Page 109 of Declan

Chapter 26

Declan

A few months later

Life beneath the water was almost too beautiful to be real. Beams of light danced on the surface as the sun shone through. A school of fish swam by, and the water was clear and cerulean. Magnificent.

Kyler had convinced me to go scuba-diving after he learned it was a huge fear of mine. At first, I’d told him hell no. That I wasn’t doing it. And he’d backed off, not wanting to push me. The thought of being underwater with limited air had just freaked me the fuck out.

Then, I remembered what Dr. Warren had told me.

“Nothing in life is ever guaranteed. The key is to never let the fear stop you from living.”

I’d faced my fear of coming out. I wanted to face more of them. To be fearless like Kyler. He wasn’t afraid of hardly anything—except performing in front of an audience. About a month ago, he’d convinced me to go skydiving with him. My little adrenaline junkie.

And now I’m scuba diving, facing my fear head on.

Like most fears, the anticipation had been worse than the thing itself. Once I’d gotten in the water, I’d been mesmerized.

Kyler floated beside me, reaching out as more fish swam past. I could only see his eyes, but I knew he was smiling.

After we got out of the water and removed our scuba gear, he attacked me with a hug.

“What did you think?” he asked, not able to contain his excitement.

“I think I want to do it again tomorrow,” I admitted.

His beaming smile made my chest tingle.

I’d do anything to keep seeing that smile.

His storyArrows in a Grecian Skyhad been signed on for a mini-series, and he was going to write the screenplay, as well. He had kindly refused my offers in the past for me to pimp him out to my contacts, because he didn’t want to take advantage of me. His success was due to his hard work, and I couldn’t be more proud of him.

To celebrate his accomplishment, I’d wanted to take another trip to Mykonos. Except unlike before, we’d enjoy it as we should’ve the first time.

I grabbed his hand as we walked along the beach. The breeze was a bit on the cooler side, but not too bad.

“It’s weird not having Gideon with us,” Kyler said after looking over his shoulder. “It’s like riding a bike for the first time without training wheels.”

“He’ll love that comparison,” I said, grinning at the thought. “He’s our training wheel.”

Gideon was only human, even if he gave the impression he was a damn machine. I’d told him to take some time off while Kyler and I traveled to Greece. To go anywhere he wanted without having to look after me. He’d been reluctant to do so, but it didn’t take too much convincing.

However, he told me to check in with him each night like an overprotective parent.

Kyler wanted to eat dinner atEn Plo, the little restaurant by the harbor that we’d discovered the first time we visited, and we made our way there. Taking our time. It’d become one of our favorite places to eat. I was pretty sure Kyler only loved it so much because they gave complimentary magnum bars at the end of each meal.

We sat at a table closest to the water and a waitress came over to take our drink orders. She knew us by name now.

“Have you talked to Brysen yet?” I asked as I grabbed the menu. I was slowly making my way through all the different dishes each time we went to the restaurant, trying everything that sounded good.

A week ago, I’d asked Kyler to move in with me. He loved Addersfield, but he wanted to see more of the world. Live in different places. Within the past few months, I’d traveled back and forth to see him, and each time I had to leave him was a special kind of torture. So, I’d finally popped the question one night after being buried balls deep in him.

His one holdup was Brysen.

“Yeah,” Kyler answered, bouncing his knee under the table. “He said he was okay with it. He seemed excited, too. Especially when he talked about coming to visit us in LA and getting the celebrity treatment.”

“Pretty sure the spoiled lifestyle would suit him well,” I responded.