Page 56 of Stick By Me
“No, I did not.” I freed a soft chuckle. “That was a complete accident.” I softly bit his chest. “But I wasn’t complaining when you took it off.”
“I’ll bet.” His smirk widened. “Speaking of water, let’s clean up.” He pecked my cheek.
After cleaningup in the hallway bathroom, he followed me back to my bedroom.
“Leo, I’d like for you to stay the night sometime.” I glanced back at him, wearing only his jeans. Now that we were boyfriends, would he want to come out to his family?
Leo crawled onto my bed and fell to his side. “Yeah, I want to spend the night. I just…”
“Aren’t ready to come out to Axel and Remy?” I lay down on my side, facing him. Hadn’t Axel made some comments about us tonight? “Do you think Axel senses anything?”
With a shrug, he said, “He might. I don’t know.” He twisted his lips. “He’s the sort of guy that would make comments about us being together even if he didn’t suspect something. It’s just him. He loves to tease people about things like that.”
“Where does he think you are now?” I inched closer to him. I hadn’t even thought about them when we decided to come here.
“I have no idea.” He huffed. “Shit, I hope they’re not worried about me. They probably thought I was coming straight home.” He leaned over me to grab his cell phone from my nightstand.
The heat of his body tingled over me. If only he could stay tonight.
He tapped his phone and held it to his face. “Shit. They texted me, wanting to know if I’m okay.” He tapped some more. “I’m telling them I stopped over here to say hello to your buddies.” He pinched his lips. “That won’t sound weird, right?” His phone buzzed.
“Leo.” I lowered the phone from his face. “When are you going to tell them?” It was time for him to tell them the truth.
He fixated on me, his lips parting. “I-I don’t know.” Threading his fingers through his dark bangs, he said, “It’s like now I want to say something, but there’s never a good time or I get all tongue-tied. You know?”
With a nod, I said, “Yeah, I know. I was like that when I decided to tell my dad.” I pushed his phone all the way to the bed. “They’ll understand. They’ve both been there.”
“But they think I’mstraight. Like really, all the way straight.” He wrinkled his forehead.
“You thought Remy was straight, right?” As his hand left his phone on the bed, I grabbed it and kissed his knuckles. “You don’t think any worse of Remy now, do you?”
He sucked in a breath. “No, he’s still my best friend. But I was shocked, and it was weird. I can’t say it didn’t change anything between us.” His gaze darted over the bedspread between our bodies. “I don’t know though, maybe it has something to do with him dating my brother. That’s the weird part maybe.” He clenched his jaw for a beat. “I don’t fucking know.”
“Maybe you’ll be closer to them both.” I squeezed his hand. “They know what you’re going through. They can be there for you and help you with your parents.” Oh shit, I’d just droppedthe bomb. I wanted him all the way out. I wanted to be introduced as a boyfriend the next time we met. I gauged his reaction, my pulse thrumming.
In a soft voice, he said, “I know the right thing is to stop lying to everyone, to be open about us.” His gaze crept to mine. “You deserve that, Archer, you really do.” His brows knitted. “And I will come out. I just need time.”
“Yeah, okay.” As my heart deflated, I kissed the back of his hand. I shouldn’t be pushing him like this. I should be happy I’d spent a holiday with his family, and we were now elevated to boyfriend status.
“Anyways, I’m sorry, but I should go.” He rolled me to my back and pressed his mouth to mine, sliding his tongue between my lips and taking me again and again, before breaking the kisses. “Can I see you tomorrow after your game?”
Nodding, I said, “Of course.” Tonight, I had to let him go.
“I think Axel is playing at Gila River casino tomorrow night. How about if you come to my place and hang out? Everyone will be gone till probably two in the morning.” He tapped my nose. “We can mess up my bed instead of yours.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Wrapping my hand around the back of his neck, I crushed our lips together in another round of hungry kisses. I hated letting him go, but for now it was what I had to do.
After seeingLeo off with more kisses and a bear hug, I closed my front door and stepped into the main room. Everyone had gone to bed except for Jonah, who was still playing a video game on the couch.
“Just a minute.” Jonah paused his game and held up his palm. “You need to sit down here and tell me all about your night. You met the parents, right?”
With a sigh, I fell in beside him. “I did.” I chewed on mythumbnail. I didn’t want him giving me shit about Leo not being out. I was starting to have a hard enough time with it myself.
“So, how were they?” Lifting a leg between us, he turned sideways and narrowed his eyes.
“They were great. We watched football with his father, and even though he’s a Packers fan?—”
“Packers fan?” He made a fake gagging noise. “Go ahead, just threw up in my mouth a little bit.”
