AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We did doughnuts with the car until Ellis swore he was going to hurl, and then we parked the Buick and got out two of the cars with the most current ice tires on them. I let Ellis drive one car carefully around the track, and I could tell from his shiny, happy eyes this had been one of the best moves I could make to get on his good side. Eventually, he switched off with Tav and climbed into the car with me. Tav and I sort of raced, but not really, because he seemed like he was too worried about damaging the car, so we took a few lazy laps around the ice track.
“I had fun driving.” Ellis gasped as Tav pulled ahead of us. I let Tav get a good lead, since he looked so cute smirking at me in his side mirror.
“Thanks for giving me a chance today,” I said.
“Oh, I’m still worried you’ll screw over Tav,” he said, giving me a scowl I didn’t think I deserved.
“I promise I won’t,” I said quietly.
He nodded and rubbed at the corner of his eye with his pointer finger, then tugged down the mirror to stare at himself. “Tav helped me when no one else would. I’d do anything to help him.”
“Including murder me in my sleep?” I asked with a grin.
He only stared at me.
I chuckled. “Point taken. Now hold on. We’re going to win this race.” I punched the pedal, and the ice tires did their job, not letting the car swerve. Ellis yelled at top volume until we passed Tav, and then Ellis made a thousand goofy faces at him.
My heart hurt for Ellis. He’d really had a lot taken from him, and I felt like I had a responsibility to show Ellis what he’d left home to find for himself. He had given up everything in his world to have the chance to be authentic, and if he could do it, I could pull my head out of my ass and be a good friend to him. Show him how two guys could build a healthy relationship.
“I really do promise not to hurt Tav.” I brought the car to a gentle stop.
Ellis rested his head back on the seat and watched me with a small pout. “Don’t tell me about it. Just do it.” He opened the door and got out, then walked over to Tav so he could gloat about our win.
“Fine, I will,” I whispered, and even though I was worried about what my mom might end up doing in retaliation, I had a great role model for bravery right in front of me.
14
TAV
I glanced down at my clothes and grimaced at the cheap material that tugged on my limbs. The crimson dress shirt didn’t fit well, but it was the only one I could find in a cheap store that looked anywhere near good enough to go out in. Judah had offered to buy something better for me, but I’d refused immediately. If I let him use his money on me, it’d only prove his mother’s point, and I wasn’t going to be that kind of person. The only way I would take anything off him was if I worked for it, like I had the entirety of the last two weeks.
Now it was Friday night, and I was at the point of wishing I hadn’t agreed to come see his college friends with him. The shirt was too small, the ends of the sleeves short on my arms, and I couldn’t stop fidgeting. Ellis was at home with Lisa, and I wanted to be there, too, away from the violent nervousness that ate at my insides.
“You look amazing.” Judah leaned over to kiss my cheek, and my eyes slid shut as my stomach continued to churn. He stopped me and unbuttoned the sleeves of my shirt while I stared with a confused frown, but when he carefully rolled each sleeve, a pleasant heat swirled in my chest and combatted some of my anxiousness.
We stood outside the door of a penthouse in the city of New Gothenburg, and I felt seriously out of place in such a luxurious hallway. A high ceiling with chandeliers, gold-framed artwork, and plush navy carpet was only the beginning, and this was merely the outside. I couldn’t imagine what the inside would look like.
I gave Judah an anxious smile right as the door was flung open and a man around our age appeared. He spread his arms immediately, hollering at the sight of Judah.
“Judah, my man!” He laughed and bounced over to Judah, hauling him into a one-armed hug and pat on the back. Everything about him pointed toward money, from his fancy white loafers to his clearly expensive white pants and green silk button-up shirt. He had two gold chains hanging around his neck and rings on each of his fingers, and he reminded me strongly of a drug lord from a bad eighties movie. “Fuck, you’re finally here.”
Judah laughed when he stepped away from him. “Why are you answering Brett’s door, Chaz?”
Chaz shrugged and ran a hand through his floppy brown hair, grinning. “What can I say? I knew it’d be you. You’re the last one to arrive.” He paused when his gaze turned to me. “Who the hell is this? You finally brought a man, Dailey?”
Judah rested his hand on the middle of my back, guiding me forward. “This is Tavish, that guy I mentioned dating in my teens.”
Chaz’s eyes widened and he gave me a long once-over, and even though it seemed all in good fun, there was something about the look in his eyes that didn’t sit right with me. The ropes of nervousness knotted in my stomach, and I swallowed.
“Well, fuck me. Welcome, Tavish! Come on in. The rest of the boys and their significant others are waiting.” Chaz gestured toward the recesses of the apartment with his thumb.
He opened the door wider and waved for us to come in, and Judah pushed me so that I had to enter first. Inside was as glamorous as I’d imagined, even more elegant than what had been in the hallway. A wall full of windows that overlooked the New Gothenburg skyline, a winding staircase that led up to the second floor, a wide living room with white couches, and an open-plan kitchen and dining room. The bottom floor had four couples lounging on the couches, laughing and sipping champagne from their flutes as a light classical song played in the background.
As soon as they saw Judah, they cheered, and a couple of the men rose to shake hands with him. Judah took the time to say hello to everyone, and I stayed back, not quite sure what to do—other than smile and nod when someone glanced in my direction.
Finally, when Judah had made the rounds, he took my hand and gestured at me. “This is Tav, my boyfriend.”
“Uh, hello.” I raised a hand in a rather awkward wave, not quite sure how to greet people like this. They were all smartly turned out, the women in knee-length dresses that weaved to the shape of their curves while the men were in shirts and pants a hundred times more expensive than mine.
