Page 69 of Echoes of Us

“Did you get it for Christmas? That’s pretty cool, King,” he said, looking at my watch.

I snatched my hand back. “Yeah,” I paused, considering my words. “Noah got it for me.”

Noah stopped his conversation.

“Seriously?” Chase asked, glancing at Noah.

I caught Noah’s nod from the corner of my eye.

“Wow, jealous. I wish I had a friend like that.”

I took a deep breath. “Boyfriend,” I corrected, leaning closer and lowering my voice, feeling a surge of courage.

Chase’s eyes snapped back to me, widening in surprise.

“Noah’s my boyfriend,” I said, watching his eyes widen further and then frown.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Noah’s your boyfriend?” he asked loudly.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. The rest of the team fell silent.

“King, you fucking cheated! I thought we weren’t supposed to bring dates. Sarah’s been pissed at me all week for ditching her today,” he said, complaining to Ezra.

“Don’t look at me. I didn’t even know Noah was in town,” Ezra said, trying to defuse the tension.

“Just because you date guys doesn’t mean you get to sneak them in. Even if they do play volleyball,” Chase continued.

“You know, that information was only meant for you,” I pointed out.

His eyes widened further. “Oh, whoops. Sorry, King. Iguess the cat’s out of the bag,” he said with a laugh, slapping my shoulder.

I glanced at Noah as he stared at me wide-eyed, his lips parted. I shrugged, and he smiled, a soft, understanding smile. I looked at the rest of the team. A couple of the younger ones appeared shocked, but the rest seemed cool with it, even if they were surprised.

“I never would have guessed you were gay,” Daniel, another blocker from Ezra’s year, said. “I just figured you weren’t interested in anything besides volleyball.”

“That’s what I said,” Ezra chimed in, grinning.

“This doesn’t have to be a topic of conversation. We can move past it,” I said.

“When did you find out? How the hell did Chase know?” John, another guy from my year, asked with genuine curiosity in his voice.

“He told me in junior year,” Chase said, and I was grateful he at least had the decency not to bring up my crush. “I’m going to call Sarah and tell her to come over. I don’t care what you say. King broke the code first.” He pushed off his chair and grabbed his phone.

“No, Chase,” Ezra tried to intervene.

“If he’s calling his girlfriend, I’m getting Ana to come too,” John said, and they all started complaining loudly.

I glanced at Noah, trying to gauge his reaction.

“I’m sorry, Atty.” He kept his voice down. “I didn’t mean it. I was just mad and took it out on you.”

“I know. Do you get why I didn’t want to tell him now?”

“Yeah.”

“You need to understand I’m not like you, Noah. I’m not comfortable with everybody knowing my business. I don’t want people to know because they don’t need to know everything about me, not because I’m embarrassed by you or something. I still can’t believe I even got you in the first place.”

His face softened even more. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I gotjealous. And don’t say things like that, Atty. I’m the one who’s lucky to have you. You know that, right?” He reached for my hand. I let him lace his fingers with mine.

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