AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Okay okay, okay! I believe you. I know you won’t,” Bradford says. I’m happy he knows, but I still intend to prove it to him. Every day, as long as he’ll allow me.
But then, a pang of fear grips me once again. I know he won’t abandon me…but what about me? What about my responsibilities? I do still have an entire company to run, after all. All the way back in the city, too. This dream we’re sharing here in Green Haven can only last so long. Eventually, I’ll have to go back home.
What happens then? I can’t ask Bradford to give up his career and stay with me as a kept man. He loves what he does, it wouldn’t be fair of me to even ask! Likewise, I can’t just walk away from my business. I have employees, clients, people’s livelihoods depending on me to stay functioning.
What are we going to do?
I blink and shake my head, releasing those worries and anxieties for the time being. No, I don’t want to cloud this perfect moment with so much uncertainty. We’ll figure out the future together. For now, I want to take in every bit of pleasure and joy I can in Bradford’s presence. The rest will come when it’s ready.
“Well, what should we do to celebrate?” Bradford asks me, running his fingers over my arm.
“Huh? Celebrate?” I ask, being suddenly wrenched from my thoughts.
Bradford bursts out laughing and taps me on the chest. “Uh, we just kind of made our oaths of true love to each other, did we not? Shouldn’t that be something worth celebrating?”
“Oh. Oh, yes!” I reply. Celebrate! Yes. I start thinking where in this town I could possibly find a bottle of genuine champagne, but Bradford pulls up his phone and shows me a picture. It’s a flier, with big black words printed on garish pink paper. “Trivia night?”
“I saw this on my way in. That diner your friend owns is running it tonight. I have loved trivia, ever since I was a kid. We have got to go.”
I blink in confusion. That’s certainly not the kind of celebration I had in mind. But if that’s what Bradford wants, who am I to deny him such a simple pleasure?
“It starts in an hour,” I say, handing him back his phone.
“Oh, shoot, it does. Alright, let me change into something more comfortable and we can head over!”
I wait for Bradford to change, chuckling to myself about his rushing back and forth to do so. It is, after all, less than ten minutes to walk to the diner. I suppose models have a need for punctuality. Missing your cue is probably grounds for firing.
“Alright, let’s go!” Bradford walks back out of the bathroom wearing a gorgeous black shirt, the top unbuttoned, and nice looking slacks. He looks gorgeous, as always, and I make a point of telling him so.
“Okay, if you keep buttering me up like that, we’re going to get sidetracked and miss the answer sheet distribution.” But Bradford still walks up, gets on his toes, and plants a nice long kiss on my lips. “We’ll circle back to this after.”
“Of course,” I reply, mind already racing with possibilities. But first, trivia. We walk to the diner arm in arm and find our own seat. The little girl Amelia, who has since warmed up to me by way of Bradford, hands us our answer sheets and pens.
“Are you playing too?” Bradford asks her. “You’re so smart, you’d probably wipe the floor with us.”
Amelia laughs and shakes her head. “Mom said it wouldn’t be fair.” Then, she skips off to the next table.
“God that kid is adorable,” Bradford sighs. “Just makes you want to adopt one or five of your own.”
I spit my beer back into the pint glass in shock. “O-oh?”
“Oh my— Ragnar, I’m joking!” Bradford cries, laughing hard enough to force his eyes closed. “Or, you know, for now.” He takes a sip of milkshake and eyes me over the pile of whipped cream on top. I know he’s still playing with me.
But I also have to admit, he would make an excellent father. We’re soon joined by Gorlag, his sister Glenda, and Emily who admits she might have to drop in and out to wait tables.
“She refuses to ever take a break,” Gorlag sighs.
“Good evening, everyone!” A man with a handlebar mustache holding a stack of index cards walks up to the microphone in the corner and introduces himself and states the rules. “And if I see even one glimpse of a cell phone in your hand, you are disqualified.”
One person a few booths down groans in annoyance.
Bradford clicks his tongue. “Jerks. I swear, some people try to take all the fun out of trivia by cheating. And for what! A coupon for half off a burger? Please.” He shakes his head in disapproval and I can’t help but laugh at how seriously he’s taking this. But I do admit, my inner drive for competition has been lit as well. And I await with bated breath the first question of the night.
“Question one: who was the first orc to scale Mount Everest?”
“Hah!” I cheer and jot down Jerlock Livingston, who also invented a tusk polish that kept an orc’s tusks shiny in the coldest climates. I peek over at Bradford's sheet, where he's written down the same answer. “Ok, it’s obvious that us three orcs would know. But how do you know?”
Bradford’s lip quirks up in astonishment. “Uh, we went to school with his great grand nephew? You know, Rutherford?”
