Page 62 of When I'm Gone

But there’s another side after you fight tooth and nail for yourself, where you wake up one day and realize that the chains that held you down for so long don’t weigh as much anymore, and the sun on your skin makes you feel brand new again.

He’s working towards that day, even if he doesn’t notice the progress he’s already made. I see it, and I’m determined to make sure he’s not counting himself out anytime soon. And in the meantime, some fun is well deserved for the both of us.

“Chase?” Easton asks hesitantly. We’re sitting on one of the benches inside the enclosure facing the skyline as we soak in the three-sixty view.

“Yes, darling?”

He bites his lip with a half smile, the dimple on his left cheek popping out as he does. “I asked if you were getting bored. You haven’t said anything in a while.”

“Easton, I could not be less bored if I tried. Just enjoying the view is all.”

He squeezes my hand. “You must get tired of reassuring me this much.” He says it lightheartedly, as if it was a joke, but I know him better than that.

The Museum of Pop Culture is just below our feet, thewild colors dancing in the evening sun. “You’re an overthinker. I get it. It’s not a bad thing. So for you, I’ll be an overexplainer.”

My sweet Chaos’s jaw practically unhinges. “What?” he squeaks quietly.

“I’ll explain myself until I’m blue in the face if it helps you feel more comfortable, sweetheart.”

For some reason, that seems to have fried his hardware. He blinks at me and then blinks some more, as if he simply can’t comprehend that the way his brain works isn’t annoying to me.

He makes a sound in the back of his throat, a sort of anguished whine that has me lowering my head and pressing a kiss to his pouty lips. It’s fast, he’s not big on public displays of affection, but he melts into it all the same, and it’s an effort to pull back. There’s too many damn people here.

“You got it?” He nods dazedly. “Well, we’ve gotten donuts, gone to the art exhibit and done the Space Needle. Anything else in particular you want to do?”

After the pop-up, the donuts were the main focus, believe it or not, but in my defense, they’re as close as you can get to a public orgasm without risking an indecency charge. We may or may not have split three dozen of the little fuckers. Brady is going to kick my ass in the gym tomorrow, but compartmentalizing is my bestest friend, and they were tiny, so it basically doesn’t count.

Plus, it made Easton’s eyes roll back in his head, and I’ve only ever managed to get that look when I make him come, so I’m quite pleased with myself.

“Hmm.” It’s cute watching him try to think of what he’s allowed to say. It doesn’t come easily to him, but I’m hoping we can practice a little bit. “Maybe dinner?”

The creativity could use some work but I’ll take it. “Dinner sounds perfect.”

After a little prompting, he admits that he doesn’t want anything stuck-up, which sounds right up my alley. So we settle on a food truck we pass on the way back to my car, and I realize he’s having more fun than I’ve seen since the afternoon we spent rough-housing in the pool. He’s flirty in his own shy way, not looking over his shoulder every few minutes, even teasing me occasionally.

I love it.

We’re only a couple of houses away from home when a car parked on the street snags his attention, and his mouth turns down in the corners for the first time in a couple hours. “What’s that look for, Chaos?” I ask.

He shakes his head as his frown deepens. “My ex was obsessed with that model of BMW. Just icked me out for a second seeing one again.”

“Yuck,” I agree.

Easton’s phone starts ringing in the cupholder, I got service for it finally, and he pales as the unsaved number shows on the screen. He points it at me in question, but I know who it is.

“That’s Parker’s number.”

He relaxes and swipes to answer it, obviously confused but the color returns to his cheeks. “Hello?”

Parker starts going ninety to nothing so I leave them to it after I pull into the garage, not wanting to hover. I really hope Easton agrees to go with him to that concert, but I don’t want him to do it because he sees that on my face and doesn’t want to let me down, or something equally impossible.

Marianne is transitioning all of us to remote until the office renovations she wants are done, she’s really trying the whole new logo, new us thing. Which is great, except I have no idea what the purpose for the rebranding actually is.Maybe she just thought we needed a vibe change around the office. She is pretty serious about that kind of thing.

Fine by me, I’ll never complain about six weeks of staying home. But I know someone who will. Jesus, Brady may die without having a whole office floor worth of people to socialize with. He hasn’t texted me nearly as much as he normally would, but I’m hoping he’s just trying to give Easton space, not me exactly.

Still no sign of Easton being done talking to my brother yet, poor thing probably got sucked into Parker’s whirlwind, but it does give me a chance to check on my friend. He answers before the first ring has even ended, and a knot in my chest I was previously unaware of loosens.

“You gotta quit calling me like this, bro, I keep thinking someone died. Did someone die?”

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