Page 42 of Jacked (Gymbos #1)

“Cool.” Logan bobs his head, and I can see his throat move with a heavy swallow. He glances over at me and there’s a tightness around his eyes that I’ve never seen there before. “Do you have a lot of gay friends?”

I study him for a minute, trying to figure out what he’s really asking. Is it a low-key way to imply that I must be gay if all my friends are? Is it a snide dig? Or is it totally innocent curiosity?

Slater nudges his foot against mine under the table again, letting me know he’s here for me. I decide to treat the question like it’s genuine and see how things play out.

“Yeah. Most of my friends these days, come to think of it.”

“Oh, wow. I didn’t know that. I guess a lot has changed since I moved.” He chuckles, raking his fingers through his hair and anxiously glancing back down at his menu.

I still can’t read him. He’s playing his cards as close to the chest as I am, dancing around what he really means and keeping his poker face firmly in place.

It’s making my palms sweat and my stomach roil.

I’m so fucking tired of the games, of constantly having to watch myself to make sure I don’t slip.

I’ve been doing it my whole life without even realizing it most of the time.

I’ve been twisting myself into pretzels trying to be what I thought I was supposed to and I’m just… tired.

I reach for Slater’s hand resting on the table and slot my fingers between his, holding Logan’s gaze while I do it.

“Yeah, a lot has changed.” I try to match Cas’s energy from before—polite, but with the underlying threat that I won’t be bullied for who I am. “Is that going to be a problem?”

Slater squeezes my hand and everyone is dead silent. I have the passing thought of how funny it would be for our waiter to walk up right now to take our order during this awkward standoff. And then Logan reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone.

“You kept asking to see pictures of Alex and me together and I kept telling you I didn’t have any.

” He taps at his screen and then turns his phone towards me.

I frown, not sure what any of this has to do with my big reveal.

Maybe it was too subtle? Do I need to come right out and tell him that Slater is my boyfriend?

“Logan—” I start to say, but he wiggles the phone in front of me with a sad look in his eyes.

“Would you just look,” he says gruffly.

“I’m trying to tell you that I’m bisexual and you’re showing me pictures of you and your ex-girl—” I bite off the word as my eyes finally land on the screen.

The picture isn’t of my brother with some blond bombshell like I’m expecting…

well, actually it is , but the bombshell in question is a guy. “That’s Alex?”

I take the phone to look closer, not because I need confirmation that Alex is a dude, but because I’ve never seen that smile on my brother’s face before.

The two of them are dressed up in suits and Logan’s arm is around Alex’s shoulders.

They’re leaning in close and Alex is focused on the camera, but Logan can’t take his eyes off the man.

He looks completely smitten with hearts in his eyes and a dopey smile on his face.

I’ve seen that same dopey smile in the mirror for weeks now, but never on my brother.

“That’s Alex,” he says. “We met at work. He was the first guy I dated. I’ve been fighting it for so damn long, not wanting to cause a rift with you or dad, afraid to face any of it.

Being so far away made it feel safer to finally give in, to finally be myself.

He didn’t want to be a secret though, and I couldn’t work up the courage to say it.

” Logan swallows hard again and meets my eyes. “I’m gay.”

My chair scrapes noisily against the wood floor and in an instant, I’m pulling Logan to his feet and wrapping him in the tightest hug I can muster.

“I’m so fucking sorry you thought you couldn’t tell me.” My throat aches and my eyes burn with tears that threaten to spill over. Fuck it, it’s not unmanly to cry. I let that shit out, I let the tears fall right onto the shoulder of his t-shirt and I hug him even tighter.

He trembles and sniffles, finally letting go too and hugging me back just as fiercely. I’m vaguely aware of our waitress approaching the table finally and Slater asking her to come back in a few minutes. I laugh against Logan’s shoulder and mutter a few more apologies.

“Dad really did a fucking number on us, didn’t he?” He chokes out a watery laugh.

“He did. I don’t want to hate him though. Is that fucked up? I feel like he could change, if we told him together that he’s been wrong about a lot of shit and that we’re not going to buy into it anymore. I think he would listen.”

“Maybe,” Logan says, and we finally break our hug.

Slater holds out a wad of napkins to both of us without saying a word, but I can see the pride and a few stray tears on his face.

“Will you guys be mad if I write this in a book?” Cas asks, and I laugh.

“Go for it. It’s a happy ending, at least.”

I sit back down and reach for Slater’s hand again, my heart swelling and a weight lifting off my chest.

“Happy-ish,” Logan says with a sigh, taking his phone back and putting it into his pocket again.

“Is there any chance to fix things with Alex? He wanted you to come out and you just did.”

He shakes his head. “I get why he didn’t want to be a secret, and I should have come out sooner, but he didn’t support me the way I needed either.

I was fucking wrecked when he ended it, and this whole past week I’ve been lying awake at night, but I wasn’t thinking about him.

I was thinking about how to work up the guts to come out to you.

That’s why I got on the plane. It’s why I didn’t text you to tell you I was coming.

I was afraid if I did, I would chicken out. ”

“I’m sorry,” I say again, because I don’t know what else to say. I wish I could go back in time and find a way to protect both of us from the toxic bullshit, but I can’t. Things can be different now though.

I look over at Slater, my heart overflowing with gratitude and affection and…

love . I’m fucking in love with him. Everything Logan said was missing with Alex, he’s right to want those things in a relationship.

He deserves patience and understanding and support.

He deserves someone to stand in his corner and lovingly call out his bullshit while cheering him on in the next breath.

Everyone deserves a Slater.

He lets out a startled laugh against my lips as I lean in to kiss him, pouring all the things I’m not quite ready to say into it. I run my tongue over the shape of the smile on his lips, savoring it, memorizing it, hoarding it away just for me.

“Thank you,” I murmur, nuzzling my nose against his.

“For what?”

“For being you. For making me a better version of myself. For everything.”

Slater chuckles. “Any time.”