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Alex reached for the fruit plate in the middle of the table. “A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early.”
“He arrives precisely when he means to,” Lee jumped in, and Alex sent him a bright grin that Lee returned.
“You know,” Oliver said mildly, “I was joking yesterday at the press conference, about the finishing-each-other’s-sentences bit.”
“No take-backs,” Lee said.
“What’s done is done,” Alex agreed. He looked over just in time to notice Jeff glance at Lee, then back at Alex with a curious tilt to his head. And … oh, hell. Not only was Jeff Alex’s best mate, no, he also didn’t have a homophobic bone in his body. Why thefuckwas Alex keeping him in the dark? Sure, he had his excuses, mainly that he didn’t trust Jeff to choose discretion over fighting the good fight. That was an utter load of crap, though.
Alex needed to tell him. He would.
After the match.
Lee didn’t typically getnervous before games—excited, yes, but not nervous. But his mother would be there tonight, and while of course she had attended his matches before, it had all been Premier League, everyday kind of business. This? This was the World Cup.
And in spite of everything, just like any other boy, he wanted his mum to be proud of him.
“If she isn’t already proud of you,” Alex told Lee on the train to Madrid, the compartment all theirs for the moment, “that’s on her, not on you.”
From one son to another, huh? Lee slid lower in his seat and stretched out his legs, one foot bumping Alex’s, seated across from each other as they were. “I’d say the same thing about your parents, except that one’s definitely on them.”
“Yeah, well.” Alex’s gaze skittered away. “Continuously falling short of expectations since birth, I guess?”
“What could they possibly be disappointed with?” Lee gestured at Alex’s general being. “You performed well in school, you’re a great athlete, you’re bloodyfit…”
Alex’s face cleared slightly, distant humour colouring his tone. “Well, I was a baby once, which I think came as a bit of a surprise to my parents—you know, the whole crying thing, diapers, demanding attention… Basically all the reasons why the rich invented nannies.”
“Hold your tears of sympathy,” Lee said dryly, and one corner of Alex’s mouth quirked.
“Indeed. Then, after I outgrew the baby stage, I turned into a child—cue getting dirty, falling down, talking too loudly and too quickly…” He waved a hand. “Then it was this, then that, then that other thing. Like choosing the wrong friends, getting into football instead of cricket, like how I don't excel in social situations…”
Uh.
“But you do,” Lee said.
“Now, yes. But it was something I needed to learn, not something that came naturally.” Alex flashed his dimples at Lee. “Plus—and I'm sure this won’t come as a shock to you—my political views don’t exactly mesh with my dad’s. Once I started questioning his perspective at the dinner table… Let’s just say that critical thinking wasn’t welcome.”
Yeah, based on how the Duke of Eastwyck carried himself in public, it was hardly a stretch to imagine he wouldn’t be particularly patient with an independent-minded child.
“Sounds like a recipe for some fascinating dinners,” Lee said.
Alex shook his head. “It honestly wasn’t very exciting. I asked something, he answered, and if I then questioned even just minor aspects of what he’d said, I was treated to pointed silence for the rest of the meal.”
“You know what really connects us—you and me?” Lee didn’t wait for a reply. “We both won the healthy family dynamics lottery.”
Alex’s lips curved into a sad kind of smile. “It all seems normal until you realise that it’s not how other families operate.”
“True.”
They were quiet for a moment. Then Alex leaned forward, elbows on his knees as he watched Lee. “Listen, though. Your mum ishere. I know it’s complicated, but she came for you, and you said she’s been stable for a while now, so…”
Lee inhaled, exhaled. “You think it’s time I forgive her?”
“That’s not my call to make.” Quiet and even, Alex’s gaze still on Lee, and Lee ducked his head and glanced away.
“Maybe, yeah? It’s like…” He grimaced. “I know it’s not fair, holding something against her that in so many ways isn’t her fault. But it’s hard to just snap my fingers and get over it, what with how it, you know…”
“Impacted you?” Alex offered.
