by Sloan Parker
The tears were back in my grandpa’s eyes. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
“I thought…” He stopped, seemed beyond words.
“It’s okay, Grandpa. I get it. We can go.” I signaled to Gavin with a tilt of my head toward the door.
“No!” Grandpa moved fast for how much he’d seemed to have aged. He stepped in our path. “You don’t move an inch until your grandmother gets home. Besides, you don’t get to run out until I’ve had my say this time. You think because your parents have treated you horribly that your grandmother and I would react the same way? You didn’t give us a chance to tell you how we felt about you being gay. So now’s my chance.”
I held still. Afraid to go. Afraid of what I’d hear next.
As if he didn’t trust me, Grandpa went to close the door, then locked it. He faced us.
Gavin had moved close to stand beside me. He had a hand on my lower back, offering comfort and support I seriously needed right then.
Grandpa moved closer but kept more distance between us than a moment before. “If you think for a minute I don’t care about what you do in your personal life—about who you have sex with or fall in love with—then you are sadly misunderstanding what it’s like to be a grandparent. I care because I want you to be happy. I want you to have someone in your life who loves you, cherishes you, gives you everything that makes life worth living. Like your grandmother has done for me. And if that’s this young man”—he pointed at Gavin—“then I’m beyond thrilled for you.” The tears were back. In his eyes and mine. “I thought you were alone this entire time, out there fighting and struggling and not knowing what it felt like to be loved…” He shook his head. “My heart has ached for you every day. If you had only come to us back then…”
I could’ve erased the last three years of my life.
But then, I wouldn’t have met Gavin.
I couldn’t fathom thinking about those two outcomes like I had a choice, like I could go back and redo that day I’d walked out.
Because as hard as it would be to leave knowing I had somewhere safe to go where I was loved as every gay kid deserved to be, as hard as it would be to live that life on the streets again, I knew I’d do it all over. I’d do anything to find my way to him.
All I could tell my grandpa was the truth. “He is all that to me.”
Grandpa smiled through the tears still wet on his cheeks. He pulled me into another hug, and with his other arm he reached for Gavin, who seemed too shocked to do anything to stop the embrace.
“You’re both welcome to stay here for as long as you need or want.”
Gavin clutched my forearm. I’d never seen him look like he did right then. Like a little kid. Like unease and disbelief and relief all at once.
I heard someone unlock the front door.
Grandpa looked over his shoulder, still holding Gavin and me in his arms. “He’s home to stay. And he’s brought someone special for us to meet.”
Then there was another pair of arms around me as my grandma kissed my cheek over and over, the four of us laughing and crying.
I was home.
* * * *
I carefully set the glass jars at the bottom of the bag and placed the paper towel rolls on either side, then stacked the two loaves of bread on top. I smiled at the woman paying for her groceries and set to bagging the rest of her items, trying my best not to look like I was paying attention to the two men standing at the far end of the registers.
Gavin was talking with my high school teacher’s husband who owned the grocery store, and I could just barely hear them.
The older man’s voice sounded kind, compassionate despite his words. “Listen, I don’t know you. You’ve got no job experience, no other references.”
Gavin nodded. “I know, but I’ll work hard.”
“That’s what Sean says.” He gave a nod as if he’d made his decision, then pointed at Gavin’s chest. “Okay, you’ve got one shot here. Don’t mess it up.”
The relief on Gavin’s face said it all. He wanted the chance, wanted to prove he could stick with a job, that he was worth it. To himself most of all.
He held out a hand and they shook. “Thank you. You won’t be sorry.”
“Come by on Monday night at eleven. You can start stocking shelves on third with Howard.”
Gavin offered his thanks again before the older men stepped away. Then those green eyes found mine as he passed me on his way to the exit.
I finished the last bag for the customer and helped her out to her car with the groceries. When my shift ended an hour later, I walked to my grandparents’ house and found Gavin sitting on the edge of the bed in our room.
“Merry Christmas,” I said.
He lifted his head and smiled. “Tomorrow’s Christmas.”
“Maybe for everyone else.” Christmas Eve would always be special for me. A year ago, I’d gotten the best gift at the Madison Street Men’s Shelter—and not the free condoms and soap.
