Page 82 of Chasing You

“They’re advertising sterling silver and cubic zirconia,” Adele told him, leaning in close. “I want our rings to be personal, and I have plans for that. But for now, I want to put something on your finger so the world knows you’re taken.”

Kash was pretty sure he wasn’t a hot commodity to any of the single queer men in town, but he liked it when Adele got all possessive. And he couldn’t lie, he wanted that too. He wanted a symbol plain as day on Adele’s hand so no one ever got any ideas ever again.

“Let’s go in.”

Adele lit up and took his hand, pulling him through the door. The place wasn’t actually a jewelry store at all. It was a sort of curio shop with a bunch of trinkets behind glass cases and a lot of costume pieces. The cheaper stuff was sitting in little display cases tucked in black velvet slits, and the pricier ones were behind the cash register under yellow-tinged lighting.

“Can I help you?” came a voice from the front.

Adele let him go. “Are these Dungeons & Dragons figurines?”

That was not what Kash was expecting, but he understood immediately why they’d caught Adele’s eye. Gagehad lost so much, and they were both struggling to figure out how to help him gain some of it back.

“They are. We have hand-painted sets up there on the shelf,” the woman said, coming around the corner. She had very white-blond hair in a braid hanging over her left shoulder and red-tinted glasses perched high on her nose.

“What about these?”

“Can you be more specific? I have low vision,” she told him.

“Oh, yeah,” Adele said. “The case a few feet in front of you. They’re all unpainted.”

She smiled at him and walked over, setting her face very close to the glass. “Yeah, we have four sets, I think. We have them in boxes in the back.”

“And paints?” Kash asked.

Adele turned his head and smiled at him. “A kit if you have it. My son loves these, but we, ah…we recently…he lost them.”

“We have everything you need up front. I’ll go take a few out, and you can look after you’re done browsing.” She turned and made her way back up front.

“Great.” Adele slid up to Kash and leaned in to kiss him. “Sorry. I know we’re here for rings.”

“Don’t be. Let’s get him everything they have. I know there’s a lot we can’t replace, but this is a start, right?”

Adele nodded, but he looked crushed, and Kash understood. Gage had been building his collection for years. He’d lost his books, his handwritten campaigns, and the most crushing was the tactile and braille map he and Lucas had been building.

Gage hadn’t said anything about it, but Kash had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to keep down his pain forever.

“Let’s buy them out,” Kash said, tugging on Adele’s hand. “As my wedding gift to Gage.”

“You don’t need to do that.”

Kash rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I do. I want to put a ring on your finger, and I want to put something Gage loves in his hands to show him that I will always do everything in my power to make his life better.”

“I think saving his life did that.”

Kash shook his head. That wasn’t the same. He would have saved anyone in the house—literally. Even Adele’s crappy ex. It meant more to him that it was Gage, but he wasn’t looking to have some life debt over him. He wanted—no, heneededto be sure Gage understood that when he meant to marry Adele, he also meant to fill whatever role Gage set aside for him.

“Okay,” Adele said, clearly reading Kash’s face. “Let’s grab baskets and fill them up.”

They did, and then eventually, they got to the rings. Adele found a set of plain white-gold bands that were more than Kash had wanted to spend, but from the look on Adele’s face, he knew he couldn’t say no.

“I’ll need a silicone one for work,” Adele said, testing the ring on Kash’s finger. The moment between them felt weighted and important, but Kash was too afraid to say anything. “But I want something like this too.”

Kash took the other one and slipped it over Adele’s knuckle. It was a size too big, but it would do for now. He couldn’t stop staring at the way their hands looked together—the physical mark of who they were to each other.

“How long have you been married?” the woman asked as she began to collect the stuff for Gage.

Adele laughed as Kash started to tell her they weren’t,but Adele interrupted him. “Feels like forever. I fell in love with him in high school.”

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