Page 131

“Shut the fuck up about True.” That wasn’t how I planned to start this talk, but I wasn’t letting shit slide when it came to True.

“Noah Isaiah Hunt!” my mother screeched at me while my father’s face turned to stone.

“I see you still ain’t found your sense,” he roared, but the extra bass in his voice didn’t do anything but make me laugh.

I couldn’t believe I wanted this man to accept me so much that I used to let him talk crazy to me whenever he wanted.

“I’mfine, dad. Not that either one of y’all asked before you started talking at me. Do y’all ever get tired of hearing yourself talk?”

I held up my hand when my mother started sputtering, her expression vexed.

“Don’t answer that. Matter of fact, don’t say shit to me at all. I just came here to tell you I’m done. I been passive with y’all for so long that you think this shit is normal and I’m telling you it’s not. I don’t care if you like me. I don’t care if you accept what I do for a living. I don’t care if you think I’m too soft, too freaky, too anything. Because I’m not trying to make anybody happy but myself. Whether you like that or not, it ain’t changing anything.”

I watched their faces fall as my words sank in.

“Your calls keep going to voicemail because you’re blocked now. I’m not giving you a pass to harass the fuck outta me anymore and call it love. I used to be too scared to call you on your shit because I didn’t want to burn bridges. It was neverabout burning bridges though; you just wanted me to think I would need you again. I’m good on that.”

My dad stuffed his hands in his pockets, his narrowed gaze full of judgment.

“It’s always been wrong for me to be myself around you, and I didn’t know that wasn’t normal until I got around people that gave a fuck about me.”

Greyson. His family. True. Her grandparents. Ms. Annie.

None of them ever told me I was too much or that I should be different than exactly who I was.

“Look, I get that I’m sensitive and you don’t like that. But I can’t help it. I don’t wanna help it. And the people meant for me don’t make it feel like a chore to love me.” I focused on my dad who was still standing there with a scowl. “I should have let True say so much more to you, but I was too caught up on how you’d retaliate against me that I let my pride get in the way of a woman who fucking adores me. She was defending me like you should have my whole life.”

I shook my head, a slow smile tugging at my lips.

“I love True. I am so fucking in love with her. And Greyson, too. I love him like he’s a part of me. Heisa part of me. They both are. We’re all together, and it wasn’t planned but it’s perfect. I’m going to make a family with them, and they never make me second guess whether I’m doing something wrong just because my brain works differently or because I show my emotions in a way that might not be convenient. I don’t need you to understand or accept it, I’m just telling you what it is.” I backed toward the door, putting space between us before I said, “Go back to Charlotte. Sell your cars, love your wife and leave me the hell alone.”

I grabbed the knob but stopped and added another thing. Thefinalthing.

“And stop asking Lottie about me. If you can’t talk to her without bringing me up, then maybe y’all ain’t got shit to talk about.”

They stood there with matching heat in their gazes that made me smile as I dipped out into the hall and ran right into…Greyson?

He recovered from the collision quickly, rubbing the back of his neck as he pretended to study the wood beam above us.

“Grey, what you doing out here?”

Dropping the act, he turned to face me and pushed his glasses up his nose. “Ms. Annie said you were up here, and I thought you needed me.”

He kept running a hand over his brow like he knew they were giving away how worried he looked.

“I took care of it.” I couldn’t keep the smile off my face when his shoulders slumped from relief.

“Yea?”

“Yea, Grey. I’m good.”

“You don’t need me?”

I grabbed his tie, coaxing him closer. Our lips were a breath apart when I said, “I’ll always need you. Just not for that.”

He nodded, his throat flexing with a hard swallow. “Okay.”

“I’ll see you at home,” I promised, kissing him before I pulled away and turned to go down the hall.