I climb out of the tub carefully, aware that my limbs are still not functioning correctly.
The shouting gets louder, and one voice is notably absent in the fray.
Stone believes this is his fault.
Wrapping a towel around myself, I head for the living room to put a stop to this. There are sweatpants and a T-shirt for me on the counter, just as Stone said there would be, but it’ll take too long to get them on.
Everyone grows quiet when I enter the room, taking my place at Stone’s side. My mom immediately grabs the blanket from the back of the couch and starts fussing.
“Stop,” I growl, ripping it from her hands more forcefullythan necessary. “Mom, Dad, I’m glad to see you, but you can’t come hereunannounced, walk in on something you know nothing about, and start ripping into Stone as if my current condition is his fault.”
My mom winces, making me feel like a dick.
Because I acquired cerebral palsy due to a lack of oxygen during the birthing process, my mom carries an extreme amount of guilt and has always felt that my limitations areherfault; hence, her overzealous reaction to make it better just now. I’ve never blamed her—since it wasn’t anything she could control—but Idoexpect her not to go blaming others for anything related to my condition.
My parents share a look of shame before looking back at me.
“We’re sorry, Han,” Dad says. “It’s just…your brother?—”
“Has always taken care of me…even when it wasn’t his job to do so,” I interrupt.Okay, I guess I’m going full bore on the guilt trips after all.“We were at work. There’s been a lot of snowfall recently, and I saw some things that made testing an area of the ski resort a priority before calling it a day. It was cold. We were out in it for about an hour. Yes, I pushed too hard, but I’m fine now, thanks to Stone. It was no one’s fault but my own. And for the record, Stone tried to talk me out of it, but I’m here to do a job and do it well.”
My mom shifts her weight uncomfortably.
I don’t ever talk back.
“Han,” Stone says gently from behind me. Turning to look at him, I see he’s turned the gas logs on, and I move to stand in front of the fireplace, letting the heat lick my calves and my back…even the heat on my ass through the towel feels divine.
James looks at Stone, who’s standing guard by my side.
“We might’ve jumped the gun. I apologize for losing my cool. It’s just been a while since I’ve seen him that bad,” hesays, his eyes swinging to me at the last part as if checking to make sure I’m still doing okay and not going to collapse any second.
“It is really nice to see that time and distance seem to have brought you two closer than you’ve been in years,” my mom coos. “Maybe we could start again?Surprise!” she yells, throwing her arms in the air, trying to lighten the mood.
“I thought you guys couldn’t make it out here this year?” Stone says, stripping his hoodie over his head and holding it out for me. Somehow realizing that now things have calmed down, being mostly naked in front of this room of people is pretty fucking awkward.
I inhale deeply as I pull it on over my head.
It smells like him.
Knowing my body is exhausted after that whole ordeal, and I won’t be getting hard anytime soon, I bathe in his scent, not worried about sporting an obvious hard-on in my current attire. It feels like his arms are around me, and I relax into the garment.
“We didn’t think we’d be able to, but then we realized our boys were together for the holidays for the first time in four years, and we weren’t with you guys. It felt like such a wasted opportunity not to have the whole family together,” my mom says.
“Although,” Dad cuts in, “tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, and there wasn’t a hotel available. We just assumed we could stay with you like always since Hanlon has lodging through the internship, but I’m not sure he should be by himself tonight.”
Oh, I won’t be.
“We already talked about it. He’s going to stay with me,” Stone says without missing a beat.
Before too many more thoughts can be shared about our living situation or the sleeping arrangements, I excuse myself tofinally go get dressed in the sweats Stone left for me in the bathroom.
Except there’s an extra set of footsteps sounding in the hallway. I’m not expecting Stone to be right behind me, closing the door behindhimas we enter our room.
“What are you doing?” I hiss.
“Making sure you’re okay,” he replies like it’s totally obvious.
“I’mfine.Now get out of here before they catch on in the first thirty minutes of being here.” I push at his chest, but he doesn’t budge. Instead, he pulls me closer.
