Chapter Twenty-Six
Rusty sat bolt upright as he heard his phone vibrating on the nightstand, grabbing it as quickly as he could so the sound wouldn’t wake Blake.
He blinked at the too-bright screen, squinting to see the name.
Dad.
Fuck.
Rusty sighed, swiping to answer and holding the phone to his ear.
“What makes you think four in the morning is somehow abettertime to call than six?”
“Don’t be dramatic,” his father said. “I see you’ve corrected your mistake.”
Rusty bristled. “Stop talking about him like he’s a parking ticket,” Rusty said. “Have you considered my feelings even once? Blake isn’t a mistake,” he hissed into the phone, climbing out of the bed carefully so he wouldn’t risk waking Blake up.
“I thought our feelings were in alignment,” his dad said. “You don’t want this hanging around your neck, either. He could come along and take half of what you’ve built whenever he liked.”
Rusty swallowed.
In theory, that was true, but Blake… Blake wouldn’t do that to him.
And Rusty wouldn’t have begrudged him half of everything he had, anyway.
“He wouldn’t do that,” Rusty said.
“You don’t know that for sure.”
“But I do,” Rusty responded automatically.
He knew Blake cared about him. Genuinely cared about him, and hadn’t once given a damn who he was, or who his father was, or what Rusty could do for him.
All he’d ever asked for was companionship. Someone to stand by his side.
Rusty had been honored to be that person. No one ever asked him for that. His presence was never enough for anyone else.
He didn’t want a divorce. He wanted Blake.
The thought came careering back into his head like a runaway freight train, hurtling through at terrifying speed and spinning around wildly.
He didn’t want a divorce.
He wanted Blake.
“I don’t want a divorce,” he said aloud.
The surprised sound his father made was exactly how he felt about saying it, but…
He didn’t. He wanted to stay here, and curl up next to Blake, and tell him that he didn’t have to go just yet. That they could have some more time.
He didn’t know whatBlakewanted, but for once in his life, Rusty knew exactly how he wanted things to be.
For the first time in a long time, he was happy. Here, in this strange little town, with a man he couldn’t bear the thought of leaving all over again.
His stomach twisted, a wave of nausea hitting him at the thought that he was about to lose this.
He hung up the phone before his father could recover, rushing to the bathroom to splash his face with water.
