Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 87015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 435(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 435(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
“How do you know mine doesn’t come from somewhere else too?” I took a few sips as he seemed to consider that.
“Does it?”
I didn’t really want to get into it, so I changed the subject. “Tell me about you, Parker. Do you have family around? Other than your friends, of course.”
He grinned, which I assumed was about the guys, but then sadness seemed to envelop him, a heaviness I wasn’t sure he knew he showed. “My grandparents and some cousins. My dad lives in LA, and we’re close. Like I said, my mom passed away when I was ten, but she was great. I loved her so much.” He took a couple of large swallows.
Fuck. He’d told me about losing her that first night, but it was obvious how much he still missed her. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. We were lucky to have her, and I’m lucky to have him. He didn’t really know how to relate to me. He didn’t expect to be a single father, and was a little thrown by the whole ‘gay son’ thing, but he tried hard. He always had my back. It’s tough, though. I know he wants more for me, to see me happy with someone the way he was happy with Mom.”
Even if I didn’t know it already, the hope-laced melancholy in Parker’s voice told me he wanted the same thing for himself.
“You’ll find your Prince Charming.”
“How do you know?” he asked seriously.
“You’re too sweet not to. And also, hot as fuck.”
Parker laughed, which I’d hoped he would. He’d been lonely tonight. He missed his friends, and he wasn’t home. He didn’t want to hook up or go out with anyone, so he was using me to stave off his loneliness. I was okay with that. I liked spending time with him, liked being around him, and hoped we would be friends after this.
“What about you?” Parker asked.
“I’m also hot as fuck.”
He rolled his eyes but grinned too. “I meant your family.”
“They’re both here and close. Both are lawyers, like I mentioned before, and my dad is actually one of our representatives now—California house district thirty-three, to be exact.”
“Holy shit. No way.”
“Yep, he is. It’s hard sometimes because they’re both so accomplished.”
“You’re accomplished. You’re a city planner. You do good things for our community. That’s nothing to sneeze at.”
“Thanks, and yeah, I know. They do too. I just…well, I know they both wish I’d followed in their footsteps and that things were different for me. Both my parents are really smart. School was a lot more of a struggle for me. They loved it. I hated it. Plus, I’ve always had a bit of a wild streak in me. I like to test the limits and do new things. If there’s trouble, I used to find it. I’m much better now, but…”
“Like how? What kind of trouble?”
I couldn’t believe I was sharing this with him. It wasn’t something I typically talked about. Some of it he would know if he looked me or my dad up online, but still, it wasn’t something I shared easily. “For starters, I almost didn’t graduate from high school. I was too busy having fun. And for education-minded parents who’d always been focused on carving out a future for themselves, that was hard to understand. There’s also being gay. They’re liberal and affirming and supportive, but again, it was something they hadn’t expected.
“Then in college, I felt bad getting money from them—and I didn’t get scholarships, of course. So I ended up doing jerk-off videos online. I didn’t show my face, but I got found out. My father was a DA at the time and had political aspirations, so that made things difficult for him. I think I was resentful because of the pressure to succeed and then being in the public eye that way. I wanted to experiment and be free, but it often came back on them. I feel terrible about that, but no matter what, they always supported me. Sometimes that makes it harder…”
I didn’t look at him as I took a drink, before continuing, “I feel like I was always letting them down, never being who they wanted me to be, and I was so fucking lucky—to have them and to be in the position in life we were in. My mom came from nothing, and she’s so smart and successful and does so much good. I hate that I’ve disappointed them, and that even though they would never say it, they wish I was less me and more them.”
Holy fuck. I couldn’t believe I said all that to him. I’d never spoken those words to anyone before. Most of the time, I tried to pretend they weren’t there at all.
“You’re not a disappointment to them,” Parker said. “And thank you…for sharing that with me.”