“Thank you.” He hoped the gratitude came through in his voice, because Drea was nothing if not protective of her people, and if she’d told him to fuck off, he would’ve.
Yolanda tossed him a glare and a frown but said nothing. She knew she didn’t have to, her twin had already done everything needed.
Denny slipped through to the back corridor. He’d walked there hundreds of times over the years. This was the first time he felt as if he was stumbling emotionally.
Josiah’s office door was closed, so he knocked and waited.
“Come on in, Denny.”
He smiled, but then the careful blankness of the tone made the smile vanish.
Denny pulled the door open. “Hey.”
“Hi.”
He stepped inside and closed the door, then leaned against it. It was so obvious now. Josiah was… incredible. Even if Denny hadn’t known him as well as he did, he would’ve thought him incredibly attractive on the outside. From the tattoo sleeves on his arms to the way he cut his hair short on the sides and let it flop over on top. His eyes that went from gentle and kind to piercing in an instant when he had to take a stand.
“I’ve been so fucking blind,” Denny blurted out.
Josiah winced and looked away from him. “I don’t—”
“No, let me, okay?”
Jo sighed but nodded.
Denny sat in the chair opposite Josiah and sighed, too. “I know, obviously. I finally connected the dots, and that’s… I don’t know how to feel about that. Not… not about howyoufeel, just how blind I’ve been to various things.”
Josiah lifted his head and gazed at Denny. The pain in his eyes made Denny’s breath hitch.
“I didn’t want to say anything. You were off-limits from the start and I know it. I valued our friendship enough to not ever want to jeopardize that,” Josiah said softly.
“And that’s incredibly selfless. You took the pain and you held it close to your heart with your other feelings. I’ll admire you for that for the rest of my life, Josiah. But I also feel like I’ve let you down somehow even though I logically know that’s not the case here.”
Josiah frowned. “That’s why I never wanted you to find out. This has always been my burden but I’ve happily carried it because I love you.”
“I love you too, Josiah.” Denny swallowed hard. “I went into therapy, even without you reminding me.”
A hint of a smile passed over Josiah’s features. “You did?”
“Yes. And while we talked about Dave, we mostly talked about me.”
“Oh?”
“Dr. Jarvis is an excellent therapist. He asked me how direct I wanted him to be and then we mostly went with a ripping-off-the-Band-Aid style of discussion for the first time.”
Josiah chuckled. “Sounds like something that might work for you for sure.”
Yeah, they both knew Denny wasn’t much for beating around the bush.
“So here’s something I’ve learned in the last couple of days. I’d like you to listen to me and to… to not think this is because of you, even if you sort of helped with me to realize it in a roundabout way?” Denny hoped he didn’t sound too insecure.
“Uh… all right?” Jo frowned.
“We sort of talked about Dave a bit and how I’ve been following in his footsteps and all that, like you said too, right? But there’s something else. I don’t think I’m straight, Josiah.”
Jo gaped at him wide-eyed. “W-what?”
“My therapist asked about it. We talked about it a lot. And… I think I’m bisexual. It might change, I haven’t really thought outside of the binary just yet, but I really think I might be bi.” Inside, Denny appealed to whatever cosmic force was listening that this wouldn’t blow up in his face.
