I turn to Reed. “Why did you lie to the cops for me?”
“Because you didn’t deserve to be in there after what he did.”
“How do you know he tried to hit me first? I don’t have a great track record with you when it comes to lying.”
Reed steps closer. “I know you wouldn’t lie about something so big.”
“How can you trust me after—”
“Because I’m in love with you, you idiot.”
His words hit me at the same time my heart stops beating. I’m half-convinced I heard him incorrectly.
“What, nothing to say to that?”
“I … umm …” I lean back against the random car I’m next to. “I’ve had a really long day, and I don’t know if this is happening right now or I’ve fallen asleep in my jail cell and am wishing for it to be true.”
Reed smiles and boxes me in, pressing against me. His lips are tentative when they find mine, but then they meld into a slow and perfect kiss. “Is that real enough for you?”
I shake my head.
This time when he moves closer, Reed also grips the back of my neck and pulls my mouth down to meet his demanding lips and strong tongue. He groans. “I’ve missed this.”
I pull back. “Not to be a total dick here or anything, but this is technically our first kiss. All those other times, you thought I was Anders.”
“First of all, this is our second kiss. You kissed me as Law that night your nightmares came back. And second of all, you’re wrong. So many times I was with Anders, I was thinking about how I wanted it to be you. I wanted you to be gay.”
“Will you settle for bi?”
“Absofuckinglutely if it means I get to be with you.”
I cup Reed’s face as I bring our foreheads together. “I love you too, by the way. I wanted you from the first time you opened your mouth. I didn’t know it could be something like this, but I wasn’t going to let you get away that night. I hate myself for lying, because if I’d sat at the table and apologised for my brother being unable to make it, we still could’ve had fun.”
“Would you have had the courage to come home with me though?”
“Probably not,” I admit.
“Maybe it was supposed to be this way then.”
I highly doubt that, but I want to believe it. “Maybe,” I murmur.
“We should go back to my place and talk,” Reed says.
“Right. Talk.”
I push Reed against the glass wall between his living room and bedroom, just like the first night we met.
Reed groans into my mouth when my hips thrust against him, our cocks rubbing and lining up in a needy search for each other.
“Wait.” He pulls back. “We were supposed to be talking.”
“My cock says I need you, if that counts.”
Reed laughs and pushes me off him. “Nice try.” He laces his fingers with mine and leads me to his couch.
My heart beats strong against my chest when Reed sits close enough for me to wrap my arm around him.
“I …umm, don’t exactly know where we go from here,” he says. “I know what I want, but it might be a bit much for you. I … uh—” He swallows hard enough for me to hear the gulp.
“I want everything,” I say without hesitance. “I want to introduce you to Anders properly—as my boyfriend. I want you to meet my parents—hmm, actually, I should probably come out to them first, but that won’t be a problem. They were great when Anders came out. A little caught off-guard, but they’ll know how to react better this time.”
“We don’t have to rush this. Just knowing you want something more than … whatever the hell we can call what we were doing before.”
“But I want to do this right. I want to meet your sister … although, a trip to Europe probably isn’t in the cards. Maybe we could go halves in getting her a plane ticket over here instead. I want to do this for real.”
“Why do I sense a but coming?”
“Anders still needs me. It’s not as bad as it once was, but there will be nights I’ll disappear because of him. And—”
“Break up with guys for him?”
“I’ve told him I’m not doing that for him anymore, but I’m not going to lie—I’ve told him that repeatedly before and I still do it.”
“You don’t … hook up with them or anything, right?”
I bark out a laugh. “Fuck no. I flinch away if they even try to hold my hand. Not because they’re guys, but because Anders only dates dickheads.”
“Thanks.”
I grin. “You were different. You were a blind date. The usual guys I break up with for him are guys he’s been seeing for a month or so. You’re the only guy I’ve ever …”