Ikram and I have been friends since we started working together, shortly after Evie and him arrived here. He’d recommended my services to some patients he took care of, and I did the same. Ikram was kind. Too kind. Too trusting, despite the shit he had to deal with when he was in high school.
Abusive and toxic relationships don’t happen only to straight people.
“I’m—I don’t know how he can still… If that happened to me, I would have closed myself off. I couldn’t trust another guy.”
“Yeah,” I sigh. “But even though Prudence would have been there for you, Ikram has parents who are not absolute pieces of trash.”
Awesome parents, actually. I wouldn’t have expected that from a very religious family. But here they are, loving their children unconditionally. And, I think what happened with his ex is what changed things around for his parents. He was heartbroken, and a shell of himself. No matter how they felt about him being gay, they got him through therapy for what had happened until eventually, they all pressed actual charges against the guy.
“Yeah, he told me about them.”
“I have absolutely no doubt that they’ll love you.”
“I can only hope,” he smiles.
I take a swig of my beer, the silence stretching a little. Now would be the time to talk to him, wouldn’t it? But what if he freaks out? I can’t have a repeat of what happened back then if Nuri’s wrong about all this.
But I don’t think Prue will be able to move forward if she thinks there might be any chance that it could damage my relationship with Jack.
“Jack?” I ask, fumbling with the sticker on the bottle. “I—I have to talk to you about something.”
He leans forward, one of his brow arched, until his elbows are resting on his thighs.
“I’m listening,” he nods, setting his bottle on the coffee table between us.
I’m leaning against the back of my chair, eyes focused on the paper that I’m pulling away from the glass. My heart is beating a little too fast for comfort.
“I’m… Uh, I—There’s not really a good way to talk about this, so I’ll just jump into it and hope you won’t maul my face off.” I chuckle dryly. “You weren’tentirelywrong back then. I mean youwerewrong about a lot of things, but I was indeed attracted to your sister.”To put it lightly. “I still am.”
I lift my eyes from my beer to search his face for a reaction. Something that could tell me anything about the way he feels about what I just said. But his eyes are not revealing anything. Just staring at me. Waiting.
“I didn’t help her with any hidden motives though, and I think it’s important you know that I wasn’t planning to act on it without talking to you first. Which I really tried to do for a few months, but I was a coward and I kept thinking I could do it later. Until it was too late, and then you assumed the worst.
“But I’m—She… From the moment you introduced us, I just felt like she wasit,you know? I don’t know why, she just felt right. When you mentioned she was joining you here, I thought that after all that time, it would have passed. It hasn’t.”
He gives me a few slow nods, his green eyes boring into mine. But he’s still silent. It’s hard to swallow through the knot in my throat.
“As I told her, I’m done fighting against it,” I add with a long sigh.
His eyes widen then. “You told her?”
“Yeah… We talked. What’s important is, I’d like to take her on a date soon. And I don’t want to fuck this up like I did back in college. So I’m telling you.”
He nods again, frowning slightly.
“Because I really like her. And Ireallyhope you weren’t just pretending to be okay with the idea, because I’m going to go for it either way, if she wantsto.”
I need to stop talking. Admitting that I don’t even care if I have his approval doesn’t sound good right now. But I need to tell him the truth. That I like her, that I want to see this through, whether or not he’s okay with it.
I’m choosing to believe Nuri when she said he’d get over it.
Hopefully she’s right.
“Damn, you actually did it,” he finally says, leaning back in his chair. “Nuri and I had a bet going on. I thought it would take you a couple more weeks… She said you’d do it before she leaves.”
That minx.
“You knew?”
