It wasn’t until people were starting to yawn that Jared broached the subject of money.
“One of the reasons I came was to talk to you about my trust fund,” he said, just as his father was pouring himself some bourbon. “I didn’t mean—” He clamped his teeth together. “Of course I wanted to visit you too. I’m sorry if it sounded like—”
Kyrone tried not to be amused by Jared stumbling over the right words, but it was pretty cute and endearing. He smiled encouragingly at his lover, hopefully giving him the confidence to keep going.
“We came to see you,” Jared carried on after returning Kyrone’s smile. “To visit and catch up and so you could meet Kyrone. I thought we could talk about the trust fund while we were here, but it doesn’t matter.”
“What about it?” his father asked as he sat on the sofa, nursing the tumbler of amber liquid.
“I was wondering if I could have access to it?”
“Of course. It’s your money,” his father said without hesitation.
That was the response Kyrone had hoped for. He’d realised, through the afternoon, that Jared’s parents were a caring couple. They might have done the wrong thing by keeping major events from Jared’s past from him, but they’d done it for the right reasons.
“It’s your money,” Jared’s father reiterated. “It’s always been there for you. I never understood why you didn’t want it.”
“It felt wrong,” Jared whispered. “It didn’t feel like it was really mine.”
“Well, it is,” his father replied. “We can go to the bank tomorrow and sort out the paperwork.”
“Thank you,” Jared breathed.
They all talked for a little longer, Kyrone happily listening to more stories from Jared’s childhood.
Later, Jared’s mother showed him to the guest room and gave him a clean towel and flannel.
“You’ll take care of him?” she asked, staring at him with a fierce expression that definitely reminded him of a mother bear. Or maybe a lioness protecting her cub.
“Of course. I love him.”
She nodded. “It’s hard to let go.”
Kyrone wasn’t sure what to do, so he put a hand on her shoulder. “You’re welcome to come and visit whenever you want to.”
“Thank you. I’ll hold you to that.”
He chuckled. “I hope you will.”
She said goodnight and wandered down the hall to a room he presumed was her own.
Alone, Kyrone got ready for bed. It was weird not to have Jared with him. They’d spent more nights together than apart recently, which is why he hadn’t had to think twice about asking his lover to move in with him. And marry him. He sighed as he flopped onto the bed, wondering how long it would take Jared to answer his question. No matter how long it took, he’d wait.
A soft knock of the door disturbed his sleep, but he was too groggy to respond to it. He heard the door open and close quietly as he was trying to drag himself into something resembling wakefulness. He felt Jared slip into the bed beside him and snuggle up to him.
“This is nice,” he said sleepily, rolling over to envelope Jared in his arms. “Probably a little naughty but definitely nice.” He ran his hands over Jared’s back. “You’re wearingmyjumper.”
“It’s mine now,” Jared reminded him in a quiet voice.
“It’s sexier on you,” Kyrone agreed. He slipped his hand down to Jared’s bare leg and up his thigh, letting out a disappointed whimper when he discovered that Jared was wearing boxer shorts. “Even sexier when it’sallyou’re wearing.”
Jared chuckled. “That really would be naughty.”
Kyrone looped his leg over Jared’s. “Are you saying you don’t want to have sneaky sex in your parents’ house?”
“We’re not normally very quiet when we’re having sex,” Jared reminded him.
“I can be quiet.”
