Harrison sighed. “What are we going to do with you, Mr. Wescott?”
Well…I could think of a few things, one being his mouth on my cock. “What did I do now?”
“It’s okay to ask for a favor.”
“I know that.” I just didn’t like to. “Plus, you don’t even drive a truck.”
“No, but I do have car dealerships and access to trucks.”
Honestly, I hadn’t even thought about that. “You can’t want to go through all that trouble.”
Harrison rolled his eyes, wrapped an arm around me, and tugged me along. We were both slick with sweat, the slight tinge of salty skin lingering in the air around us.
“What are we doing?” I asked him.
“We’re going home to get cleaned up, and then you’re taking me shopping with you. I love thrift stores. Oh, and antiques.”
“Maybe because you are one?” I teased rather than focusing on the fact that this man who had a whole hell of a lot of money liked to go thrift-store shopping. Everything about him made me want to know more—strictly on a friendship level, of course.
“Ha-ha.”
“I’m kidding, and you have to have better things to do with your day than shopping with me.”
“I like spending time with friends.”
“You want to help me out.” Which was cool and all, but I didn’t want to be someone’s burden.
“Sometimes I feel like you’re the older, grumpy one in this friendship. Yes, I like helping people I care about, but no, that’s not why I’m doing this. It sounds fun, and if you don’t keep me busy, I’ll end up at work or bugging a buddy of mine and keeping him away from his husband.”
“Ross has always known you’re bi?” I found myself asking. He’d clearly been raised around queer people. I envied him that.
“Yes. I never hid it from him. It was important to me that he see and know people from every walk of life. That’s the world we live in, and I wanted him to experience it that way. I’ve always gravitated toward queer people, though. I don’t lean more in any particular direction, men or women, when it comes to who I sleep with, but most of my friends are queer.”
I nodded, thinking about how different of an upbringing he’d given Ross, compared to mine.
“What about you? Your family, I mean?”
“Well, I didn’t grow up like Ross. I remember knowing at a young age that I was supposed to like girls, that boys grew up and married girls, and that one day that’s what I was supposed to do, but I didn’t feel it. The whole thing was confusing to me. We lived in a rural community, and you know how that can be. I never heard anything positive about being gay when I was young. It was what boys called other boys they didn’t like. As I got older, probably fourteen or so, I admitted to myself I was gay. I was scared to death of my parents finding out. I knew deep down that Mom would be okay, that she’d love me regardless, but it’s still scary as hell to open yourself up that way.”
“And your dad?”
“Who the fuck knows? I mean, I couldn’t say whether he’d care, but then, he didn’t care about us regardless, so what was new?”
“I’m sorry.”
“It is what it is.” We continued walking toward Ross’s place. “Anyway, Mom found out by accident. I was seventeen. I didn’t have a cell, and we only had one computer in the house. We didn’t always have the internet hooked up, but when we did, I took advantage.”
Harrison chuckled. “As we all do.”
“Obviously. So, one day Mom got home earlier than she was supposed to. I clicked out of the porn real quick but forgot to erase the history. She never got online, so I have no idea why she did then or how she even brought it up. She’s so bad at electronics that it had to be some kind of mistake. Anyway, two guys, of course. She came into my room that night, hugged me, told me she loved me and she always would, no matter what, and that if I ever had anything to tell her, I didn’t have to worry because she would always be there. I just…fuck, I just broke down crying. It was so freeing.”
“Your mom sounds great.”
I smiled. “She is. The best.” I loved her and Molly more than anything in the world…and I missed them. I needed to go visit, but I didn’t want the extra miles on my car before the school year started.
When Harrison stopped walking, I realized we were in front of the building.
“Thank you,” Harrison said.
“For what?”
“Sharing that with me. I know it’s not something you do easily.”
My heart went a little crazy, beating on my chest wall like it wanted to burst free. No, no I didn’t share things about myself easily, and…I couldn’t believe I just had. That I hadn’t even realized I was doing it either. He asked, and I’d just…spoken.