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Twenty-four hours later we’re in the bedroom of the house Carter rented, lying side by side and facing each other.

Watching some of my favorite movies back to back with other people who enjoy them as much as I do was amazing, but this right here... I can’t believe this is real life.

Lying on my left side, I catalogue every tiny detail of Carter’s face.

Celine Dion’s singing about feeling alive in my ear while I use my left hand to play with Carter’s thick strands of ink-black hair, and my right hand is lying against his heart.

The beat of it almost matches the beat of the song.

He’s on his right with his right hand beneath my cheek and his left hand caressing my hip, thigh, and butt with every pass. He has the other headphone in his ear as well, and I know I’ll remember this last week for the rest of my life.

The good and the bad.

Because remembering the bad makes me realize that this is real life. I have this amazing man willing to put up with me, and on top of that, he thinks I’m perfect just the way I am.

I realize then that whatever happens next with ESoothe, I’m not going to give up. I’ll find a way to make it a success because I know how much it has helped me, and as Celine sings that she can’t wait for the rest of her life, I feel the words echo inside my head.

I look at Carter and see so much possibility there. There’s no way to know if it will be a lifetime that we share together, but right now that seems like the best possible scenario.

Early Wednesday morning, we’re on our way back to Manhattan so Carter will be on time for his early shift at Sculpt, when the speakers blare with a ringtone and the display says Mike is calling him.

“How was the weekend of debauchery?” Carter asks as a greeting after pressing the button on the steering wheel.

“Did you defile poor innocent Theo?” The smile on his face tells me he’s teasing Mike, and I like how it looks on him.

He’s normally so carefree that seeing his intense side whenever we’ve encountered Dirk and in the bedroom feels like it’s something just for me.

“You bet your ass I defiled him, and he loved it,” Mike tells Carter, who laughs.

“Well done, mate.”

“Thank you, kind sir.” Mike’s chuckles are contagious and have me smiling at the windshield. “Hey, so Sebas said you’re coming back to the city today? ”

“We are. I’ll be at Sculpt in under an hour if traffic cooperates.”

“That’s good. You wanna have dinner tonight?”

“You just want Milton’s cooking again, don’t you?”

“Of course I want his cooking again,” Mike says, like it’s obvious. “But Theo and I wanna hang out too. We heard something about Liam getting a dog? And also about your study session with CJ and Adam.”

For some reason that cracks Mike up and has Carter rolling his eyes.

“I’ll check first with Liam and see if he wants to put up with you during dinner, then I’ll call Milton and let you know,” Carter tells him.

“Awesome. Later, man.” The call disconnects and I need to know.

“What was that about a study session?”

“Right,” he says softly. “The day you... the day after Tristan gave you the news and you went home alone I asked Adam and CJ to give me some tips on gay sex.”

I think about that for a moment and decide I’m still confused.

“Why is that a study session?”

“Back in college, grades were very important to the three of us, so during the summer when Adam was busy training for football, we sometimes had all-night study sessions at CJ’s apartment to prepare for the semester. CJ called it a sex study session,” he mutters.

I suck both lips into my mouth to keep from laughing because Carter doesn’t seem to be in a laughing mood, but he turns to look at me for a second and his face relaxes .

“You can laugh,” he says and sighs.

Admittedly I only chuckle a little, but then I think of something to say that will make him smile as well.

“If they ask, you can tell them you got an A.”

I do get a smile, though a quick one. “Not an A-plus?” he asks with a smirk.

“There’s always room for improvement,” I say with mock seriousness, and that finally gets me a laugh.

“So, would you like to have dinner with my friends tonight?”

“I would. They’re all nice.”

And from growing up knowing a lot of famous people, I know not all of them are.

“They are nice, and if anyone ever isn’t nice to you, we don’t have to hang out with them.” He reaches over and pats my leg. I grab his hand before he can take it away and bring it up to my lips. I like how soft his skin is.

I don’t comment on his last remark, though, because I don’t always understand when people aren’t being nice, especially if I don’t know them well. It feels nice that he cares, though. Very nice.

“I know how important they are to you, that they’re your family, so of course I want to get to know them better.”

“That means a lot to me, darling,” he says, his voice sounding raspier, so I think he’s feeling emotional over something but I don’t know exactly what.

