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Aiden

T he scene unfolding before me was a little more than I thought I would have to deal with first thing in the morning. Meeting Mr. Bishop was scary enough. Add in the obvious tension, and all I wanted to do was disappear back into the basement.

When things like London and jobs started getting tossed around, my heart did this odd skipping thing in my chest before it squeezed. The thought of losing Joe right after I’d finally gotten him... yeah... I wouldn’t be able to handle that.

“Mr. Bishop?”

Joe and his dad kept arguing, so I hadn’t been loud enough, and damn, I couldn’t blame them. I was shaking like a fucking leaf. Confronting someone’s parents was intimidating as fuck.

I tried again, a little more force behind my words.

“Mr. Bishop?”

Joe’s father’s blue gaze snapped in my direction. His nostrils flared like those of a beast ready to attack.

Fuck. Now that I had his attention, I didn’t want it anymore. My body trembled with indecision as I formulated what I wanted to say. How did people do this? Stand up for those they loved because I wanted to be there for Joe. Needed to be there for him.

I stood from my seat, my knees threatening to give out from under me, so I grasped the edge of the table for support.

“I don’t know all of what is happening here, but I do know Joe. He’s one of the most driven and hard-working people I’ve ever met.”

Mr. Bishop huffed a laugh. “And what’s it to you? His boyfriend. More like a fuck-buddy. You can’t be serious.”

“I’m very serious.” Suddenly, all my fear vanished. He couldn’t talk to me like that. He didn’t know me at all. It was becoming more and more obvious that he didn’t know his own son. “What you need to understand is that I’ve never considered a relationship with anyone. Not once.” I wasn’t about to explain the ins and outs of my sexuality to this asshole, but he could have the footnotes. “Joe gave me that. He’s made me feel special since the beginning. That I’m cared for. He sees me for who I am and doesn’t make me feel less than. I’m proud of everything he does because it’s what makes him who he is.”

Those nerves came flooding back. Tingles raced through my body, and it felt like butterflies were flapping their wings against my face. My ears rang, but I stood my ground as the man across the table from me continued to stare me down.

“So him performing for strangers on the internet doesn’t bother you? ”

“No. Because at the end of the day, he’s mine. I’m his. They can see his body, sure, but I have his heart. That’s all that matters.”

Mr. Bishop let out a sigh, ran a hand through his hair, and looked at his son again. “Joseph, this is your last chance. Are you serious about all of this?”

Joe bit his bottom lip, nodding with so much force his hair fell into his face.

“Then I will let you be. The deal was that you find a job and, while I’m not happy about the one you’ve chosen, you are correct that it is a business and does still use your degree. You’re too smart for your own damn good. You got that from your mother.”

I slumped into my chair as Mr. Bishop moved around the table and gave his son a hug. For the longest time, I’d been worried that the encounter would turn to blows, so an embrace was a much better outcome.

After he’d left, things didn’t seem to become less tense. Teresa still stood with her arms over her chest, leaning against the counter. She peeked around the door to make sure that McKenzie was still in the other room.

“Porn? Really?”

Joe threw his hands up in the air. “Jesus, sis. I kept everything put away and didn’t film when she was home. I do have standards and I wouldn’t do anything that would expose her to things she doesn’t need to see. ”

Teresa nodded. “No. I get that. But you could have given me a little more warning. I’d been getting more and more pissed about not knowing what the hell was going on down there and I’ve been not caring as much about just going down. What about me? What if I had walked in on something I didn’t need to see?”

And that was it. The tension vanished, and we all fell into laughter at the absurdity of the statement. I’d said the same thing. What if Teresa had walked in?

“So this is it? You guys are really a thing?” Teresa asked.

When Joe’s arms settled around my waist, his chin on my shoulder, I melted into him. “Yeah. This is it,” I answered.

Joe kissed the side of my head. “It’s fucking weird because I didn’t see myself settling down with anyone, but Aiden is different. He almost makes me want to say that scary ‘ L-word .’”

Teresa rolled her eyes. “Just keep it PG-13 around McKenzie.” And with that, she walked out of the room.

“ A lmost feel like saying the scary ‘L-word?’” I teased as I scooted back on the mattress.

Joe’s tongue peeked out, toying with the loop through his bottom lip. “Got a problem with that, sweetheart? ”

I shook my head as my arms wrapped around my knees. It was all fast. If Joe said that he was in love with me now, I wasn’t sure I would completely believe it. There was a type of love there, more than what you’d feel for your friends. He did feel like my forever person, but there wasn’t a rush to express our feelings with words.

“You look like it bothers you. You know you can tell me anything, right?” Joe sat on the edge of the bed, reaching over to place a hand on my shin. The warmth of his palm traveled through my body, making me feel even more at ease.

“I know. But I’m not in a hurry. If we’re it for each other, we have our whole fucking lives to say those things. We have other ways of expressing how we feel.”

We leaned into each other and kissed, my legs sliding across the bed as Joe glided over my body. He settled over me and I grinned up at him as my arms wrapped around his shoulders.

“Aiden Grant. You’re too fucking good for me. One of these days I’m going to tell you all the words. Every single thing you need to hear and I’m going to make sure you know I mean every last one of them. They won’t be spoken in the heat of the moment or in anger. You deserve everything.”

And I believed him. Because this was Joe. The one person who saw me when I felt the most invisible. The person who didn’t judge me and made me feel so fucking special.