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I was now a billionaire with a couple of houses scattered around the globe. So was Drake, much to his annoyance. We had both donated millions to charity, supporting various LGBTQ groups and a few politicians devoted to equal rights.
I’d given Nancy and Michael a gift that would allow them to purchase the farm they wanted to buy up in Vermont and then some. My other mom had also been invited to the celebration of life, but that had been my doing rather than Jacqueline’s, since there were no last wishes banning Nancy and her husband from attending.
Drake and I had dinner with them the evening before at their house in Queens, a quiet time of tears and hugs.
And now I’m about to face Jacqueline’s society—I’ve got this, I told myself while following Drake onto The Bloomberg’s elevator.
There was no sudden jolt during our ride to the ground floor, no four hours of perfection found prior to our last goodbye to my mother and Devlin. Drake held me from behind, his arms wrapped around me, cheek resting against my temple as the silent metal box around us rushed downward.
Jacqueline’s final journal entry had been written the day before the helicopter crash, her words unexpected and ones I’d memorized due to the healing balms they had settled over me like a soft blanket.
If Drake owns Preston’s heart as I believe he does, then I will be happy for them both. My son will not find a better partner, one who will love him as his father does me. And in the event my suspicions about their already being together is wrong, when I return home, I will push the two of them into recognizing and accepting what is right in front of their blind eyes—a chance at a happily ever after.
Her words echoed in my head, once more tightening my throat. It’s already been found, Mom.
“Okay?” Drake checked in with me, his murmured word as warm on my ear as the contentment in my heart.
I searched my feelings, slightly anxious of having to people for a couple of hours, mainly with Mom’s friends and old colleagues who would be in attendance. “I’ll be fine as long as you stay beside me.”
“I’ll stick like glue, baby.” Drake pressed his lips to my hair as the elevator slowed.
“I’m also introducing you to everyone as my boyfriend.”
Drake chuckled and squeezed me tight. “Coming out loud and proud—fucking love it, baby. Love you.”
As expected, dozens of people interested in brushing elbows with the last living Casswell flocked to me, their feigned empathetic smiles and empty condolences annoying. A few eyes blinked at hearing me call Drake my boyfriend, most of them knowing he’d been my stepbrother.
The stutters and gaping mouths amused me more than anything.
Regardless of what they thought of my sexuality, I still received countless invitations to dinners, parties, upcoming fundraisers, and similar events.
I also graciously declined each and every one.
Yes, I was openly gay, but I was also rich as fuck, and plenty in the upper crust would set aside their bigotry if it meant staying in my good graces. But I had zero interest in lining people’s pockets if it wasn’t for the good of others, mainly those who didn’t have the same opportunities of the mostly straight, white snobs in attendance.
Nancy and Michael arrived a little late, and I had to bite my tongue over the sneers and sniffs sent her way. I hugged them both tight, growing teary-eyed yet again when Nancy did. She held my hand, keeping me close.
When the crew from Elite entered the ballroom a short time later, I insisted Drake go greet those who had come down from Boston to offer their support.
I recognized a few from EEMM’s website, two of whom I was…intimately acquainted with.
Nerves lit in my guts, but I gave my focus to Nancy. Eventually, I would have to face both Mason and Kellen, and my palms sweated and heart lost its rhythmic pattern at the thought.
But how my possessive boyfriend behaved would be interesting to say the least.
Chapter 34
Drake
I’d told Sean about the celebration of life when he and I had met for beers a couple weeks earlier, not expecting him to bring so many of my old co-workers along with him, but fuck did I feel a sense of coming home when my people walked into the ballroom.
Leaving Preston in good hands, I hurried to the group who’d arrived in a single party. Sean and Matteo led the way, both dressed in dark suits and ties. We hugged hard, hands clasping backs in bro hugs. Micah hadn’t been able to leave his pregnant wife, not that I’d expected him to. Mason and Jasper then Kellen and JJ followed. It was the first I’d been around the two men my boyfriend had booked with since he and I had gotten together.
A sense of strangeness twisted my guts, definitely that mine feeling that made me want to hover over Preston non-fucking-stop, but these men were my friends and had been for years. Clients had only ever been a business transaction to all of us, and the two who’d pleased my man once upon a time were madly in love and happily tied to their better halves.
Still, I greeted Mason, not sure if he was aware of who Preston was or not.
“How are you, Drake?” he asked, his hazel eyes showing genuine concern.
