Page 70 of Xavier

This wasn’t exactly what either of them signed up for when coming home to visit me right before the holidays.

Leave it to Xavier to play hero and cause us all to be scared to death.

“Dexter,” a woman’s voice called from the doorway. “We brought you some food from the—who the hell areyou?”

I dropped Xavier’s hand instantly, whipping around to see a blonde haired woman glaring at me as she held a tray of cellophane wrapped food. Behind her, a man with glasses also ducked into the room, stopping short at seeing me just as she had.

Oh fuck.

Why didn’t I figure that Dexter hadn’t come alone to the hospital?

The kid was seventeen with no driver’s license. Obviously, he’d be here with his mother and... stepdad?

“Uh,” was all that came out of my mouth.

“This is Gage,” Dexter said, waving a hand at me. “Dad’s boyfriend.”

Instantly, my face heated up.

Oh, man...

I’d never had that whole ‘coming out to your parents’ experience since by the time I’d figured out that I was down and dirty for the same sex, mine were long gone and buried in the dirt. The closest I’d ever come was bringing a boy home to my brothers and introducing them both to him as my ‘special friend’ until they were old enough to start calling me out on my bullshit.

But here, with Dexter presenting me to his mother as her ex’s significant other, gave me a good slap of reality to what that all might’ve been like. The embarrassment that no straight kids would ever feel. The anxiety over potentially being rejected. The fear that hatred would follow.

All of this was a mix of emotions that I hadn’t been expecting to feel, let alone confront, once I stepped off that plane and into the horrid desert heat.

“O-Oh.” His mother cleared her throat. “Um... how did you know he was here?”

“I called and told him,” Dexter said.

“Whywould you do that?” His step-dad frowned.

To his credit, Dexter simply answered him with a very bored, “Because they’ve been dating for a year and he deserved to know.”

When both adults turned to look at me again, all I could think to do was plaster a, hopefully, pleasant looking smile on my face. “It’s nice to meet you. Uh, sorry for the conditions.”

Dexter’s mother, Kate, sighed. She looked worn, like she’d been up all night talking to the doctors and taking care of Xavier. I didn’t want to assume much, given that my...opinionof Kate wasn’t the greatest.

However, she did bring Dexter down here to see him. So...

Maybe she wasn’t a total lost cause.

“Gage...” Kate mumbled, not exactly looking at me. “How long are you planning on staying?”

I shrugged.

Not really the most solid of answers but the truth nonetheless. I was determined to stay here until the man lying on that hospital bed—the love of my life—finally opened his eyes. Leaving any sooner would just cause me to have a massive meltdown while I stressed about him never waking up again.

She sighed again. “All right... Well, I’m Kate. This Dan, my husband. You already know my son?”

“Uh…” Glancing over at Dexter was no fucking help as he only gave me a ‘you’re on your own’ kind of shrug. “Yeah... Xavier and I... we introduced our kids to each other when things got serious. So...”

Not a total lie.

Plus, if Xavier, or Dexter, hadn’t told her about the college thing yet, I wasn’t about to spill the beans in the middle of a hospital room with a man hooked up to a damn ventilator in the background.

“You have kids?” her husband asked, running his gaze up and down me. “How many?”

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