“It’ll be fine. You emailed my agent and Coach, right? Got my parents up to speed?” He nodded, and I eased out of bed to go to the bathroom. “Then it’ll be fine. They all know my injuries aren’t anything too serious, and it won’t impact my season. It means they’ll be able to shut down any speculation. You gave the hospital the details of where to send the medical records.” I shrugged and stood, waiting for the dizziness that thankfully didn’t happen.
Smiling, I looked up, brows shooting high seeing Sutton standing before me, hand clearly ready to hold me should I need the support. My heart constricted, so fucking happy he’d come all this way and we were getting back on track.
Before he could say anything, which he clearly intended to do based on his expression, I blurted, “I need to piss.”
He nodded and let me pass, and I was sure if I looked over my shoulder, he’d be less than three feet behind me.
After finishing up in the bathroom, I returned to find my fruit and toast. Sutton, ever the gentleman his mom brought him up to be, was waiting for me before he started on his own breakfast.
“What time is it?” I asked after taking a gulp of OJ.
“Not long after eight. I’ve called Nate, and he’s going to head on over to get us.” He worried his lip, something he rarely did, and shifted his gaze away from me.
“What is it?” I asked, sitting on the bed.
He lifted his cell, huffed out a heavy breath, then shoved it at me. “Read for yourself.”
Sunshine Coast Qld Chronicle @sunshineqldchronicle #BreakingNews
Basketball superstars @jaydenmooreofficial and @galesuttonofficial are out and engaged. It seems the month for it this #PrideMonth
*image of Jayden Moore and Gale Sutton public kiss September last year*
89.3K Retweets 14.7 Quote Tweets 512.7K Likes
Wide-eyed, my heart galloped in my chest as I read the tweet, not bothering with the comments, but I took in the number of reactions. “Shit,” I said with a laugh, having no idea how else to react. This was crazy, but then that photo of Sutton and me from all those months ago most definitely looked like the real thing.
I supposed it was.
When I’d kissed him, it had been to prove a point. My own big FU to the bigots targeting Ryan and Nate.
For a while, the media had jumped all over the story. It was only when our club’s PR advised us to make a statement making it clear we weren’t in a romantic relationship, right alongside the two of us being supporters of the LGBTQ community, that the stories fizzled out. Sure, there’d been a whole fandom of “Jayton” love out there with conspiracy theories of the two of us being in the closet and in love, which I’d eaten up and thought was both hilarious and awesome.
That had been the final straw for Sutton, though. He’d distanced himself completely. The memory made me jerk my head in his direction. I ignored the pain of the fast movement, too focused on Sutton and dreading that he’d act all fucking weird again and back away. “Shit, okay. We can fix this, right?”
He sighed. “This one’s on me. I’m sorry. I was the one who panicked about being kicked out and said we were together.”
When his tone sounded more resolved than angry, I eased back against the puffed-up pillows, relaxing. “So would you say this is worse than me kissing you in front of the cameras? You know, since you said we’re engaged and that means one day soon we’re going to get married… you think that is going to be harder to take back?”
His gaze snapped to mine, and I couldn’t hold back. I grinned, and laughter burst free. The pain of the movement and the loud noise was so fucking worth it for the flickering emotions crossing his face. I didn’t think either of us was sure whether he wanted to punch me, abandon ship, or laugh his ass off right alongside me.
“It’s okay. You can admit that this is sooooo much worse,” I said, super helpfully.
With a sigh, he leaned back in his chair, his shoulders drooping, shaking his head. Seeing the glimmer of a smile on his face was a hell of a thing, though.
“Only you, Jayden.” His gaze connected with mine.
“Only me what?”
He tilted his head. “I swear, since the day I met you and you told me I was going to be your friend and there was nothing I could do about it, life’s been… chaotic—”
“And fucking epic.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, that too. But I only get involved in shit when you’re around.”
I gasped, somewhat melodramatically. “I am so not the bad influence in this duo—” I cleared my throat, indicating I was building up to some life-changing speech. “—Mr. He’s My Fiancé.” As far as life-changing declarations went, my pitched voice that sounded nothing at all like Sutton’s, was short but sweet. Sutton flipping me the bird told me as much.
He did that a lot. It was one of the many ways he’d shown me over the years that he was devoted to me and our bromance. He also wasn’t exaggerating that I’d latched on at basketball camp and told him he was the jelly to my peanut butter and we were destined to be best friends.
