Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“I’ll give you two some space,” Elijah said, then to Jonathan, “I don’t care if I’m smaller than you. If you hurt him, I’ll kick your ass.”
I breathed more easily when Jonathan chuckled. “I won’t.”
The door opened and…meow.
“Um…there’s a cat in front of your door in a carrier,” Elijah said.
My eyes found Jonathan’s, and I knew, fucking knew everything was good. “You got us a cat?”
“A kitten.”
Elijah stepped out as we went to the door. We grabbed the carrier, and I waved goodbye to my friend. When I was alone with Jonathan and our new baby, I asked him, “Girl or boy?”
“Girl.”
Meow.
I looked in and saw she was calico. “She’s so fucking cute.”
We set the carrier down and took her out. She immediately cuddled against my chest as I held her.
“Come on.” Jonathan led us to the couch, and we sat down.
“Everything went well?” I asked, petting her.
“Yeah…yeah it did. I’m sorry I didn’t call all day. I needed to do this, and I had to stand strong on my own. Then I got there and wished you were there with me, because I always want you there with me, Danny. I know I’m all over the place. Things with me are messy, but I’m trying. I’m trying, and I love you, and I promise things will be better from now on.”
“If you’re a mess, I’m a mess,” I teased him. “Cut yourself some slack. You’re always so goddamned hard on yourself. What happened with your family?”
He took a deep breath. “I told them about Dad…the treehouse, the art, everything. I told them how they made me feel too, and that I couldn’t do it anymore. That I was in love and wanted to bring my boyfriend home and be a real family.”
It was my turn for my breath to catch. He’d done it. He’d really told them about me. “They were okay with it?” I didn’t know what I’d do if he lost them, but then, they were okay with Will and Jameson. They had to accept us too, right?
“They can’t wait to meet you.” Jonathan reached over, and we petted the kitten together. “I don’t have any illusions it’ll be perfect, but I’m not living in the past anymore. You’re my future, and I’m ready to…fuck, to be happy. To be me.”
I nodded, leaned in, kissed him, and admitted, “I was afraid you wouldn’t come back, that maybe there’s something about me that makes people want to leave.”
Jonathan’s brows pulled together, his forehead wrinkled. “No, baby. You’re everything. I would have to be crazy to want to leave you. I’m not going anywhere. You’re stuck with me now. Trust me.”
And the thing was, I did. Jonathan had put his faith in me, and I damn sure would do the same. Nothing in life was guaranteed, but I believed in him, I believed in us. “I’m still a little mushy inside because you got me a kitten. I have the best boyfriend ever.”
“No, I do,” Jonathan countered.
“Nope, me.”
“We’re ridiculous. You make me want to be ridiculous.”
I wasn’t sure there was anything more perfect he could say.
We sat together, and he told me more about his day with his family. We went back and forth on names, trying to come up with one for our kitten. We settled on Slugger, because…well, we had baseball between us and we were dorks that way.
I hadn’t noticed Jonathan had set a bag down when he’d come inside. We set up the litter box, food, and water for Slugger before taking her into our room.
When things got a little heated, she hid under the bed while Jonathan begged me to fuck him. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to that, and I sure as shit would never turn him down.
Slugger got back into bed with us when we finished, and she slept there.
Sunday was our last game of the summer. We were lucky that Brooklyn could come over and kitty-sit, as we weren’t ready to leave her alone yet.
It was a half-hour drive, and when we got there, I saw them—my mom, sisters, Will, Jameson, and who I could only guess were Jonathan’s mom and his other two brothers. There were two women with them, and one of the men had a baby in his arms.
“Holy shit, prepare a guy,” I said softly.
“Then it wouldn’t be a surprise.”
Jonathan reached over and laced our fingers together as we walked toward our families. Will had introduced them already, so Jonathan pointed everyone out, telling me their names, then said, “Everyone, this is my boyfriend, Danny.”
Not gonna pretend it wasn’t slightly awkward—we were all still getting used to this—but his mom hugged me and his brothers shook my hand. Their significant others hugged me as well. Mama and Jonathan embraced, and my sisters teased us.
It wasn’t perfect, but what family was? What mattered was we were there for each other, we loved each other, and we’d find a way to make it work.