Page 91 of Ethan

I was an idiot.

I might have driven him away—permanently.

Work could wait. I needed to be surrounded by people who understood me. Those people were going to come in the form of Derek and Michael. Their shared office wasn't far away from mine. That's how they'd met. Through work. They were both small business accountants.

The receptionist looked up at me. "Mr. Gregory … are you here to see Derek?"

"Both of them if you can manage."

"Head down to the Oak Bay conference room and I'll round them up. Neither of them is in a meeting at the moment. They should only be a few minutes."

"Thank you."

On the way to the conference room, I snagged myself a cup of coffee. The view from the spacious meeting room wasn't as panoramic as ours, theirs only being on the third floor, but then none of us were being paid to look out the windows. I sipped on my coffee, thinking about Ethan.

I'd royally fucked up.

"Dad." Derek was the first in the room with me. "This is a surprise. What's up?"

"Can we wait for Michael?"

Derek nodded. "Sure. Sure."

Michael slipped into the room and closed the door. "What are we doing?"

"Judging by the look on Dad's face, I'd say he's in crisis."

I set my cup on the conference table. "I've screwed up so badly, I think I've lost him."

Derek pulled out a chair and sat. "What did you do?"

I stayed standing. "Things have been strained. I was having second thoughts. Not anymore, but he is. He wants us to take a break. I was trying to fix things and stuck my foot in it."

Michael crossed his arms. "And you did what?"

"Suggested we have an open relationship."

"While you were in a bad place?" Derek shook his head. "Dad, what were you thinking?"

"Your relationship needs to be strong before you bring something like that up," Michael said, sat beside Derek, and reached for his hand. "We were solid."

The look Derek gave Michael was pure love.

"You're open?" I'd had no idea.

"I have a boyfriend on occasion," Derek said.

"I play with a couple over in Vancouver once a month," Michael added.

Derek squeezed Michael's hand. "How did Ethan react to the idea?"

"He lost it. Hung up on me. I definitely offended him."

"You asked him over the phone?" Derek sighed. "I don't even know where to start with you."

"I know I'm an idiot. What should I do?"

"Give him space," Michael answered. "Let him work through what he's feeling."

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