Page 18 of Holding On to a Hero
“But only after a date! Or dates!” Cole panicked.
Will looked down at the table again. “Oh. Uh, wow. It’s just, I, uh…”
Fuck it. I have one superpower, and it was time to deploy it. I stood and moved closer to Will’s chair. “Will, stand up.” He narrowed his eyes at me and didn’t move. I tugged on his hand. “Come on. I promise I’m not going to grope you or anything, just get up here.”
He finally rose to meet me. I pulled him away from the chair and folded him into my arms for a full-body hug. “Just relax. This wasn’t meant to be a stressful conversation, and I’m so sorry we made it that way.”
I pressed Will’s forehead pressed into my collarbone. His arms finally came up around my back and some of his tension started to subside. Cole came over and I opened an arm to bring him into the hug. He wrapped one arm around me and one around Will, and then he tucked his head into Will’s neck and breathed in loudly.
Will tensed again. “Are you…sniffing my hair?” But then he choked out a laugh. Cole and I laughed too. Maybe this was going to turn out all right.
Will sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m not saying I’m not interested. Not at all. It’s just….” He trailed off.
“Will, you don’t have to explain.”
He tightened his arms around me. “No, I do. You need to know. You need to know that I’m a mess. Physically and mentally. And you both are so…. I’m not the boyfriend material you seem to think I am.”
I bent my head over Will’s. “Will, we don’t know you that well, it’s true. But we like you. You’re funny and we were able to trust you with our big gay secret. But if you’ve got stuff going on in your life you want to talk about, we’re here to listen. But this is all new and you don’t have to tell us right now.”
He took a deep breath and then exhaled. “Can I, maybe, tell you over dinner?” I smiled into his hair. The future suddenly seemed brighter.
Cole said, “Yes, of course. We would love that.”
None of us moved for a long time.
Chapter Twelve
Will
I could not figure out what to wear. I felt like I was going to an interview, one that would make or break my entire future and I didn’t want to blow it. Although, maybe blowing would be helpful in this case.Stop it!
Anyway, a suit was out; cargo pants were out. I thumbed through my shirts again. Why didn’t I own things that hadn’t been worn while crawling through the underbrush trying to get a shot of a field mouse? I put my hands on the top of my head and groaned in frustration.
Ally stuck her head around my bedroom door. Dammit,I should have closed it.
“What are you doing? Are you going out?”
“Yes!” I bit off in an aggravated tone she didn’t deserve.
“Okaaay. What’s wrong?”
“I can’t figure out what to wear! I have nothing. Why do I have nothing to wear?”
Ally came fully into the room and eyed me suspiciously. “Will, are you going on adate?”
“Uh.” Well, that was certain to set off her big sister alert.
Ally clasped her hands in front of her chest and hopped up and down. “You are! Oh, my god! Who is it? Where did you meet him? Tell me! Tell me now!” She continued to jump. This woman was a vice president of finance at a multinational corporation. I shook my head at her.
“Uh, well. Uh.” Shit, I really hadn’t thought about a cover story. “It’s not a date.” Ally stopped jumping and gave methatlook. TheI-know-all-your-bullshitlook. “I mean, uh, I—”
“Did you justlieto me? William Graham, did you just lie about your date?” Her hands were now on her hips.Shit. I spun back toward the closet and grabbed the first thing I saw. No, not that. I put it back.
“Turn around, little brother, and look me in the eye.” Fuck. Fuck a fucking duck.
I did as she asked. “Ally,” I pleaded, “I can’t tell you.” I gave her my best sad-dog-in-a-shelter eyes.
It didn’t help.
