“You guys were older than me, but yeah, Luca used to hang out at the comic book store with his friends. He found out I played hockey and spoke to me once—asked me if I knew you, and then when I said I didn’t, he asked if he could introduce us because hisgrumpy brother needed more friends.”
Harrison didn’t know how to respond, so he asked, “What did you say?”
Jett blushed and ducked his head, avoiding his gaze.
“I panicked and said something about not being cool enough to be your friend and left the store. I never came back.”
Harrison laughed. It felt better to laugh because if he didn’t, he was sure he would cry. God, he missed his brother. He missed having him as a sidekick, as much as it annoyed him when Luca pulled off stunts like that.
“You are a creature filled with gay panic,” said Harrison, swinging an arm across Jett’s shoulders. “Good thing I find that attractive and endearing.”
Jett finally turned to look at him again, and his cheeks were stained red. “You’re a jackass.”
“I’m your jackass,” Harrison corrected.
Jett leaned in to kiss him, and Harrison cupped his cheek to deepen it, brushing their tongues together in a slow, lazy dance. A giddy warmth blossomed inside him. He wasn’t expecting love to feel this way, especially not for him. He’d always thought he’d be immune to this kind of happiness, never believed he was worthy of it.
Jett made himfeelworthy of it, which was all that mattered to him.
“I’m sorry if talking about Luca made you sad,” Jett said, pulling away enough so they could talk again. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. We can take time working up to things like that, you know.”
Harrison’s brow furrowed, and Jett gently touched his face, thumbs tracing soothing circles over his cheekbones.
“I’m not sad,” said Harrison, and was surprised to find it was true. “I miss Luca…and Taylor—I’m not sure how I feel about Taylor sometimes, but I want to talk about them. I’ve never felt the need to do so before, but it’s different with you.” Harrison shook his head and chuckled. “Everything is always different with you.”
“Oh god,” said Jett. He smooshed Harrison’s cheeks. “Don’t say things like that. It makes me feel all floaty inside.”
“Don’t fly away yet,” said Harrison. “All of this was leading up to something we need to talk about.”
Jett took his hands away, and Harrison could see the fear in his expression.
“My family?”
Harrison was momentarily confused, but he quickly brushed it off. “Uh, no. This is about the asshole who’s been harassing you.”
“Mike?”
Jett’s heartbroken frown made the urge to kill that bastard surge forward in a wave of fury. He didn’t trust himself to talk, so he held out his hand and said, “Phone.”
Jett could refuseto show him, but Harrison hoped he trusted him enough to accept his help.
Jett hesitated, but then he pulled his phone out and unlocked it before placing it in Harrison’s hand. “It’s no big deal. I’ve been ignoring him.”
Harrison would judge that after he saw for himself. He opened the Messenger app and scrolled, seeing Mike at the top with unread messages. Opening it and flicking through, his anger levels continued to rise until his head hurt.
The amount of filth being hurled at Jett—at his boyfriend—made him violent. Mike was lucky he wasn’t in Nova Scotia anymore.
“Jett, he’s threatening you,” said Harrison, his fingers stumbling over one of the older texts that had a chill running down his spine. “He threatened torapeyou.”
Jett’s lips trembled as they pulled into a smile. “I know. I’m talking to a lawyer about it, but all I’ve been told so far is not to contact Mike or go back to Nova Scotia, which isn’t an option.”
“What do you mean?” Harrison asked.
“We’re visiting my dad for Christmas,” said Jett. “He doesn’t know about Mike, and I’m not telling him. We’re going home to see him and staying at your place. Arlo said he might come too, so it’s not like anything will happen.”
Yes, because all Harrison needed right now was Arlo and Jett teaming up on him.
“Jett, I—”
