Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 71212 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71212 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
I just hoped it wasn’t mine.
18
GABRIEL FERNANDEZ
The night crept on as Tristan’s friends slowly filtered out of the hotel room. The mood was heavy, but there was still an undercurrent of celebration to it. Tristan was safe. He got out of a situation that could have been much, much worse, and that was reason to pop open the champagne—which was exactly what we did. I didn’t care that it was straight from the beverage display in the room and likely cost forty dollars more than it should have. Noah had brought some cups up from the lobby, and we started to unwind, the conversations shifting from serial killers to serial masterbators as Jake and Noah talked about an old coworker who got fired for being on the clock while playing with his, well, cock.
Noah’s words, not mine.
I sat on the edge of the bed, not leaving Tristan’s side. His leg against mine was a comfort I didn’t realize I needed.
Tia and Jess were the first to say their goodbyes. Noah and Jake left shortly after, Eric, Colton, and Steven being the last three standing. Eric sat at the small round table in the corner of the room, the nearly empty bottle of champagne next to his cup, Colton at his side. Steven sat across from them, mindlessly shuffling a deck of cards as he looked out the window and down to the street. There was a bright floor lamp that appeared to be shining a spotlight onto Steven, highlighting a face that appeared to be smoothed over by a filter. Whatever makeup techniques Steven used deserved to be studied.
Eric stretched out his legs and reached an arm over Colton’s shoulders.
“Thank you, guys, for keeping me company tonight,” Tristan said, gaze trailing down to his feet, bare against the dark blue hotel carpet. “I don’t know how I would have gotten through it. I know I still have a lot of processing to do, but I’m just glad to be here with you guys.” He looked up at me, his golden-brown eyes appearing even lighter to me. He had eyes I could stare into for hours. Like gems locked up behind protective glass, a thousand different glittering facets drawing me in.
How had I ever been able to resist him? From the moment I laid eyes on Tristan, I knew it had been game over. He checked off every box underneath “the perfect man.”
And I almost lost him. I would have never had the chance to tell him how perfect he really was.
That changed tonight. I wanted Tristan to know that I was done playing games. Life could be cut short in the blink of an eye. Holding back my true feelings for him didn’t keep him safe, so I was done holding anything back. Tristan would know exactly how I felt about him before the sun came up.
Eric sat up, an easy smile on his face. He wore a Black Panther T-shirt, his beard coming in thick on his face, a silver necklace glittering on his neck. “We’re glad to be here.”
“Yeah, honestly, I needed a distraction. Not that I wouldn’t have taken literally any other distraction in the world, for the record.” Colton swirled his cup and took a sip before speaking.
“What happened to you?” Steven asked.
“My dad came out to me today.”
All of our attention whipped to Colton.
“Oh shit. Really?” Tristan asked. Steven leaned forward, holding his cup with both hands, eyes wide, stare intense. “How was that?”
“It was fine. The only big issue was that he told me he realized when he hooked up with my mom’s lawyer, who also happens to be my sister’s now husband. And she doesn’t know.”
My face wasn’t normally very expressive, but I felt it crack, my jaw dropping open and my eyebrows jerking toward the ceiling.
“That’s… shit. That’s messy,” Tristan said.
“Yup. He was going to tell me while we were at our family retreat, but considering everything else going on, he figured he would wait for a better time. Family, huh?”
I thought about my relatively uncomplicated family. Mom worked at an airport, and my stepdad worked as a truck driver, neither of their sides of the family causing any issues. No one was in jail or begging for money or stealing from someone else. Everyone got along at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It made me grateful, but it also made me miss them. I made it a point to visit them in North Carolina at least once a year, but it had been two since I’d last seen my parents.
“I told him that it was all going to be fine,” Colton continued. “Told him that I loved him and that if he needed any random tips about being gay, then to ask me.”
Eric smiled and put his hand on his husband’s leg. “You’re a good son.”