Page 57 of Chasing You

“Lucas is texting me,” Gage said, pulling it out of hispocket. “I wonder if he fell in. He—oh. Do you mind if I take off? He wants to start a game.”

Kash laughed, which was interrupted by a yawn. “Go. Be kids. Have fun. I’m going back to sleep like the old man I am.”

Gage smiled at him, then rolled into a fierce hug before pulling away and climbing to his knees. He stared down at Kash for a long, silent moment. “You know I love you, right?”

Kash blinked in surprise. “Um.”

“I wanted you to be my dad for a long, long time. My old mom or whatever—I don’t know what to call her, we’ve never met. But I saw pictures of her, and I feel like…I feel like I wouldn’t have been happy with her, so I was glad it was over before I could remember.” Gage picked at his thumbnail, not meeting Kash’s gaze. “When I was little and my dad would get really sad, I’d lay in bed and imagine you showing up at the door and kissing him, and then having this big wedding where I’d get to wear a suit and a flower on the pocket, and he’d smile all the time, and you and I would hang out, and when I was scared, I could crawl in between you both, and it would feel better.”

“Gage…”

“I still want that. Maybe not the crawling into bed part,” he said, then stopped and laughed, “though I guess that’s what I just did. But anyway, my point is, I don’t know what y’all are to each other, and that’s fine. I just want you to know that I love you. And if this is the whole thing,”—he waved his hand between them—“I can be happy with that too.”

He left before Kash could get another word in.

God, the kid was exactly like his dad, only worse. Kash knew he couldn’t relent. He knew he needed to get himselfto a better place before he could commit to Adele and dedicating the rest of his life to making sure he never felt another second of loneliness ever again. And he trusted he’d get there.

He wished he could do it now. He wished he could be the hero Adele and Gage were looking for. Then his legs began to stiffen and cramp again, and he was reminded once more why the race to that finish line would be met, not in a run but in a crawl.

fifteen

ADELE

“Wine, wine, water.”The one thing Renato really had going for him was the accent. Adele had half a mind to convince him to start narrating audiobooks because he’d buy them all. It was a rare night when Renato was available to hang out with them, and he was passing out drinks as everyone sat around Frey’s living room. “Beer, water…”

“Beer me,” Frey said, making grabby hands.

Renato gave him a sour look as he slapped a bottle against his palm. “I will divorce you.”

Frey scoffed. “You have to marry me first.”

“Then I will, to divorce you,” Renato answered. He took his own wine and sat next to Frey with a tiny smirk.

“And you’ll marry me again, right?”

Renato shrugged. “Rex will be thrilled. All those weddings.”

Frey let out a happy hum and stole a kiss from Renato before settling against his side, and it said something about them that Renato automatically lifted his arm and let Freytuck himself into a small shape, like a perfectly cut puzzle piece.

Adele ignored the pulse of jealousy he felt in his chest. It had lessened since his night in the blanket fort with Kash, but it was still there because while he’d confessed how he felt, and so had Kash, there were still no promises between them. There was nothing defined.

There was the foggy outline of some distant future, and Adele couldn’t begrudge the man for needing time, but it was hard not to ask for more than what Kash was willing to give.

“So,” Bowen said. He was sitting in the rocking recliner with the edge of his foot on the coffee table, pushing himself gently. “How goes operation woo the best friend?”

Adele had finally spilled his guts to the group, and no one was surprised. Bronx had laughed in his face when Adele tried to apologize for hiding it, and everyone agreed that he had absolutely no poker face.

“It is what it is right now. We talked it out. We had a disaster date—which, by the way, I wanted to petition a possible new member?—”

“Uh, no,” Bowen said, knocking his knuckles against the table. “I motion we table any new member talk so my brother will stop avoiding the topic.”

Adele’s cheeks warmed. “I really don’t want to do this right now.”

Bronx cleared his throat. “Maybe we should leave it.”

Bowen sat back with a pout. “How is it that we literally live next to each other and I’m your goddamn brother, but I’m also the last to know shit?”

“You’re the only person I told when I was in the middle of freaking out about what to do,” Adele defended.

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