Gene was caught off guard.
Was he really saying he’d make that vow to him if he asked?
“Really?”
Ethan nodded.
“I don’t think about anyone else but you. When I think of sex, or pleasure, it’s with you. When I lost my job, all I thought was you’d not want me because I’m a deadbeat. You’re who I think of and want to make proud. I know what you found out about Callen rattled you, but I didn’t stay in Callen’s room last night. I came back to our bed. I made my choice.”
No lies were detected.
In fact, he had a point.
That made his heart race.
“You’ll never be a deadbeat.”
Ethan was honest.
“You come from a good family with a mother and father. You had football practice, and games where they came to watch you play. They cheered for you in college, and they had Christmases with presents and board games. If you tie yourself to me, you’re marrying down. You see what I come from. My own father didn’t even show up to see me. My grandfather told you to take me out of here. My brother is his own mess. This is my reality.”
Gene was horrified that he saw himself as less than him.
Only, he let him finish.
“Marrying you…Gene, that’s marrying up for me. That’s me climbing out of the pit of Hell to reach Heaven. I’m the one getting the prize. I don’t understand how you think I’m going to let go of this. You’re like winning the lottery. You said it yourself. I’m easy to love, but hard to navigate my traumas. You’re easy to love, and there are no obstacles. You have the curse in all of this.”
Oh, fuck him.
His words just came back to haunt him.
And they clearly haunted Ethan.
That hurt Gene.
“Ethan.”
He stopped him.
“I’m going to go check on my brother and get ready for work. Just know that in this relationship, I’d never say no to marrying you. We both know that logically, you should say no to marrying me. It’s not like bringing me home to meet your family would end well. Notice my fucked-up gene pool never batted an eye at me bringing a prize home. You can’t say the same thing.That’s the reality of it. You’re the prize. I’m the burden. Let’s be honest.”
That stunned him and made Gene blink. He didn’t know what to say to that. He never thought Ethan thought that little about himself, but clearly, he did.
Gene just watched as Ethan left the shower and wrapped a towel around his body.
And Gene was left to decode all of that.
Oh, and he didn’t like it.
Not.
At.
All.
It felt like something so laden down with TNT that it could, and would, blow up in their faces.
Had he hurt Ethan with what he’d said last night about him being easy to love, but essentially, his world was a minefield?
