Page 80 of Riding High

‘So, was pummelling each other a once-off thing?’

He knew what he was asking.This was a do-or-die moment, to trust or not, to accept Henry into his life and world, or to lose him forever.Because Henry wouldn’t beg for a second chance.He knew that because neither would he.

Jed, feeling horribly off guard, shifted on the mat, his fingers pushing into the vinyl as he tried to ground himself.He wasn’t used to this, bonding with someone who’d been little more than a name and an uncomfortable, just-out-of-reach shadow until recently.It felt unnatural, like wearing someone else’s trainers.But at the same time, there was an odd comfort in it and a strange sense of relief that Henry, his parentage and his connection to the Bythesea family, was something he could stop worrying about.Things that were left to grow in the dark became mouldy and disfigured.He was glad they had brought their relationship into the light.

Henry let out a low chuckle, and his next words suggested he was on the same wavelength.It was a strange sensation, this tentative connection.Like walking on thin ice but feeling, for the first time, that it might just hold.‘It’s odd, isn’t it?Us sitting here, trying to talk.I spent my whole life thinking of you as… I don’t know, some abstract idea.And now…’ He shook his head.

‘Now we’re real, and we don’t know how the fuck to handle it.’

‘Succinctly said.’His brother scratched his cheek, the flicker of a smile on his lips.‘God, you look as awkward as I feel.So… where do we go from here?’

Jed pulled in a deep breath and took a leap of faith.‘Let’s take a shower and have that beer.’