Page 23 of Actions and Reactions
“Huh, I didn’t know you could do that.”
“Yeah, it’s a great trick when you travel so much.”
“Can you show me how to set that up? I could use the reminders to handle laundry when I get back from a two week roadie.” He snorts and shakes his head.
I don’t have that experience, and thinking any deeper about it would only be fucking depressing so I do what I always do—what I’m great at—and push it away.
“Of course.” I smile easily and put the phone away.
“Thank you,” he murmurs, and kisses me softly, then... not so softly. It’s only the flight attendant clearing her throat that makes us unglue ourselves.
“Sorry,” she tells us, then she nods back to the opened door. “You can descend now.”
“Thank you, Sarah,” Vinny tells her and stands up quickly.
I follow suit, and only once we’re in the terminal do I remember.
“You were going to ask me something before.”
“Ah, yeah, well...” he hedges, and I stop short.
Vinny isn’t one to hedge, he doesn’t have an ounce of patience in his body, so I’m instantly on alert.
“What is it?” I ask quietly.
“So I was wondering if you have any reservations about me telling the guys about…” he points between us.
“About me being gay?” I ask, though I’m pretty sure I know that’s what he means.
“Yes, if you want to do it yourself, not tell anyone, tell only some people?”
I give it some serious thought as we walk down the stairs and when we’re there I know the answer. The only people I have ever been hesitant to tell are Vinny and my parents. That’s why it was so easy to confide in Lottie. I knew she would be fine with it and be a champion for me if I ever needed it.
“I don’t care about anyone at work knowing,” I tell him honestly. “I do want to be the one to tell my parents, though, so if you tell Lex or your parents?—”
“I won’t, but if I do for some reason, they won’t tell your mom and dad.”
I nod, happy we sorted that out, I don’t really want to think about telling them right now, I know they don’t have homophobic views or a single bigot bone in their bodies, but I’m their son, and things are always different when it comes to me.
“Would you like to come to my place? Stay with me?” His voice is tense when he asks and I wonder briefly if that’s what he wanted to say the first time, but it doesn’t really matter, does it? He doesn’t meet my eyes, and that insecurity and uncertainty looks so alien on Vinny that I’m even more uncomfortable.
I have a lot of work to catch up on.
I’ve managed to stay somewhat up to date this week, but still... the remodeling crew is going to be at the rink tomorrow, and I have to finalize the plans for each player’s marketing strategy with Ana, the marketing director.
But still . . .
“Of course, I’d like that,” I blurt, then swallow hard at Vinny’s smile.
God, he’s pretty.
“Awesome,” he whispers. “You can come right now, or go to your place first if you want.”
“I think I do need to catch up on work for an hour or two.”And maybe prepare myself better for whatever tonight might bring...but I’m not going to say that to him. “But I can get some takeout and bring it over if you want.”
“Don’t worry about that,” he says and waves the suggestion away with a flick of his hand. “Just bring yourself over, okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” I whisper.
