He’s quiet for a minute while I tighten my hold on him.
“Matt’s father threatened my dad with calling CPS if he didn’t straighten his shit out. They refused to let him be friends with me after the party.” His fingers dig into my shoulders. “We’d known each other since kindergarten. They were the only parents who even considered letting their kid come to my house at that point.”
“I’m guessing you didn’t hangout again until high school?”
“Yeah, senior year. A year after I left my parents, he started talking to me more than the occasional ‘hey’ in the hallways. I figured his parents said it was okay now that my parents weren’t in the picture, but I’m sure Mrs. A had something to do with that.”
I think twice before asking the question, but I need to know. “When did you change your name?”
His eyes are glassy when he looks up at me. “After high school. As soon as I turned eighteen, I knew I wanted to, but Mrs. A convinced me to wait until I was out of school. She said it would’ve been more of a hassle to get it done before graduation.”
With a gentle kiss to his forehead, I ask, “What’s your real name?”
“Ender Phoenix.” He smirks, knowing that wasn’t what I meant.
I playfully bop him on the head with the hope of keeping the mood light. “What was your birth name, Ender Phoenix? Matt called you—”
He cuts me off with a whisper. “Kyle Roberts.”
I swipe my thumb over his pursed lips.
“I haven’t said that name in almost ten years. Feels weird.” His short chuckle feels like a weight just lifted from his shoulders, even if just a little.
“Ender suits you better. Much hotter than Kyle.”
With a roll of his eyes, he says, “Yeah, that was so what I was aiming for.”
“Call it a bonus—owwww.” He soothes over where he pinched me with an amused smile.
“So, how did you come up with yourrealname?”
“A song from a band I really like—at least the first name. Connor and Kaden took me to Durham to see them. They were my first concert.”
“Sounds like that was a special night.”
“One of the best.” He gifts me with that genuine smile he so rarely shows.
“I think it’s pretty safe to say Phoenix has to do with your tattoo.”
“Yeah,” he says with a pensive expression.
Instead of explaining any further, he huffs and climbs out of bed. “If you don’t get out of bed and get us coffee by the time I get back,” he says, “I’m going to suck your dick until you’re about to come, then leave you with blue balls.” He flashes me a devilish grin as he closes the bathroom door.
“You say that like it’s a punishment. Edge me, baby, please!”
Chapter Eighteen
Is It Too Soon?
Ender
These past two weeks have been exhausting to say the least. I hate to even think about how disappointed I was when the Bruins fell out of the playoff contention. We haven’t missed the playoffs in almost a decade, but I guess it was bound to happeneventually. I’m just relieved Gabe has forgotten we made that bet the night we met. Given how our…relationship…has evolved since then, I’m not sure my condition of no personal questions would be fair—eventually I’ll have to open up more.
On top of that, Kaden’s ex, Tyler, went from being an asshole to an absolute psychopath. I’ve spent most of my time with Kaden after he insisted on Luke going to work after the incident. While Tyler didn’t seriously hurt Kaden, everything he did do was a mindfuck—so Kaden took some time off work to process. Since I can work from anywhere, as long as I have my laptop and extra monitors, this was the best scenario.
Only downside to that was every time Luke was home with Kaden, Gabe was working. Which means our limited time together was only a few sleepovers at his house. Unfortunately, those have now made me nervous as fuck, knowing I’m talking in my sleep. From what Gabe told me, I haven’t said anything too revealing, and I avoided what I could during our conversation about it all. I don’t need to trauma dump all at once.
I must be doing something right, though, since he’s taking me to meet his parents today. No matter how much I protested that it was too soon, he wouldn’t take no for an answer.
