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The only way to meet it was head-on. He held out a hand, holding off Matt’s reply, then stood to face his best friend. “I don’t need you to look out for me. Not this time.”
Brick opened his mouth, but this was too important to let him interrupt.
Robby hardened his voice. “I love you. We’re family, and it means everything you want to slay dragons for me. But I don’t need protection from this. Even if you don’t trust Matt, you have to trust me and accept my choice. Respectmeenough to showhimsome respect.”
His friend silently returned to his seat.
“Damn, Robby.” Kane whistled. “When did you grow such a big set of balls, brother?”
“If you want a look at my balls,brother, all you have to do is ask.” He cocked his head and lifted his chin in challenge.
It was Amanda of all people who broke the tension with a bark of laughter, and her mirth spread like wildfire. In a matter of seconds, everyone at the table was laughing.
Everyone but Matt. When Kane coughed out his last chortle, he spoke up. “I get it. You guys don’t know me very well. To be real, sometimes, I’m not sure I know myself. I do know I’m not looking to hurt Robby. I’m in this one hundred percent.”
Matt looked at Kane, then Brick. “I’m not with Jimmy’s mom. I never have been. We were friends who gave it a one-time shot at something more. It didn’t work out, but it gave me my son, so I am never going to regret it. Patty may always be in my life, but she isn’t my future. Robby is.” He sat up ramrod straight. “I’d love your blessing, but we’re going to be together whether you give it or not.”
Both big men gaped, but Brick recovered first. “Does he make you happy, Robby?”
Happy? His heart could burst right now after Matt’s little speech. “Yeah. He does.” And he planned to keep him as long as he possibly could.
“Good enough for me. Now somebody better start eating these hamburgers before they get cold. No way I’m letting all this fucking meat go to waste.”
Kane waited until Robby took a bite and started chewing before he leaned forward. “Just for the record, I don’t want to see your balls, bro. I’m sure they’re nice and all, but my own nuts are more than enough to behold every day.”
His wife nudged him with her shoulder. “You just keep telling yourself that, baby.”
And this time when the laughter started, everyone joined in.
Chapter
TWENTY-FOUR
Robby
Tonight would be the night.
Robby ran his hand over the stubble on his jaw and nodded resolutely at his reflection in the mirror. It was time to drop the last of his walls. One by one, he’d shed the layers he’d built to insulate himself from the outside world.
He’d cut the long bangs and ditched the thrift store Oxfords that made him look like a teenager taking his grandma out to lunch.
He’d stopped smiling when he didn’t mean it. Stopped agreeing with everything. Stopped hoping for people to fight his battles.
And with every new side he exposed of himself, he’d given the people he loved an opportunity to turn away, to reject him. Only, they hadn’t.
Brick had said he liked the haircut and clothes right away. He’d said confidence looked good on him.
Kane had laughed when he stood up for himself and made a crack about his balls.
And when he’d lost his mind a little with the cameras at the Q-Center, no one batted an eye over the fact he couldn’t bring himself to smile. If anything, being real had brought them all closer.
Now all he had left to reveal were the dark, oily secrets writhing beneath his skin…and the scars they’d left behind. He couldn’t hide them forever. It had been a miracle he’d managed this long.
Besides, their acceptance pumped like a drug through his veins. The more he got, the more he craved. With every smile, every hug, every touch, he got a little closer to flying. God wouldn’t bring him this far only to get rejected in the end.
No. This time someone would see him—all of him—and want him anyway.
He dipped his hand in the running water from the faucet and ran it through his hair, making it stand up in short spikes. With one last satisfied look in the mirror, he left to join Matt at the tattoo parlor.
