Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 81272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
“Lies.” He smiled, but then the mood turned somber again. “Sometimes I’m afraid I’m just like him. And I don’t want to be, but I love him, and it’s hard to find the place where those two feelings merge and be okay with it. I don’t want to ever hurt you the way he has hurt my mom, but I deal with issues like he does—push through, keep a steady hand, don’t acknowledge when things are hard.”
“Just don’t push me away. I’m a needy little twink, and you’re stuck with me now. It’s okay to want space, but you also have to let me be there for you the same way you’re there for me.”
“My needy little twink.” Rush ghosted his lips against my cheek. “My pretty, pretty boy. Red, I’m used to wanting you. I’ve wanted you for years, but Christ, I need you too.”
“That makes two of us.”
He leaned up, weight on his elbow, looking down at me as I turned to my back. He used his other hand to cup my cheek, brush his thumb over the bones there, then slide it down to my neck. “Relationships are work.”
“I’m seeing that. It’s hard for me when you’re gone… I know it’s silly. I shouldn’t need you all the time.”
Rush nodded. “I miss you when I’m gone too. We’ll work through it together, but you know I’m always coming home to you, right? There is nowhere I’d rather be than with you. I’ve always known that’s where I belong. I was just waiting for you to be ready.”
Jesus, my boyfriend was so fucking hot and sweet. How did I get so lucky? “I’m ready now, and I love you.” The words were getting easier and easier to say.
“I love you too,” Rush replied.
He pulled me to him, rolled on his back, and I moved on top of him. Rush grabbed my ass, held me, kissed me until I couldn’t remember my name.
“Come on. Let’s get some food in you,” I told him when we came up for air.
Rush got dressed and ran to my car to get my suitcase. I made sandwiches and a salad while he updated me on his father.
After dinner, we went back to the hospital, where Jude and Kathy greeted us.
“See? You already look better.” She gave us both a kiss on the cheek, and then Rush turned to the receptionist.
“I’d like to go back and see my dad again,” he said.
“Are you both family?” she asked.
He looked at me and grinned. “Yeah. He’s my partner.”
This time it wasn’t a lie, the way it had been in the ER.
She nodded and let us back.
I’d spent most of my life afraid of getting close to anyone, afraid of letting them in, and I didn’t want to be afraid of that anymore. Rush was changing that, changing me. I knew things wouldn’t always be easy. Relationships never were. But I wanted him and he wanted me. We needed each other, and we would always make it work.
When we got to the room, Rush touched his dad’s hand. “Hey, Dad…I’m back. I have someone for you to meet. This is my boyfriend, Linc.”
Damned if his eyes didn’t flutter open, and he looked at us both.
EPILOGUE
Rush
Two months later
Summer was in full effect. We were having a celebration at our house—yep, our house. Lincoln had moved in with me, and it was fucking awesome. Sure, he was a little messy sometimes, but he had also learned that I definitely wasn’t perfect. I was stuck in my ways and spent too much time in the garage or on my track, and yeah, I brought a whole lot of dirt in with me after I rode.
But we were making it work, we were happy, and I loved having him come home to me every day and sharing a bed with him every night.
Mom was still living in the guesthouse. She was all into school, and I couldn’t have been happier for her. She and Dad had talked when he got out of the hospital. They were getting a divorce, and that was okay. They would both be happier that way.
Dad was doing great too. He’d made a full recovery. Linc and I had spent a week with him in June, and we planned to go back in August, before things got crazy with supercross season approaching.
Jude was still in Fever Falls. He was renting Linc’s condo and worked at Fever as a bartender. He seemed to like it, and every time I asked him about men, he shook his head and said no, that he thought it had just been me and our friendship that had him confused. I wasn’t so sure about that, but who was I to tell someone else how they should identify? He got flirted with enough—especially by Cam, whose ass I would kick if he fucked around with Jude—so it wasn’t as if Jude didn’t have options if he was bi-curious.