Page 43 of The Jock
“So you and this guy…”
“Colby.”
“So you and Colby are still…” He waved a hand between them as if he was unsure how to proceed after having voiced his immense displeasure at the idea of Milo with another gym guy.
“We are. I like him. He loves his family, which sounds stupid to say, I know. But it’s true. He couldn’t be more different from Neville if he tried.” It was on the tip of Milo’s tongue to tell Gino that he was the first guy that Colby had been with. It was a fact that secretly thrilled Milo. It made him feel oddly and absurdly special. But Colby’s orientation wasn’t anyone’s business, no matter how giddy it made Milo.
It wasn’t as if Milo was under the assumption that hemadeColby bisexual, that was ridiculous. It was the fact that Colby had known or at least suspected it of himself for a while, but hadn’t ever found a reason to bother exploring it. Until Milo came along. Milo had been the spark that started a fire, at least that’s how he felt whenever Colby looked at him with his molten gaze. Nothing but heat and affection in his eyes.
Gino let out a low whistle. It broke Milo’s train of thought and his face heated. Milo glanced at Gino, who stared directly into his soul, sipping his iced coffee.
“What?”
With slow deliberate motions, Gino set his drink on the table. A carefully sculpted eyebrow formed a perfect arch. “Someone’s in deep.”
Milo didn’t bother denying it. He was. It might’ve been a rebound, but it didn’t feel that way. He’d known things with Neville were over long before they officially ended. He’d been too much of a coward to pull the plug until he found out about Neville’s unfaithful ways.
“I gave up so much to make it work, you know,” Milo found himself saying. In his lap, his fingers twined together, like his emotions were a string he could unknot if only he tried hard enough. “I gave up little thing after little thing until the only things left were big things and then nothing. There was nothing left of me to give up.”
“Oh, honey. He was never good enough for you.”
“But Colby is.” Milo lifted his eyes and met Gino’s sympathetic stare with one he hoped was full of confidence. “He’s nothing like Nev.”
Gino rolled his eyes. “I want to believe you, but?—”
“He asked me to show his brother how to put makeup on, Gino. Because they grew up without their mom, and there was no one else. Their family owns a diner, and his older brother is a teacher, and his younger brother works with their dad in the restaurant, and there was no one to help Taylor.”
Milo had learned some of their family history from Colby, and what he hadn’t, he’d learned from Taylor. The youngest of the Bennett brothers was far more open than Colby. But Milo didn’t hold it against him. It wasn’t that Colby tried to keep things from people. Milo guessed that Colby had gone so many years being focused on the needs of other people that he simply forgot to let people in.
He’d let Milo in, though.
“Do I get to meet this guy?”
Milo shrugged. “I dunno. It depends? Are you going to be my supportive best friend or my asshole bodyguard? Because as much as I love both sides of you, there’s only one side I’m interested in letting Colby meet.”
Gino shoved the remaining Danish toward Milo like a peace offering.
“Can I be the supportive best friend with a touch of the asshole bodyguard? Just a little?” Gino held his thumb and index finger about an inch apart. “Just this much asshole, and the rest can be sweet Gino, the nice bestie who buys your friends drinks while you strut your hot ass on stage.”
“I haven’t said that I’m going to perform again.”
Milo flinched when Gino scraped his chair across the floor until their knees were touching. He put his hands on either side of Milo’s face and stared into his eyes.
“Milo, you were saying how Neville took all this from you. All these little pieces that used to belong to you. He made you throw them away because he wasn’t okay with them. Becausewith themyou were more than he was. Bigger and brighter and better than he ever deserved. And he knew it.” Gino’s eyes were glassy and how much pain he caused his friend hit Milo like a missile to the chest.
“I’m so?—”
Gino clamped a hand over Milo’s mouth. “No. You don’t need to apologize. You just need to be yourself, okay. And I’m sorry if I was an asshole about Colby. I probably assumed a bunch of wrong things about him, and that’s on me. I don’t want to see you hurt, Milo, and I definitely don’t want to be the cause. So no apologies. Just be yourself again.”
Gino’s thumb brushed across Milo’s cheek and he realized he’d started to cry. It wasn’t a full-on ugly sob kind of cry. Nothing more than a few tears leaked out before Gino calleda halt to the waterworks. “Okay, enough sentimental shit. Let’s dig your boxes out of my closet so you can go back to being as fabulous as you were always meant to be.”
Gino leaned forward and pressed his forehead against Milo’s. Gino was more than a friend. He was family. A brother Milo had never had but always wanted. Easily one of the most important people in his life.
“Okay?” Gino asked.
There was only one thing to say and Milo managed to say it without bursting into tears, though it was a near thing. “Okay.”
CHAPTER 19
