Page 14 of Leave Me
Who had been protecting him since I left?
When we came out to each other in high school, it created a bond unlike anything I had with anyone else on earth. Riley was my best friend, even though my dad said he wasn’t shifter enough to be the future Pack Alpha’s friend. Hell, I’d been his first kiss at senior prom. I’d told him everything, about my gender dysphoria and how bad my dad made me feel, so I was surprised he came, since he always acted angrier about my dad’s behavior than I had.
Riley’s eyes were striking blue pools as they met mine, and a jolt of something hot overtook the guilt. I found my feet moving of their own accord. Before I had time to process what I was doing, I bypassed a group of old ladies and found myself standing in front of Riley.
He grew up good.
Always a little chubby, like he never grew out of his baby fat, he made a great cuddle buddy in our youth. Our classmates teased him, but I found him adorable. Now, he was filling out his white dress shirt, with a suit jacket thrown over one arm. His skin was a deep golden tan, as if he spent his free time at some sunny beach, and his blond hair was darker than I remembered.
Riley and I didn’t speak for what felt like an eternity as we looked each other over, as if cataloguing all the ways we’d changed. Then I remembered to take a deep breath, and his scent assaulted my senses. Had he always smelled like an apple tree laden with ripe fruit? Hell, like a whole orchard?
Feeling my cock throbbing, I held my hand out for something to do.
“Riley?” I hadn’t meant it to be a question. I knew exactly who he was. I cleared my throat and tried again. “Hi, Riley. It’s good to see you.”
Understatement of the fucking year, but I stood with bated breath, hoping he accepted my offered handshake. My Alpha grumbled something about wantingmorethan a handshake, but I pushed it down and waited to see what Riley would do.
Chapter ten
Riley
Taking King’s hand sent a warm feeling up my arm. He always went by his last name in school, being on multiple sports teams, but I didn’t know if that changed.
“Hi, King,” I started and then asked, “Or do you go by Fowler now?”
“King’s fine,” his voice came out deep and gruff. So different from a decade before, but it suited him.
The warm feeling turned hot all over, and I hoped I wasn’t blushing through my tan. I could feel sweat gathering on my back, and I pulled my hand free to wipe at my brow.
No one around us was sweating, so I had to assume some of my predicament had to do with the man in front of me. Noticing how hot Fowler was at his father’s funeral was probably inappropriate. But damn.
His dark auburn hair was thick, but redder in his beard, both set off by his black leather jacket and the sun shining overhead. He removed hisglasses to tuck them into his T-shirt, and I could finally see his warm brown eyes. They bore into me as I tracked his tongue peeking out to lick his lower lip.
Fuck me.
Fowler was even hotter in person than the brief glimpses I got on his social media. I wondered if he still dated men like he had in high school. Fowler had come out to me and still dated a couple guys, but he hadn’t come out to them.
Plus, we had that one kiss, my brain said, giving me hope.
“King, it’s lovely to see you,” Mom’s voice broke the spell holding Fowler and me in a trance.
She was beside me, and when I looked over, I saw that the rest of the guests were on the way to the house with only Merle King waiting for his grandson, holding the urn on his lap. How long had we been staring at each other?
“Ms. Jones, glad to see you as well,” King took her hand and turned toward his gramps. “I’ll see you both at the house?”
“Yes, of course,” Mom agreed, looping her arm with mine to lead me away.
Looking back, I saw Fowler pushing his gramps over the uneven earth to stop in front of Alpha King’s headstone.
“He looks well, don’t you think?” Mom asked, and I heard the hint of a question in her words. She wanted to know how I felt about seeing him again.
“He does,” was all I offered up.
“Hmm.”
We walked around the house and entered through the back door, on the kitchen side. “Is there a reason we came this way?”
“Yes, I want to help, not be stopped by everyone on the front steps,” Mom explained, opening the door and letting cool air spill out.
