“If and when you do, I’m here.”
Coury gripped the wheel at Liam’s yearning to help. “The same goes for you. If you want to tell me something, I’ll always be there for you.”
Liam swallowed loudly. He opened his mouth and shut it again. He let out a frustrated breath and looked out the window. When he spoke, his voice was stripped to sincerity. “I appreciate that, Coury. You . . . you’ve been really a great friend.”
“So are you, Liam. I’m sorry I wasn’t a better friend before now.”
Liam looked over and smiled. “You were always really nice to me, even when we were younger. I remember all the times you stopped Beckett from excluding me.”
“I could have done more. Should have done more. I knew what it was like to be the younger brother. My sister and her friends were such assholes to me. That’s kinda why I spent so much time at your place or Beckett hung out at mine. Safety in numbers.”
“You did plenty. I came out because of you.”
Coury’s heart hammered against his sternum. “You did?”
“Yeah. After you told Becks, no one in my family cared.”
“Well, Beckett cared. He stopped talking to me for a week.”
“Okay, but that’s kind of a rounding error. The point was I knew I could tell them, and they’d still love me.”
Coury nodded. “That’s good.”
“I also admired your courage. You had a lot to lose, being Mr. Baseball and all, yet you still told your best friend.”
Coury snorted. “It wasn’t quite as courageous as it seems. Did he ever tell you thereasonI told him?”
“Um, no?”
“Mike Gurber.”
Liam frowned curiously.
“Mike and I had hooked up a few times before I came out. We weren’t dating because weweren’t gay or anything.” Coury cringed at how stupid they were. “Turns out he had more than one buddy helping him out.”
“Oh, God. Did he give you something?”
Laughing, Coury shook his head. “Nothing like that. You remember Ian Slusar?”
“The head of the school LGBTQ group?”
“Yes. Mike hooked up with him. As I’m sure you know, Ian didn’t believe it was right for guys in the closet to use those who were out for fun. I was worried Beckett would hear rumors that I’d hooked up with Mike, so I told him. Better he heard it from me than somewhere else.”
“I didn’t know that. Becks never confided in me.”
Coury glanced over, noting Liam’s disappointment in the slight downward curve of his lips. Liam caught his look and quickly covered it with a smile.
Coury couldn’t help it. He reached out and clamped a hand on his shoulder, squeezing lightly. “Want to hear the funniest part? Ian never outed Mike. I ended up telling Beckett for nothing.”
“Did you regret it?”
“Hell no. Telling him was a relief. It didn’t feel right, keeping the truth from him. Being honest tightened our friendship.” This pause lingered, weighted between them. Coury continued, “Well, once he pulled his head from his ass and stopped ignoring me.”
Liam snickered. “I’m pretty sure Beckett appreciated you told him first. He hates finding things out secondhand.”
They both suddenly stared ahead, focusing intently on the drive.
After a few minutes, Coury snuck another peek at Liam, whose gaze had fallen to the dashboard like he was lost in thought.
