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“Did you regret it?”
“Hell no. Telling him was a relief. It didn’t feel right, keeping the truth from him. Being honest tightened our friendship.” This pause lingered, weighted between them. Coury continued, “Well, once he pulled his head from his ass and stopped ignoring me.”
Liam snickered. “I’m pretty sure Beckett appreciated you told him first. He hates finding things out secondhand.”
They both suddenly stared ahead, focusing intently on the drive.
After a few minutes, Coury snuck another peek at Liam, whose gaze had fallen to the dashboard like he was lost in thought.
Tapping his thumbs on the steering wheel, Coury nodded to himself.
Becks was a roadblock they both needed to acknowledge before any more declarations could be made.
* * *
Liam
An hour in the chaos of his childhood home, and it was like Liam had never left. Family and extended family crowded the living room, fussing over Beckett’s party preparations. Barely one in the afternoon, and Aunt Julie had already poured herself a glass of wine. Uncle Frank chatted to his cousin about the latest dog he was breeding, and Mom, with her red-dyed hair and polka dot blouse, was a blur as she juggled delivering drinks, towing away dishes from lunch, and answering her cousins’ obnoxious questions.
Beckett was nowhere to be seen. He knew how to survive this.
It would only be worse tonight, when all the rest of the family gathered.
“Liam?” His father called, waving him—thankfully—away from Aunt Julie. He ruffled Liam’s hair fondly and smiled. He imagined this was what Pop had looked like when he was younger. They shared the same wide lips and mischievous eyes. “Go walk Slider with your grandfather, please.”
Walk Slider with Pop? That made no sense. “Um . . . sure. Let me get my coat.”
When he got to the front door, Pop had his coat on and looked contrite.
“I asked him to send you,” Pop whispered. “This house is a zoo.”
“Yeah, it is.” Liam zipped up his coat and pulled on his gloves. “Ready?”
Slider barked and he and Pop laughed. “Clearly he is.”
“Yeah, until he gets cold and makes one of us carry him home.”
“He only does that with you and Coury.” Pop shut the door behind him. “Speaking of Coury, how’d your talk go?”
Most blatant segue ever. He shook his head, smirking at Pop. “That’s why you wanted me to tag along.”
“Did you really want me to ask in front of the entire family? What’s your mother’s aunt’s name?”
“Aunt Julie?” Liam knew where this was going.
“Yes, her. If we tried to have a private conversation, she’d rush over to hear what we were talking about, and then announce our business to the rest of the family.”
Pop wasn’t wrong. “Okay, I’ll give you your props. But didn’t Dad find it weird you needed me to go with you?”
“I told him my hip was achy and I worried Slider would yank me off balance.”
Liam felt like an utter shit. Pops pretended to be the one thing he never wanted anyone to think just so Liam wouldn’t be embarrassed. “Things didn’t go so ideally with Coury.”
“Oh?”
“I, um, might’ve kissed him last night when I was drunk and confessed I’d been crushing on him since I was twelve.”
Pop patted his shoulder. “He told you he just wants to be friends?”
“No, I pretended I didn’t remember.”
“I see.” They stopped so Slider could sniff a tree. “Let me guess, Coury didn’t call you on your lie.”
“Which means he doesn’t like me back.”
A chuckle. “Dear God, save me from the stupidity of young people in love.”
“That’s not helping, Pops.”
Slider pulled over to relieve himself. “Why would you say he doesn’t like you?”
“If he’d liked the kiss or been glad to hear I had a crush on him, he’d have told me what I did. Instead, he let it slide.”
“Telling someone you don’t remember is the classic sign you regret what happened. Unless you were so drunk you passed out, everyone knows you don’t forget. Including Coury.”
Fuck. “Which means not only did he not like it, he knows I lied.”
“No, Liam. What it means is, Coury is a very nice young man. He respects you regret what you did and is not going to embarrass you by calling bullshit.”
“But I don’t regret it.”
“Then tell him. Explain you were embarrassed and had hoped he would bring it up so you two could talk about it.” Pop pulled a bag from his coat pocket and cleaned up after Slider. “If Coury didn’t like the fact you kissed him, he’d have told you, politely.”
Liam replayed the day’s events. “Shit.”
“What?”
“I screwed this up for real.”
Pop used his free hand to hug Liam. “I don’t think you screwed up. It’s not too late to tell him the truth.”
It scared the hell out of him, but Pops was right. Coury would have told Liam what happened, even if it was in a joking way, if he hadn’t liked it. But Coury had also brought up a good point in the car.