Maybe changing the subject will help?

“You should call Milton now.”

We leave the car in the same garage where we picked it up, and then we wait hand in hand for the car Carter ordered to take us to my building.

When we kiss before he climbs in, I think about how domestic and comforting that simple action feels.

I don’t have an eidetic memory, but I’m pretty sure I never felt that way with Dirk even years after we’d been together.

Does that mean the signs were there all along and I never saw them?

Does it matter?

I don’t think it does, but I don’t want the same thing to happen again with Carter. Not that I think Carter would betray me, or that he’s using me, but that I might miss signs that something isn’t right.

I go up to my place with a newfound determination to not let that happen again, then I unpack my weekend bag, grab a quick shower, and go say hello to my parents.

My siblings are all in school at the moment, and though Logan’s college schedule is more unpredictable than that of Larson and London’s prep school, I have it memorized and know he does have an early class on Wednesdays.

I spend a few hours with my parents, first only with Mom where she asks a lot of questions about my weekend and the days away with Carter, and when Dad is done recording an episode for his podcast, the interrogation about ESoothe begins.

I leave before lunch so I can talk to Tristan, William, and Parker, and after the depressing news that not much has changed since Friday, we set a meeting time for next Monday since Tristan will have the proposal we’ll send the streaming services done by then.

I get a text from Carter just after noon.

Carter

Everyone’s in for dinner. Seven at the brownstone. You want me to pick you up?

Liam

It’s not on the way, and I’d like a walk, so don’t worry about me.

I debate whether to send a kissing emoji or not, and in the end decide I’ve waited too long so I’ll just do it next time, then I get to work on putting my apartment back to its former glory.

I stand in front of the brownstone’s front door with my finger ready in front of the doorbell as I stare down at my phone, waiting for it to be seven on the dot.

When it finally shows seven, I press the button once then wait.

On the walk over, it occurred to me that this is the first time I’ll see Carter’s friends now we’re in a relationship, and it didn’t bring any good thoughts.

The nerves ramped up considerably the closer I got to the park, and so now I’m almost sure I’m sweating through my shirt .

It’s a good thing I brought a jacket in case there’s a sudden storm, because I’m going to need to wear it the whole night.

Thank God for air conditioning.

“Good evening, Liam,” Milton opens the door and I’m relieved to see him smiling at me.

“Carter is in his room, but you can go right up or wait here.”

“Oh.” I have no idea what to do here. “What is he doing?” I ask quietly, looking right at his slightly wrinkled forehead.

“I believe he’s taking a shower to—” He raises his hands to make quotation marks. “ Get rid of the stench this fresh hell has left on me .”

I can only stare wide-eyed. I have no clue what that means.

“He doesn’t do well with the heat,” Milton explains.

Ah. “I understand.” I nod once then decide. “I’ll go up and see if he’s finished.” And maybe ask if I can borrow a shirt.

“On the second floor to the left,” Milton says. His British accent is slightly different from Carter’s but I have no way to identify which region of the UK it’s from.

“Thank you,” I murmur.

I climb up the stairs slowly, hoping to calm my racing heart, but I don’t know if there’s anything in this world that would stop me from being so nervous about tonight.

As soon as I’m on the second floor I can hear the water running from a shower, so I follow the sound and I’m honestly surprised when I see Carter’s bedroom.

I don’t know what I expected, now that I think about it, but it wasn’t a room with so many paintings and frames on the walls.

His bed frame is made of some kind of honey-colored wood, and his bed is made up with a white comforter and more pillows than I think I’ve ever seen on one bed.

I walk around it and stop at a small sitting area in the corner where I sit facing the entrance. I look out the window and see a small garden two stories down. It looks well maintained with a lot of potted plants.

I then stare up at the sky where the few thin clouds are now a soft pink from the fading sun.

My breath comes out shaky then.

The shower turns off, and I wonder if I should call out so Carter isn’t surprised I’m here? I also wonder if talking about my day will be as awful as I’m imagining it.

Tristan had no investors in mind who’d be okay with being a silent partner or had a deep connection to music.

Despite my best efforts to keep being hopeful, the reality is that the streaming services could tell us to fuck off if we ask them for their best offer with exclusivity. And if we don’t have ESoothe linked to any of them, then that means no users.