Page 37 of Lace

“You stupid fucker!” Mitchell spat at him as he frantically searched for tools to rip out stitches and let down hems to suit the taller model who would end up with the showpiece. “Dumb-ass chicken-shit asshole.” His voice lowered as he continued to curse Caleb out and his hands flew through his tool kit.

“What can I do to help?” Caleb asked, picking up the rest of the outfit from the floor where it had slipped off the hanger.

“Wear the damn thing,” Mitchell muttered. “And stop being a hopeless idiot. If you think your uncle has no idea about you, about Levi?—”

“It isn’t that. He knows. I know he knows. He’s here waiting for me to walk out there, and he’ll clap loudest and smile proud.”

“So, what is the fucking problem?” The garment crumpled in Mitchell’s hand as he turned, fingers clenched into a tight fist at his side. He stomped his foot on the floor and glowered. “Why are you doing this to me? Now? The show is going to start in two minutes. If he’s on your side, despite what the whole frickin’ hockey team is out there chanting?—”

“I was wrong,” Caleb admitted, reaching for the skirt Mitchell was crumpling. “He’s braver than I am, maybe, but he’s still a high school teacher, and they aren’t as tolerant as the college. It’s bad enough he’s got a younger gay man living with him, when this comes out? It could be enough to get him fired when they find out we aren’t related. He doesn’t need that.”

“And you don’t think that’s his decision to make?”

“If I can avoid putting him in that position, why wouldn’t I? If I can just keep the assholes from making his life more difficult than it has to be, maybe I owe that to him. They don’t deserve to have that much power over him, of all people.”

“Which is precisely why youshouldbe walking out there, stuffing their asshattery in their smug-ugly faces and making them eat it.”

“But they won’t. They’ll laugh at me and tear him down. And he’ll stand up for me, for you. He could lose his job. I can’t?—”

“What’s the hold-up?”

Caleb froze. It seemed like weeks had passed since he’d heard that smooth, rolling voice.

“Hey, Levi.” Mitchell removed his pointed glare from Caleb and turned to Levi. “Your boyfriend is going all noble shitheadon me. Tell him his uncle is a big boy and can take care of his own shit. I need him to get dressed.”

“Caleb?” Levi’s hand closed about Caleb’s bicep. “What’s going on?”

“Long story.” Caleb jerked his arm free. “You weren’t there, so you wouldn’t know.”

“So, tell me.”

“You care?” He tried to hold back the hurt. It leaked between the words, dripped out, made his throat close, his eyes itch.

“Always. What’s going on?”

“I can’t do this.”

“Caleb.” Levi turned Caleb to face him. “You have to. Mitchell is counting on you.”

“He has backup. I can’t. Uncle Jase is out there.”

“If he says jack shit, I’ll shut him up myself?—”

“He won’t. I mean he will. He knows everything. He doesn’t care. He’s not like I thought at all. I had him all wrong. Fuck!” Caleb pushed fingers through his hair and ground his teeth. “This is so fucked up. I should never have doubted him.” He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. I can’t model. If people give me a hard time, he’ll go to the mat for me. But he has too much to lose to do that, Lev.” Caleb looked up, met Levi’s gaze. “Way more than I do staying where I am in my cosy little closet.”

“And what about Mitchell’s show? He’s counting on you.”

“There are other models.”

Levi sighed, shifted his feet, and Caleb braced for him to walk away again.

“You’re an idiot. I never thought I’d love an idiot, but here you are.” He took both of Caleb’s hands and gripped them until Caleb’s knuckles ached with the force.

“Cally, you know you can do this. I know you’re scared, and I am, too. I’m scared I won’t be able to protect you. Scared I can’t always know what’s going on in your stubborn, beautiful head,that I’m going to get it wrong. That you’ll write me a love song and I won’t even know it when I hear it, and that I’ll hurt you.” He leaned close, stopping only when their foreheads touched. “But I know I have this one thing right. It’s time. I don’t want to live in this closet with you, Cally. I can’t. I’m not ashamed of who I love, or what I want in a man.”

He was too close for Caleb to see his face, but he felt the flutter of a sigh, knew when Levi closed his eyes.

“There are a dozen guys on this campus who would let me fuck them, Cally. And a dozen more I worked my way through trying to find what it was I was missing. Then you. And I swear, if I never get to be on top again, I don’t care. I’ll take you over any of them, any day of the week.” He gave a little snort and backed away. “Look at me, lover. I turned bottoms-up for you, and I’m good with that. Now it’s your turn. I’m not saying you should do this for me. You shouldn’t. Do it for yourself. Come out. Please. Do this. I want you to do this.”

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