Page 4 of Xavier

“Mom know yet?”

Dexter shook his head.

Interesting.

I wondered why he wasn’t telling Kate. Maybe he was afraid she wasn’t going to let him go, or try to talk him into going to a local school here. Having a mom like her, one that was steadfast in her beliefs and convictions, could be both a blessing and a curse.

She’d kept him safe all these years, but she’d also kept him away from many things—namely me—by doing so. It wasn’t healthy to raise a child, let alone a boy, locked in a bubble. It created too much confusion once they were thrust into the real world. Andwhile I had no doubts my son was a smart boy, he was also naive to a fault.

“I actually have a friend out that way,” I said.

Calling Gage a ‘friend’ put a sour taste in my mouth. I’d been careful in tiptoeing around the ‘boyfriend’ talk with Dex, not wanting to freak him out too much by shoving all of my personal affairs down his throat.

It had been hard not to talk about my personal life with him, especially since hiding things from him felt wrong, especially about a relationship.

That wasn’t something I was sure about, though. With Kate raising him in the church, I wasn’t sure how deeply ingrained her beliefs—and his—were. So pushing the subject didn’t seem fair game at this point.

In the future, definitely. But for now, I wanted to focus on our dynamic.

Dexter nodded slowly, tapping his fingers absently on the table. “I wanted to go on a campus tour before I accepted.”

He was obviously telling me all of this for a reason. With his mother not involved in any of this, that meant that I had fair dibs. “You want to take a trip out there? I’m sure we could crash at my friend’s place.”

His eyes lit up. “Really?”

God, he reminds me of when he was a baby.

Blinking back the sudden tears that prickled at the corners of my eyes, I said,“Yeah, of course. Why don’t I talk to him and figureout a good time to fly us out. We’ll tour the campus and make a weekend of it.”

For once, Dexter actually looked excited. “I’d love that.”

Pride bloomed in my chest for the second time today. I really hoped this was the beginning to us finally bridging the gap between us.

CHAPTER 3

Gage

“You’ve been staringat your phone like you’re waiting for a dick pic,” came a familiar voice from behind me.

Turning to look over my shoulder, I threw Quinn a glare. “Funny. Can’t I be happy that my boyfriend’s texting me?”

He smirked while ripping the door to his locker open and shoving his dirty shirt inside. “Not muchtextinggoing on, I see.”

He was such a turd, sometimes. Especially since getting together with Jase. Thankfully, that man had softened out our more than any of us could’ve ever imagined. Before they’d gotten together, they were like oil and water.

Though, I guess that came with the territory when one party used to bully the other in high school.

“He got his one year chip,” I said, showing off the picture on my phone.”

Quinn’s eyes softened. “Hey, man. That’s great. Sorry, I wasn’t trying to be a dick. I was only ragging on you because you’ve been distracted all day. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you take a boot to the face like that.”

I snorted at the memory of Mark slinging his turn-outs at me while climbing out of the fire truck. The damn thing had caught me right on the side of the head, too. Thankfully, the tread was thick enough that it’d bounced right off without leaving much of a dent behind, but damn was it embarrassing.

Quinn was right, though. I’d been distracted since this morning when I’d woken up to Xavier telling me he was on his way to his AA meeting to celebrate his one year. Pride didn’t even begin to cover it on how I felt about him accomplishing something so massive. He’d been working so hard on himself over the past year since quitting drinking.

That chip was more than just a small token. It was a symbol that he’d gone and done that damn thing, changing his life for the better. Meeting him and learning about his drinking had been tough. Especially seeing him as the kind of soul that didn’t deserve to suffer the way he had in life.

Sure, he’d messed up plenty, butno onedeserved to go through that shit.

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