Page 68 of Sugar

Roe laughed. “I work in IT.”

“Then no.” Juno smiled in spite of himself. “No one can do anything at the moment. Talking to you made a difference.”

“Yeah?”

Juno’s smile got a little wider. “Yeah. Can we talk more later?”

“We can. I’m still not going to add you on Facebook if that’s okay,” Roe said, a little hesitant. “I have a wife and kids—my girls are teenagers, and they’ll have questions I don’t think I’m ready to answer just yet.”

“It’s fine. I just…needed to reach out,” Juno admitted.

“I want to see you when you get back,” Roe told him. “I want to get to know you.”

“I think I’d like that.” Connecticut was close to Rhode Island. It would be a good excuse to see Oliver and tell him everything that happened. Maybe Miles would come along. Maybe Piper would too.

Maybe it wouldn’t be all bad, this thing happening to him.

“I should go,” Juno told him after a long beat of silence. “My boyfriend’s waiting.” He paused. “You’re not, like, some religious homophobe that’s going to preach at me about gay marriage, right?”

Roe snorted. “No. My eldest daughter is trans. We’re big allies in this house. And by the time you get back, I’ll have had time to explain this all to them. I know they’ll want to meet you soon.”

Now, that terrified Juno. This was family, but it wasn’t. Those kids were his nieces, but only by blood. Still, it felt big and important and straight up, gut-wrenchingly nerve-racking. He couldn’t do this alone.

And then he remembered he didn’t have to.

“Talk soon?”

“Yeah. Talk soon.”

The call ended, and Juno gave himself five minutes to process before he stood up and made his way to the elevator. Piper was waiting. His boyfriend—probably. His future—if he could swing it. His happily ever after—if he had anything to say about it, then definitely.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Piper had all but forgotten about the lights. He was sated, though his body was still humming with pleasure. Juno had come back in and hadn’t wanted to talk about his brother, but he had been a little worked up. Piper had stripped him down and then sucked him off until he was begging to come.

Piper had let him, but only after Juno was losing his words. And, as Piper predicted, he passed out right after.

He was dozing himself when his phone began to buzz, and it jolted him awake. Who the fuck was texting him at this hour? His mind immediately went to emergency with Phoenix, but then he fixed blurry eyes on his phone screen and saw the text.

Adam: Lights are gorgeous. Here’s the spot. No one’s there.

Piper scrubbed his face, then reached over and gently shook Juno awake. His lover blinked, his eyes crossing for a second, and then he sat up and rubbed at them. “Sorry, sugar. But Adam texted, and he said we can go see the lights if you want to.”

Juno stared, then nodded. He got out of bed wordlessly, his limbs sleep-heavy and kind of sweet as he pawed through his suitcase. He came away with tight sweatpants and a matching hoodie, and he looked so comfortable Piper wanted to bundle him against his chest and say fuck it and stay in.

But he knew this was probably Juno’s last chance. Juno hadn’t said anything, but Piper could tell something was going on. He was messing with his right eye more, closing it and trying to focus with his left. He was practicing.

Piper’s heart was breaking a little because while he knew that going blind wasn’t a death sentence—hell, it would only offer a handful of roadblocks, and so many people thrived without any sight at all—he knew it was hurting his lover.

His boyfriend.

He felt silly being his age and using that word, but Juno had offered it timidly and tenderly when he’d come back upstairs, so Piper embraced it with everything he had.

He stood up, toeing his shoes on, then grabbed Juno by his long sleeve and tugged him close. “Boyfriend,” he said aloud.

That got him smiling. He turned his face up and took a kiss, which Piper offered happily. He still didn’t say anything, but he kept in close as they made their way down through the empty lobby and to the car.

“Tell me you’re okay,” Piper asked the moment they got on the road. He tried to see the lights in the distance, but the trees were too thickly lined. They had half an hour to the field, and he didn’t mind driving in silence so long as Juno wasn’t spiraling.

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