Page 120 of Their Wicked Ways

I reined those thoughts in quick.

He wasn’t ours, and he had every right to do whatever he wanted with whomever he wanted.

It hadn’t escaped me that he hadn’t answered us and we were still in this weird sort of limbo of “are we or aren’t we together.” Until he actually said the words, I had to remember that we weren’t.

“And Becca will do the same thing she did when she found out about Noah and Zane and smother me with all her motherly affection and tell me a million times how much she loves and supports me.” He snorted derisively. “How much of an asshole am I that I’m sitting here complaining about how my friends will betooawesome when I come out to them?”

“You’re not an asshole. Coming out is a big deal, even when people do and say all the right things.”

He stared at me with those big, liquid eyes that were going to be the death of me.

“Coming out changes everything. How they see you, what they think of you. Even if it’s subtle, things will never be the same. That’s scary.”

“It’s like ripping a bandage off, right? You just have to do it. No hesitation or going slow.” He drew in a deep breath, then let it out. “Okay. I’m ready.”

I rested my hand on his thigh as he tapped on his screen. A moment later, the familiar sound of a FaceTime call filled the quiet room, and he lifted the phone with shaking hands so he was framed in the video.

“Jett,” a woman’s voice said as she answered. “It’s so nice to hear from you.”

“Hi, yeah. Sorry about not calling much. I’ve been really busy.”

“No need to explain. Let me call Tabby.” There was a brief pause. “Tabby!” she hollered. “Jett’s on the phone!”

Jett met my gaze over his phone, his eyes bright with laughter. I had to roll my lips inward to stop from laughing and giving away that I was there. My parents did the same thing. They forgot that covering the screen of the phone did nothing to stifle their shouts.

“Jett,” another voice said. “It’s so wonderful to hear from you. I imagine you’ve been busy.”

“You could say that.” He smiled crookedly. “How have you been? How are things at the café?”

“We’re good. And they’re good. We got a new espresso machine. It’s got so many buttons and screens it looks like a time machine. And there’s a setting where the machine will connect to the internet and order us more beans after it makes a certain number of drinks,” one of the women said.

“Did you find that out before or after it ordered you more beans?” Jett asked cheekily.

“After,” the other woman said. “Technology is great, but I’m too old to trust my appliances to do their own shopping.”

“How are you?” the first woman asked. Was that Tabby? “Keeping busy?”

“Things are good.” Jett’s demeanor didn’t change, but the tightness around his eyes and the way he held his shoulders gave his nerves away.

It was the same way he reacted when Wes joked about him loving us when we were annoying.

“They cut my hours at the bar,” he continued. “But only until things pick up.” He swallowed, more of his nerves seeping through his forced calm. “I do have something I want to tell you.”

“What is it?” Tabby asked when he fell silent.

“It’s hard to say.” He dropped the mask. The fake confidence he’d projected was replaced by that same scared and trusting guy who’d asked me what he should do.

“You know you can tell us anything,” Tabby said in that way mothers did when they knew you needed to hear that they loved you but you weren’t in a place where you could hear the words.

“I guess it’s easier to just say and not try to find a fancy way to bring it up.” He flicked his gaze to mine, then back to his phone. “I’m bi.”

“Thank you for telling us,” Tabby said.

“We know how difficult that must have been,” Marilyn added.

He blinked rapidly, like he was clearing tears. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

“None of that,” Tabby said firmly. “You told us when you were ready.”

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