“Dammit.” Riddick shoves Jet so suddenly, he throws him off. “I’m out of here.”
“Rid…” Jet groans a little as he picks himself up from the floor, and I fight the urge to go and check him over. He missed hitting his head on the coffee table by an inch. “Wait.”
“We tried, okay?” Riddick jabs a finger at Jet, then Joel, his eyes a little wild. “Xavier and I, we tried to take care of ourselves and Jet. But it wasn’t easy, goddammit.”
“Rid!” Jet climbs to his feet, but his cousin is already heading to the door. “Come on, man. Nobody accused you of anything.”
“Yeah, I know. I just… gotta go.” He throws the door open and heads out. “See you around, Jet.”
Jet staggers after him but the door slams and he jerks to a halt. “Fuck.”
Whoa.
“That was kind of extreme, wasn’t it?” Brylee is still curled up, her back to the wall, but her eyes are round.
Joel approaches Jet cautiously. “Hey. I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault.” He rakes a hand through his spiky hair. “Brylee is right. Rid’s just stressed. He’ll get over it.”
I get up and make my way to the two of them, slide an arm around Jet’s slim hips and the other behind Joel’s strong back. “Everything’s okay.”
“No, it’s not.” Joel grabs Jet’s arm, pulling him until he’s squashed between us, his back against Joel’s chest, my boobs plastered to his front. “It’s not. It’s my fault. I was only teasing.”
“It’s fine,” Jet says, his voice gruff.
“I haven’t forgotten how screwed up your family was, how you told me that in your cousins’ house things weren’t that good, either. I want you to have a family.”
“I do.” Jet pulls me more tightly against him, drops a kiss on my hair. “You guys are my family.”
“Yes,” I whisper, burrowing closer to him.
“We’re hiding in a closet,” Joel says, “and it’s all my goddamn fault. I’ve been so fucking wrapped up in myself, in my issues, that I never thought about meeting the family. I want you to meet my sister. I want us to meet Candy’s brother. And I want to invite your cousin again, make a better impression this time. What do you say?”
“What are you saying? Throw a family party?” Jet snorts.
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m saying,” Joel says. “I’m throwing a party to meet the family.”
I draw back, trying to look at Joel over Jet’s shoulder. “Are you talking about your parents? Are they invited, too?”
Jet’s eyes widen.
“Yeah about that…” Joel sighs and rests his chin on Jet’s shoulder. “I didn’t want to face them. But I will. I’ll talk to them. You two mean everything to me and I need to tell them that.”
Jet’s lashes lower. He lets out a ragged breath.
“It might seem like I’ve been hiding you from the world,” Joel goes on. “But I’m not. It’s gonna be a show down. My dad will fly off the handle. I wanted to avoid facing him, but you’re right, it’s been weighing on me. I feel as if I’m doing something wrong, but I’m not. If he disowns me, if he calls me names, so be it.”
“I call you names all the time,” Jet mutters, but none of us laugh.
Joel straightens. “So yeah, I’ve been hiding, pretending I don’t have to face my parents, putting it off. I’m gonna change that.” He’s silent for a beat. “I’m gonna be the boyfriend you both deserve.”
Jet swings me around, turning in the circle of Joel’s arms and grabs us both in a hug. “You are the boyfriend we deserve. Always have been.”
“We love you,” I add.
We bend our heads together, and it’s sweet and my heart feels close to bursting.
Then Brylee says, “Sweet Jesus, I just spilled tea down my blouse.”