Gavin’s green eyes had a more open, excited spark to them. He gave a nod. He felt the same.
“Did you hear?” he asked.
“Yeah.” I straddled his thighs and kissed him. “You have a job.”
He wrapped his arms around me and buried his face in my chest. “He’s only giving me a chance because of you.”
“That’s called a reference. Everyone uses them.” I held his head in my hands and tugged on him until he looked up at me. “It’s okay to accept help. Besides, you’ll impress him in no time.”
He ran his hands up my back. “No one’s ever believed in me the way you do.”
“Ditto.” I pressed my lips to his cheek, then ran them farther back to his ear. “No one’s ever loved me the way you do.”
His hands stilled on my back. “Will you ever be able to forget that life?”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to. It’s how I know what I want with you now. It’s how I know what kind of life I want us to build together.”
He let go of me and flopped back onto the bed. “That’s a shitty way to learn that lesson.”
“Yeah.” I leaned down to him and laid my cheek against his chest. “But it doesn’t have to ruin us or define us, and it doesn’t mean we don’t deserve this.”
He folded his arms around me again. “I should have taken better care of you. I can’t stand the thought of what you—”
I sat up and put a finger over his lips, silencing him. “Stop. It’s over. We did what we had to and now we move on. We’ll take care of each other as best as we can, just like we’ve always done.”
He nodded and sat up. Slipping his hands under my shirt, he caressed the skin at my sides.
That touch almost distracted me from the other topic I wanted to bring up.
“Did you see?” I asked.
“See what?” He had my shirt raised higher and was running his lips over and around one of my nipples. Then his tongue got in on the act. I lost concentration fast.
“Stop.” I squirmed and laughed. “I can’t think when you do that.”
“Is that bad?”
“Uh-huh.”
Another press of his lips to my nipple.
“Maybe,” I said.
A lick.
“Or maybe not.” Despite that revelation, I pulled him away and forced him to look at me. “Did you see under the tree downstairs? Grandma and Grandpa added more presents.”
“They’re pretty damn happy you’re home.”
I shook my head. “The gifts aren’t for me. They’re for you.” I leaned in and whispered in his ear. “You’re home now too.”
He made like he was going to kiss me but stopped short. “I was home before we even got here.” He pointed to the ceiling. Mistletoe hung from a hook above the bed. “Your grandpa gave it to me. Said when you kiss someone under the mistletoe, it’s a promise of marriage, that you’ll have a happy, long life together.”
My heartbeat sped up as Gavin pulled me down to the bed with him. This kiss reminde
d me of that first one in the hotel room, like he’d been waiting his whole life for this moment.
Or maybe because of all we’d been through, every moment together would be cherished. Maybe we’d never take each other for granted. Maybe we were luckier than most people who never knew what it was like to be so cold and hungry you’d do anything to make it stop. Or to be so truly alone you were afraid you’d disappear.
Gavin kissed me again, then pulled back. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For giving me something to believe in.”
I searched his green eyes.
“Myself,” he added.
“You deserve to.”
I kissed him and we made love under that mistletoe. If one kiss meant we were destined to be together all our lives, then we’d cinched that deal over and over again by the time we lay curled up in each other’s arms.
And that was just fine by me. I could handle being with him forever and then some.
* * * *
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Other Titles Available Now by Sloan Parker
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More (More Book 1)
More Than Most (More Book 2)
The Haven Series
How to Save a Life (The Haven Book 1)
Single Title Novels & Novellas
Breathe
Take Me Home
More Than Just a Good Book
I Swear to You
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Copyright
FOR LOVE AND FOREVER
Copyright (c) 2016 by Sloan Parker
ISBN-10: 1-942517-90-4
ISBN-13: 978-1-942517-90-0
Cover Design: Copyright (c) 2016 by L.C. Chase
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system for access by others, or transmitted to others in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. The names, characters, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons or incidents are coincidental.
This work contains graphic language and explicit sexual content between men. Intended for adult audiences only.
Published by
Sloan Parker Press
www.sloanparker.com
Table of Contents
Cops and Lovers
His Roommate’s Secret
Swept Away
The Break-In
A Lesson in Truth
Something to Believe In
Other Titles Available Now by Sloan Parker
Copyright