Page 44 of Loving You

The door slid open, and Adele walked out, handing Bronx his water as he sat with a beer in his hands. The evening was quiet—crickets chirping in the distance, andalong the fence, there were the last winking fireflies of the season.

“Thanks for the help,” Adele said after taking a few sips. “I have an agreement with Gage that I don’t ask him for help with IKEA stuff after our last desk disaster.”

“Do I want to know?” Bronx wondered.

Adele snorted a laugh. “Please don’t make me relive that trauma.”

Chuckling, Bronx shook his head as he sipped on his water. “Don’t worry about it. That’s what friends are for, right?”

Adele grinned. “I’m glad you see us as friends finally.”

Had he been so distant from them? Yeah, he had been, and it was clear he’d been obvious about it. “I know I’m not as much of a golden retriever as my brother is, but I promise I like y’all. A lot. And I can’t tell you what it means that you’ve taken me and Luke in.”

“Aw. He’s such a cool kid. And it’s nice to have someone around who gets it, you know?” Adele sat back and scratched at the back of his freshly shorn undercut. “I love these guys a ton, but their kids are still babies. They don’t know what it’s like to be emotionally devastated by a single word of teenage judgment.”

Bronx burst into laughter. “Yeah. There’s no greater pain than having your sense of style, music, and general humor summed up in a single,bruh.”

Adele grinned down at his hands as he twisted his beer bottle between his fingers. “Mind if I ask you something?”

“Shoot, though if you’re looking for sage wisdom, I don’t have any. My relationship with Luke before we moved was rocky as hell.”

Adele smiled softly and shook his head. “Nah. It’s just…well, are you dating anyone right now?”

Bronx felt a well of panic. Was Adele asking because he was interested? Bronx and Monty weren’t a thing, but they weren’t not a thing either. He’d meant what he said about not being interested in dating other people.

“Relax,” Adele said, reading his face. “I think you and Dallas are both hotter than the sun, but y’all are not my type.”

“Ouch.”

Adele laughed. “Not like that. It’s just…aww, hell, I’ve been in love with someone nearly half my life, and he doesn’t know.”

“Not your ex,” Bronx asked. He didn’t know much about Adele’s situation, and he didn’t feel right asking.

Adele scoffed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he sat back. “God, no. But it was probably one of the reasons she was comfortable walking away. She never did like that I was bi. She was convinced I was gonna cheat on her.”

“Did you?”

Adele winced and shook his head. “No. I can’t say I wouldn’t have ended things with her if he ever showed the slightest interest in me though. But he and I—we’ve been best friends since we were kids, and he’s never shown interest in me, so it is what it is.”

It dawned on Bronx what Adele was talking about. He leaned over the table. “The room you’re setting up is for him, isn’t it? Your friend that’s moving back?”

Adele bit his lower lip and nodded. He let out a long rush of air, then set his beer down and scrubbed his palms over his face. “Yeah, Kash. I can’t wait to have him here. We’ve been living apart for so damn long. He and I practically raised my little brother, and then our lives just…”

“Separated?” Bronx asked.

Adele nodded. “You have someone like that?”

If only. But he’d been kind of a loner at school. Jules was the first person to pay any real attention to him, and he knew deep down the reason he’d gotten so attached right away was the fact that he was starved for affection.

“No, but I can understand it. I’m glad he’s coming home.”

“I am too. Well, I want to be, but something’s off with him. He hasn’t told me, but he had to leave his job as a firefighter. He’s got an interview here working at a desk, but I know the idea makes him miserable.” Adele scratched at his jaw in thought. “Am I pushy?”

Bronx blinked at him. “Pushy?”

“Like, do I come across as some pushy asshole? I just can’t think of any reason why he wouldn’t tell me.”

“Maybe it’s bad enough he wants to wait until he’s face-to-face,” Bronx suggested. “When Jules and I split, I couldn’t tell Dallas over the phone. It was too much.”

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