“Thank you. I’m her brother, and I don’t want to be a parent to her, not this close to adulthood, but I have to make sure she’s safe.” I put a hand to my head. “This is just…I can’t believe my father did this to her. And at the same time, I can totally believe it.”
“I think you might need a few of those therapy sessions yourself,” Mel said. “It wouldn’t hurt.”
“No, it wouldn’t.” I laughed. “Okay, changing the subject again. Would you mind if I gave Doxx a key?”
Mel laughed. “Not even in the least, man. You deserve every happiness you can find, and clearly, Maddox makes you happy. I’m going to complain about a rock superstar coming to my place? To hang out with his rock superstar boyfriend? You’re a funny man.”
Maddox
It was strange. After strings of texts from Aaron, he suddenly went radio silent.
He sent one text from Maryland that he and his sister were on their way, and then nothing. I had asked him to text me the address of his new place, but there was nothing.
I was trying to write it off, but I was afraid that something had happened. I texted Mel, and he said that they had decided to stop overnight halfway and would be home soon.
It was three days and there wasn’t a message from him.
“Damn it,” I grumbled.
“What?” Rand asked, looking up from the guitar.
“Still nothing.”
Ora laughed. “You’re so smitten.”
Staring right at him, I lifted an eyebrow. “You’re one to talk.”
He flipped me off, and went back to whatever it was he was doing. I walked over and sat down next to him, and pulled the pen out of his hand. “Are you struggling with this?”
“With what?” he snapped.
“With Ford.”
“No. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I tipped my head and pretended to stare down my nose over glasses at him. “You’re not fooling me, Ora. You’re not fooling any of us.”
He snatched the pen back. “I’m fine.”
“You like Ford.”
“I donot.”
“You do.” I took the pen back. “Are you scared?”
He snorted. “Oh, suddenly you’re the great Gay Guru?”
“Dude. I’m trying to fucking help you. Ford is goddamn smitten with you. He flew back to Madrid to watch you play. And you’re conflicted about thinking you were straight and why the hell are you attracted to a man. We can all see it.”
“We can,” Rand called.
“Totally,” Holland yelled.
He closed his eyes and cringed. “What if I am?”
I leaned in and whispered in his ear, “Go for it.”
He waited for more, then laughed when he realized that was all I was going to say. “For real? That’s not very deep, Doxx.”
