Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 102549 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102549 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
“Hey, what’s up?” he answers.
I squeak.
“Brady? Hello?”
Kit nudges me.
“Uh, yeah, umm, hi.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I have … umm, so …”
“You’re starting to scare me. Is something wrong with Peyton? Where is he? Where are you?”
“It’s not Pey. I’m in Virginia. You know how I told you about the two guys who may or may not work for top secret government stuff?”
“Have they kidnapped you? Say the word ‘bananas’ if you need help.”
Kit must hear everything because he wears a smile.
“They didn’t kidnap me, but one of them was in a pretty serious accident. I’ve been at the hospital for days.”
“Oh.” Uncle Damon drops the act. “Is he okay?”
“He will be, but … umm, well, Kit is here too, and we’ve decided … We want to, umm—”
“Are you trying to tell me you’re quitting and moving to Virginia? Is that what I’m hearing?”
“No! Not quitting. Just … asking for the rest of the summer off to see if the three of us can make it work. We really want to, and I know I made a commitment to you and King Sports, and asking for almost two months off is irresponsible and not—”
“You can take the time,” Uncle Damon says.
“Really?”
“Do you really think if Maddox was lying in a hospital bed somewhere that I’d be coming to work? Fuck no.”
“You might not be coming to work, but you’d at least have work with you at the hospital.”
Uncle Damon chuckles. “Okay, that’s true, but the balance between my work and my personal life has always been a struggle. Uncle Maddox has to remind me constantly to step back a bit.”
“You’re not … mad?”
“Maybe if you were a full agent, I’d have a different opinion—tell you to work remotely for a while. But you’ve got your last year of law school coming up, we have plenty of interns to pick up your slack, and I don’t want to train you to be the type of partner to choose work over your relationship. I’m lucky enough I have someone who can point out to me when I’m doing it. Not everyone is as lucky as I am in that regard. You have to find the right balance that works for you and your partners. It’s not going to happen if you’re not even in the same state as each other.”
This is why Uncle Damon is my favorite uncle. Not that I would admit that out loud to anyone.
“Thank you,” I say. “It means a lot.”
“But speaking of partners, plural, when do we get to meet them, and when are you telling your dads?”
“Ugh. That’s on my list of things future Brady has to deal with. Maybe I’ll fly to Chicago before heading back to New York.”
“Though Peyton will be at training camp then. My suggestion would be to drop the bomb on a group video chat and then claim connection error and disappear while the rest of us talk about your sex life.”
“There you go being the creepy uncle again.”
But he has a point.
It might be the only way to rip off the Band-Aid and let the entire family know at the same time.
“However you decide to do it, please let me and Maddox be there for it.”
“You’re evil.”
“I know. Keep me updated about your SEAL.”
I love that he cares. Now to find out if the rest of the family will take it as easily as he has.
As I sit by Prescott’s hospital bed, laptop in hand and Kit standing beside me, I regret all my life choices up to this point.
Kit grips my shoulder. “You can do this.”
“To repeat the words of one of the greatest movies of all time: Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”
Kit stumbles back and holds his heart. “It hurts so much. One, that’s not the actual line from Jurassic Park, and two—”
I shrug. “I haven’t actually seen it. Too young.”
Kit grits his teeth while Prescott laughs.
“Brady, babe,” Prescott says. “If you want to tell your family you have boyfriends, you might want to try to keep said boyfriends.”
“Or maybe I’m trying to make you guys break up with me because then I don’t have to go through with this video call.” Even though I’ve already messaged everyone to be on at this time. I’m sure I could come up with another piece of news that would distract them. Like, I dunno, I’m flunking out of law school … Nah, they wouldn’t believe that. Ooh, I’m actually bi and knocked up some girl. That’s probably even more unbelievable, but at the same time, they wouldn’t question it because no one wants to be that asshole who asks if someone is sure of their sexuality.
Perfect.
Kit’s hard features soften. “You know you don’t have to do anything, right?”
And damn his supportive tone. It cracks the wall I’m trying to build around my heart. It breaks down the survival instinct I’ve been fighting since I met him and Prescott. To survive in the sports industry, I have to play it straight. Well, gay. But not poly.