Page 36

Joe

M rs. Grant hadn’t even been surprised. No, I’ll take that back. What shocked her was that we’d only just defined what was happening. She’d been under the impression Aiden and I had been a thing since before I’d taken him to Mexico. That took a little explaining about how I’d started off as just his friend, but it had morphed into more.

We did not tell her about the videos or pictures. There were some things you didn’t need to tell parents about.

As we left the Grant house, it felt good to do it with Aiden’s hand in mine. We were no longer afraid of who might see us and get upset. The cat was out of the bag.

Thankfully, we didn’t have to go far to find Nathan. His car had been empty and still parked in the driveway. His moody ass had marched to the park a few blocks over. He was sitting beneath a tall cherry tree whose blossoms had just started falling. The entire park was awash with pink and white petals.

He looked up and scowled when he saw me holding his brother’s hand.

“What the fuck, man? I thought I told you not to touch him? ”

When Nathan went to stand, Aiden stepped in front of me, placing his hands out as if he were attempting to tame a feral dog. Maybe he was. His brother was known to attack when provoked.

“Nate, just stop. If you didn’t figure it out back at New Year’s, I’ve been the one pursuing him.”

Aiden’s words did nothing to wipe the look of disgust off his brother’s face.

“You might have pursued him, Aid, but he should have discouraged it.”

I was done. There was no reason for any of it. I’d been nothing but a good friend over the last four years, and this was how I was being repaid. “Why? Why should I have discouraged it, Nathan? Because of some weird rule you gave me about not touching him? Have you ever thought about what Aiden wanted?”

When Nathan didn’t relax, I rolled my eyes and kept going. “For fuck’s sake, dude. He’s an adult. Perfectly capable of making his own damn decisions.”

Aiden crouched in front of his brother, resting his hands on his knees. “I’m sorry that was how you had to find out about things. We should have been upfront with you and told you about it, but you’ve always been this macho protector with me, and you’d already hit Joe once over the whole thing. You need to understand why we were reluctant.”

Nathan didn’t move. He locked eyes with his brother as they stared each other down. I’d give anything to know what they were communicating to one another. The stare-down continued for a few moments longer before Nathan finally broke eye contact and looked up at me.

“Just… fuck. Why him?”

My shoulders rolled in a shrug. “Why did you pick Chase? I don’t think we have a lot of say over who our souls choose, man.”

My friend fell over into the grass laughing. “Jesus, dude. That was the cheesiest shit I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth. Fucking soulmates? Really?”

I raised my eyebrows at Nathan’s theatrics. It wasn’t like him, but he’d been an absolute dick to me recently, so I probably shouldn’t have been surprised.

“Nate?” We all settled down, as Aiden sounded so damn unsure. “It’s not that strange. You never thought it was weird that I never dated? Never had an interest in anyone? Then suddenly I can’t seem to stay away from one person and you’re doing everything in your power to keep me away from them?”

“What are you trying to say, Aiden?” Nathan asked.

Aiden sighed loudly, sitting on the ground in front of his brother. “Chase told me last year to talk to you about this, and we never got the chance. Between Uncle Drew’s heart attack and everything else going on, the time never seemed right.”

“You mean my boyfriend knows about this and I don’t?”

Aiden pinched the bridge of his nose before he kept talking. “And this is why. You’re so damn hard to talk to sometimes. You have the best intentions, but I was so damn confused and needed a safe space. He explained to me what being demisexual was. And it made sense. It all clicked into place. Why I didn’t have the same interest in hooking up that everyone around me did.”

It was at that moment that things seemed to make sense to Nathan. His eyes widened as he looked between me and his brother. “Well, shit.”

I laughed. “That’s all you have to say about it?”

Nathan pushed off the ground and approached slowly. All my muscles seized, ready for him to haul off and hit me again. It wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility, but the hit never came. Instead, I got a gentle hand on my shoulder, and that shocked the fuck out of me.

“Joe?”

“What?”

“You fuck him up and I’ll fuck you up.”

Aiden busted up laughing behind us. “Jesus Christ, Nathan. He’s been nothing but attentive.”

When Nathan’s hand slipped from my shoulder, his arms crossed over his chest. “Attentive? By filming you?”

Now it was my turn to feel embarrassed. It was so fucking stupid. Of all the things I’d done, this was small, but I got it. It involved Aiden as well. I’d kept it a secret for months.

“The filming was always my thing. Aiden found out about it. He’s asked to participate. ”

Nathan looked between the two of us again. He looked at his brother like he was seeing a stranger. “So let me get this straight. You went from not being interested in sex at all, to wanting to film with this guy? That didn’t come across as weird to you?”

If only Nathan knew about some of the other things his brother had discovered he was into. But that was none of his business.

“It really didn’t. What’s important is that I found someone who I was comfortable enough to explore things with. I mean, shit, Nathan. The things I’ve had to hear come out of your room. Don’t get me started...” Aiden held his hands up as if in surrender.

That had Nathan blushing. We’d all been made privy to the things that Nathan said to Chase since the two had gotten back together. Aiden overheard a lot while the two had lived at the Grant house, and then when Daniel had stayed with them off and on before he’d gotten together with Shawn.

I heaved a sigh and wrapped an arm around Nathan’s shoulders, pulling him in close. “Look, dude. I’ve got it bad for him, okay? He’s in really good fucking hands. Try not to stress over it.”

He nodded as we headed back to the house. “Can’t make any promises.”

That was when I stopped him, pulling him in closer. “Listen, I’ve put up with a lot over the last few months. I thought we were better friends than this and if you ever hit me again…”

Nathan threw up his hands. “I get it. I was an ass. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

I glared, but slung my arm back around him. “It better fucking not.”