’t. Instead, I said, “Another night, okay?”