Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 82829 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82829 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“One to zero!”
“I let you have that one.”
“Lies!” I lob back as we continue the game. I’m sweaty, heart thudding and muscles tired, when it’s finally over and I have, in fact, won.
We head over to a bench and collapse onto it together.
“Damn, we’re getting old.” John wipes his face with his towel, and I do the same. I’ve kept in good shape. I mostly eat well and exercise because I like how I feel when I’m done. I enjoy physical exertion and pushing myself, but I also have to admit he’s right.
“Fuck yes, we are. Why are we doing that?”
He quirks a brow. “Because it’s better than the alternative?”
I chuckle. “I guess you’re right.”
John laughs, then nudges my shoulder with his. “Have I told you how good it is to have my brother home?” There’s nothing but sincerity to his words. John isn’t the kind of guy to blow smoke up someone’s ass. If he says something, he means it.
I wrap an arm around his shoulder, pull him close, and press a kiss to his forehead. “It’s good to be back, brother.”
“We’re having a barbecue at the house today. You should come over. One of Callie’s friends will be there, and JT is coming.”
There was a time in the beginning when John and Callie used to try and set me up with friends of theirs—both men and women. They don’t understand that people can be happy alone, that not all of us need a spouse and to live that heteronormative lifestyle. I’ve never wanted kids, and quite frankly, I’ve never wanted a committed relationship either. A long-term sub? Yes. Love and forever? No. It’s just not who I am, but if it ever happened, I wouldn’t run from it either. That’s also not who I am. And tangled into that, entwined in my DNA, is the kink. It’s nonnegotiable for me, just like I can’t permanently change my eye color.
None of the people John and Cal tried to set me up with lived the same lifestyle as me—or at least, I’d assumed they didn’t. It’s one of the few secrets I kept from John, until one day about ten years ago when I finally told him.
He hadn’t understood. He still doesn’t, just like most people who aren’t in the lifestyle don’t. He’d researched it, and of course, so many of the things he’d seen had been wrong or misleading. I’d corrected him, tried my best to explain it, and while it didn’t change our relationship—people don’t have to agree on everything to love one another—it’s something we don’t speak about.
And they haven’t tried to set me up with anyone ever since.
My point in all this is that ten years ago, I would have thought Callie’s friend was someone they wanted me to meet, but that’s not the case anymore.
“Sure,” I reply. “You know I love to eat.”
He chuckles. “Sounds good. I should head out. You’ll like Cal’s friend. She’s a professor at NC State.”
I bite back my groan because now I see that JT is the one being set up. I never say much because he’s John’s son and it’s not my place. I don’t know the first thing about having a kid, but every once in a while, I speak up. “College isn’t the be all end all, John.”
“I know. But I just… I want the best for him, want him to always know he has options. He’s so fucking smart, Marsh. I feel like he’s wasting chances and one day he’ll look back and regret it.”
“And if he does, then that’s the path he has to take. You can’t make his decisions for him. He’s twenty-two. He has a whole lot of life ahead of him. He can figure it all out later.” John and Callie weren’t able to have any kids after JT. Eventually they stopped trying, but that means two very ambitious, overachieving people focus all their energy on JT.
“It’s just Callie’s friend coming over for a barbecue,” he replies, and I take that as a sign that this isn’t my business and I need to stay out of it.
“What time should I be over?”
“Two work?”
“Sounds good.” We pack up our things and walk to our cars together.
Despite our differences, I can’t deny how good it is to be close to John again. He’s the man who jumped on a plane and flew across the country to be with me after my mom died. The one who talks about our futures and the havoc we can wreak when we’re older and retired.
“Me and Cal were doing some cleaning the other day, and I found some old photo albums. There are so many pictures of us together. It’s wild sometimes when I think about the fact that you’ve been by my side for most of my life.”