“Please feel free to leave out any details we don’t need to hear,” Dad says with a wince. “I don’t need to be scarred for life.”
“Dad!” Heat flames up my cheeks. “Don’t make this any harder than it needs to be.”
Bexley rests her hand on my thigh and it settles me. At least someone in the room has some common sense right now.
“Nick and I happened to be at the same bar one night when he had a disaster of a date?—”
“Did everyone witness how bad Caroline was?” Troy asks.
“Let them tell their story.” Angie swats at him. “I want to hear it.”
Troy gives her a chagrined look before pressing a kiss to her cheek.
Bex continues. “He looked so disheartened afterward, that I went to talk to him and things grew from there. Lunches together. Date nights. A weekend away. I know it’s not the easiest relationship because of who we are, but I wouldn’t have gone into this if I didn’t believe there was something real and lasting here.”
Something inside me settles. Bexley’s words turn off every dial that has been running on overdrive for the last week. Things are going to be hard. We’re going to have to defend our relationship at every turn.
But for this woman? I will go to the ends of the earth to defend it. Defend her. Because no matter what the outside world says, our love is real.
Pops and Dad share a look. One that I’ve seen many times. One that is full of love and mutual respect for the other. It’s the kind of love I grew up witnessing. That I knew I wanted. I wouldn’t settle for anything less than that.
“It takes a special kind of person to accept all the madness of my life, and Bex knows it.”
“It really does,” Pops and Angie agree. Having lived through it already, they know.
“And the league is okay with this?” Dad asks, ever the pragmatist.
I nod. “There’s nothing that states we can’t be together, so if anything, it’s frowned upon. But we don’t care.”
“If you need us to make a statement after your big proclamation, I can get all the guys on board,” Troy tells me.
Hearing Troy’s unflagging support is more than I ever needed to have. If we have the captain on our side, I think we’ll be okay.
“Calm down, Troy,” Angie tells him. “One thing at a time.”
“Can I talk to Nick alone?” Troy asks.
“We’ll get dinner on the table. C’mon.” Dad waves everyone into the kitchen.
Bex gives me a quick peck on the cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Troy shifts on the couch, moving closer to me. I sink farther back into the cushions, letting them support my weight. It feels easier to breathe now that everyone knows about us.
No more hiding. No more lying.
It’s a freeing feeling.
Troy leans over and pulls me in for a hug, taking me by surprise. “You’re like the brother I never had. I love you, Nick, and you have my full support.”
Tears well in my eyes as I grip on tight to the back of his shirt.
“Thanks, Troy. I needed to hear that.”
Growing up, it felt like all I had were my dads and Angie. When the times got hard, when the outside voices got too loud for me, I didn’t have anyone else I could turn to.
When I first met Troy, I was a surly high schooler who only wanted to study. But when he joined the family, I didn’t realize how good it would feel to have another person to go to. I didn’t always want to burden my dads and sister. Troy stepped up and has been there for me in every way since.
