Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 103918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
It so was a problem. The butterflies that always seemed to be present in my belly when I was around Lex felt like they all took flight at once.
Lex was gay.
So if I put my hand on his and let it linger…
I let out a silent curse as I reminded myself that just because he’d admitted he was gay didn’t mean I all of a sudden had a green light to use him to figure out my own sexuality.
Lex let out a breath and then said, “No, there was no one special.”
It took me a moment to remember that I’d asked him that question before he’d told me about his sexuality.
“But there was one guy I thought was different…”
Great, the green monster was back and spitting mad. Beyond the jealousy, though, was another kind of anger. Based on the sadness in Lex’s voice, I already wanted to find the faceless guy and beat the shit out of him.
“What happened?” I asked.
Lex shook his head slightly. He was once again staring at his hands.
"I met him a couple years ago. He pretended not to know who I was or anything about me or my company. I'd been vacationing in this little town in South Carolina. I'd been dealing with a lot of stuff at work after taking my company public… I had some investors who wanted to take the company in a different direction and so I'd been fighting with them quite a bit about that. Anyway, I rented this little beach house—nothing fancy or anything. I slept in, took long walks on the beach, read… you know the drill. A few days after getting there, I met a guy on the beach and we hit it off. I was sure I was madly in love with him by the end of our third date. So I started telling him more and more about myself. Things about my childhood, my brothers, my business. At that point, my vision had started to become affected, but I could still see pretty well. But I'd gotten the diagnosis that I’d be legally blind within a year and completely blind in two. He was the only person I told. My brothers didn't even know."
Lex fell silent for a long time and I found myself pulling the truck over to the side of the road. Lex didn't even seem to notice that I'd stopped the vehicle. I reached out to put my hand on his shoulder, though there was so much more I wanted to do to comfort him. "What happened?"
"I didn't even realize it at first," Lex murmured. "I was always the one to pay for dinner and stuff when we went out. If he needed to go get gas or something, he'd ask me if he could grab a few bucks from my wallet. I hadn't thought much of it, I just always said yes when he asked for money. I told him about my business, but I never told him how much I was actually worth. Maybe subconsciously I was trying to protect myself." Lex shrugged and continued with, "I ended up extending my stay by several weeks. I was devastated when I was forced to go home, but the guy, Grady, and I agreed to keep seeing each other. It was supposed to be exclusive."
When Lex didn't continue, I asked, "You caught him cheating on you, didn't you?"
Lex swallowed hard and I saw him reach up to wipe at his eye. "I flew to South Carolina to surprise him for Valentine's Day." Lex let out a rough laugh and said, "He'd made other plans… with his ex."
I dropped my hand and closed it over Lex's. When he gripped my fingers firmly, I figured I hadn't overstepped any bounds.
"Turned out the ‘ex’ wasn't actually an ex. Grady's boyfriend worked for the company that handled the rental of the beach house I'd stayed in. The whole thing had been a setup. Grady admitted as much when I confronted him about it. He actually laughed when he said I'd made it easier on him by finding out like I had. He said…"
"He said what?" I asked gently.
"It doesn't matter. I was heartbroken because I really did love him. The whole thing should've been over at that point. But—"
"Lex," I interrupted, squeezing his fingers in the process. "Tell me what he said." I didn't know why it mattered to me so much what his asshole of an ex had said to him, but it did. It absolutely mattered.
"Gideon," Lex whispered, his voice thick with tears. None had actually fallen, but it still hurt like a motherfucker to know how much pain the whole episode had caused him.
"Okay, I'm sorry," I said to him. "I'm sorry," I repeated. I began rubbing my thumb over his in the hopes that it would somehow comfort him. Lex looked my way. His eyes were glistening from the unshed tears.