Page 122 of The Guy Next Door

“Is that what the doctor said?”

“No,” I reply, reminding myself that she should be all right.

He sets his sandwich on his plate and scoots over, setting his hand on my leg. “I think our baby’s ready.”

Tension rises within me.

I can’t deny there are a thousand scenarios playing through my mind: She’s unable to fly far. Some hawk swoops down and snatches her. She falls over in the dog park and becomes their next chew toy.

Zane squeezes my thigh gently, offering me the support I need right now.

“Okay, Kyra, here we go,” I say, taking that hard step, unlatching her door and opening it.

It takes her a moment to realize it’s open. She perches on the door, glancing between Zane and me.

“It’s okay,” I say. “You can do it.”

And as I’m saying the words to her, I’m also trying to remind myself. My own nerves about what the future holds.

Kyra glances at me for a moment, then flies from her cage and comes to rest on my shoulder. She stays there for a few moments.

“What are you doing?” I ask, turning to her. She tilts her head either way, chirping. In my mind, she’s thanking me for the help before she pushes off. I figure her first will be a short test flight, but she soars through the air, heading for the woods without hesitation, her flight looking as effortless as that of any of the other birds I’ve seen today. A wave of relief moves through me, but there’s grief there too.

Zane rubs my back, and I turn to him. “Nice to see that my wildest fears weren’t realized, but I’ll miss her. It was nice having her around.”

“Yeah, well, now you’re really stuck with just me.”

I chuckle. “Not such a horrible fate. Although, you might only have me until this summer.”

“Oh, really?” he asks, a smile playing across his lips.

I’ve been talking to him about attending WCC for Maymester and summer semester. It kind of surprises me that I’m alreadytalking about it, but my meds have really helped. I’m glad I’m taking them, and I’ll continue to, along with seeing my therapist and psych, but Zane took me beyond stability—he’s given me a reason to hope. I’m not ready to go back to Georgia State, not just yet. But I feel like I could knock out some core courses at WCC, then maybe transfer those once I’m ready.

Zane takes my hand, rubs his thumb across the back, massaging gently. “Then I’d better take advantage of every moment while we have the chance.”

“If I did end up going back to Georgia State at some point, how would we—”

He moves in fast, taking a kiss, silencing me. I relax into it, and when he pulls away, his gaze locks with mine. “Don’t think for a fucking second you’re getting away that easily.” He winces. “Okay, that sounded creepy. Obviously, if you wanted to leave me, I would let you, but if you think that moving to Atlanta is enough to discourage me, then you really are just a pretty face.”

I laugh, and as I smile, his gaze settles on my lips.

“Maybe we could get an apartment close to campus,” Zane says. “When you’re ready, that is.”

“You’d do that?”

“Leif, you really don’t get how fucking head over heels I am for you, do you?”

“You make it hard for me to miss that,” I confess.

He shows it every day—in his looks, his words, his actions. And neither of us can keep from showing the other how much we love each other on any given day. Maybe because we’ve both come to realize how precious each day is, and that another isn’t always a given.

“Let’s finish up here,” Zane says, “so we can get back to the house and I can remind you one more time.”

He offers another kiss, and we enjoy the afternoon, though I have to admit, I’m eager to get back to the house with him. Whenwe finally get home, we’re on each other before we can even make it to the bedroom.

We strip down, a bit of a fumbling mess, chuckling as we try to get out of these damn clothes so we can get to what we really want.

We wind up naked on the bed, Zane on top of me. He smells of the Altoids we popped after our picnic, his tongue pushing into my mouth, my tongue welcoming the visitor as he rubs that fat cock against my thigh.

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