That was a damn nice position to be in for him, and a new thing.
Michael continued.
“We had this shit dive apartment, and we had more love than should be legal. That was the only time in my life I was happy, Gryph. We didn’t want for anything, and now that I look back, we didn’t even give a shit about money.”
He let him talk.
Gryphen knew what it was like to be poor.
He had been.
He also knew that Michael had been an orphan coming out of the system too. He didn’t have money, family, or a chance other than selling his soul to the US government to not be homeless when CPS kicked him to the curb at eighteen.
Michael was honest.
“I have a few million dollars in the bank, Gryph. I can buy us anything we want, and then, I can be happy. We can be happy. I never stopped loving him. I know that now. I never really loved Riley. I was settling so I wasn’t alone.”
Michael leaned against the shower wall.
“When Graham found out I was on antivirals, his immediate response was I was sick, and he wanted to help me. Know what Riley did when he found out?”
Gryphen guessed it wasn’t good.
“I’m saying something less than desirable?” he asked.
Oh, he was right.
“He was horrified, and he looked at me like I just gave him HIV. He made me take a test, and show him the resultsbefore he’d let me touch him. He treated me like I was garbage, and I took it because deep down, I was so desperate to have someone love me.”
Gryphen saw the pain there.
“I was about ready to make the second biggest mistake in my life, Gryph. The first was the day I walked out, and the next would be marrying someone I didn’t love. I still love that man out there. I never stopped. That’s why I fell apart. My heart knew, and my stubbornness fucked me over. I’m not settling anymore. I’m taking what I want, and I’m going to have that love again.”
Gryphen leaned on the wall.
“You know you’re going to have to leave your job, right? Because he loves it here. You love it there. This is where you went awry last time. What are you going to do about that?”
He was aware.
Only, he was willing to put his money where his mouth was on this one.
“I love my job, but I have three million in the bank, Gryph. We can retire on that. I can have what I’ve always wanted. Him. He’s what I’ve always craved, and now I see it. He looked for me,” he said.
Gryphen was aware.
Oh, he knew how much the man searched for him. He’d spent time with Graham, and he knew the whole story. Get a man drunk, and sit on a couch by a fire, and you find out everything.
The only thing he’d never known was that D’Artangnan and Michael were one in the same.
“He hired a PI, and he tried to find me. I never tried to find him. I was an idiot. I was so angry at him for not trusting me, that I forgot it went both ways. I didn’t trust him to tell him about becoming an Archangel. Instead, I made it sound like itwas my job to run everything. He never betrayed me. I betrayed us.”
He let him talk.
It sounded like someone had a good grasp of what he wanted, and how to make it right.
The light had dawned, and Michael saw it.
“Riley was a placeholder. The universe put me here, and then, the universe put him in my path again. I’m not fucking around and finding out. I’m marrying him. I’ll make that happen as soon as I tell Elizabeth and Ivan goodbye.”
