Page 110 of All Roads Lead to You

I chuckled and kissed his cheek. “Sleep.”

It didn’t take long for Nick’s body to sag and his breathing to even out.

Don’t ever leave me.

His earlier words rattled around in my head as I pulled him closer to me with this need to protect him. My protectiveness went beyond promising to never walk away. A part of what I wanted to protect him from was my world, never wanting hateful words directed at him or for him to hurt, all because of who he loved. Life for us would never be as easy as it was for a heterosexual couple.

I made him a promise. I swore to him. But would my vows override my need to protect him? I didn’t know.

Day 19

Nick and I had breakfast in town for fun, though our money was quickly running out. At least we still had the card, which had some money left on it. Regardless, we’d reach our final destination in two days, and all this would end.

I tried not to dwell on the fact I wouldn’t get to spend every waking moment with Nick when this was over. I already ached from the loss, but we had no choice. School was a priority. If I’d gotten my head out of my ass sooner, I could’ve applied to Stanford. Then again, Nick hadn’t been single at the time, so why would I have applied there? One of the main reasons for going to another school was to get away from him.

“You’re scowling,” he said as he shoveled scrambled eggs into his mouth. “When you have that look, you’re stressed the fuck out.”

I huffed a laugh and sipped my coffee, which was so much better than ours. “I don’t want this to end, this bubble that we’ve made just for us.”

Nick glanced around to make sure people were out of earshot and leaned forward. “I don’t either. Fuck, it’s going to be so hard not to have you snuggling into me every night.”

I’d gotten used to us wrapped around each other way too much. My bed was going to feel empty for a while. “I’m definitely going to miss that, among other things.”

“We’re going to need more sex. A lot more sex.”

And just like that, he put my aching heart at rest, making me laugh. “You won’t hear any complaints from me. But I’m itching to see Hunter and be there for him.”

“I know you are. As much as he pushed you to take this trip, he needs you. You’ll be there soon enough, and I’ll be right by your side.”

We wrapped one of our ankles under the table at our booth as we finished breakfast. Before we headed out, Nick found a photo developer place, and dropped off several rolls of film to be processed.

Nick and I had to drive to our next destination for the day, which was on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe. Sand Harbor was supposed to be a stunning spot to visit. I would’ve loved to have camped there, but the park only offered day camping.

When we reached the beach, Nick took out his camera, taking shot after shot of the view. It was stunning. The water looked almost turquoise, and the snow-capped mountains reflected on the calm water, creating the perfect mirror image.

There was a really nice and easy hike around the area that looped in a circle with a view of the lake from almost all sides. Whenever we could, we’d grab a vacationer and have them take pictures of us together. I needed all the memories with Nick as I could to look back on those lonely nights when we’d be apart.

When our hike was over, we sat on the crowded sandy beach and lay in the sun after a quick dip in the frigid water.

Why did I itch to touch him the most when I wasn’t allowed to or when we were surrounded by people who probably wouldn’t approve? This was but a taste of what our future would be like.

I really needed Nick to be one hundred percent certain he knew what he was getting into. We already talked about it, but things would be different once this trip was over.

It was nearly dinnertime, so we packed it up and drove back into town to grab the printed photos. We didn’t look at them until we’d eaten dinner, had a roaring fire going, and a beer in our hands, sitting in our foldout chairs.

When I looked at one, he’d hand it to me. Around the twentieth picture, I looked at him with a raised brow. “You sure took a lot of pictures of my ass.”

Nick didn’t look at me as he shrugged and smirked. “What can I say? I’m an ass man, apparently.”

“Apparently,” I said flatly, though on the inside, I vibrated with an ego boost. Nick was good at that. I’d never been overly confident because of being in the closet, but I never tried to appear that way on the outside. Only Nick and Hunter got to see the real me. “And here, all this time, I thought you were taking pictures of nature and wildlife.”

“I was taking pictures of wildlife. Your ass is wild.”

“God, you did not just say that.”

We both burst into laughter and finished looking through the pictures. They were all amazing. Nick was a natural at taking photographs.

“You know, I can see you traveling with me across the world, taking amazing photos of our journeys,” I said.

---