Chapter 32 - Micah
After work, Max flagged me down as I passed the production trailer. “Have a minute?”
“Sure thing.” I stepped inside.
Max walked around and sat behind his desk. He gestured toward a chair. “Join me.”
“Uh-oh,” I said with a soft chuckle. “Am I in trouble?”
He shook his head and laughed, rolling his eyes. “Obviously. Why else would you be called into the principal’s office?”
“Alright, alright,” I said, understanding his joke as I sat down. “What’s going on?”
He patted a small pile of papers on his desk. “Contract time.” He rummaged through the stack as he spoke again. “The studio asked me to talk to you.”
Butterflies filled my stomach. “Oh. Am I—”
“You’re in here somewhere. Ah-hah. Here we go.” He pulled out a stapled-together stack and passed it to me. “We want you to stay and finish out the season with us, but if you need to move on, I totally understand.”
“I want to stay,” I said without hesitation.
Max grinned. “Good. Jake and I really like having you around. How are you liking Port Grandlin?”
“I love it here. It’s a great little town. Everyone’s nice. Friendly. Helpful. I have everything I need right here. I’m going to be really sad to leave when the final episode wraps.” That was truer than anything I’d said out loud in months. Just the thought of it had my stomach turning sour.
“Well, you don’t have to leave.” When my eyebrows furrowed in confusion, Max kept talking.
“You know, I’m starting my own production team.
I can’t see myself leaving Jake to head back to New York or LA, so when I was given the opportunity to work here permanently at the end of the first reno, I jumped on it. ”
“You’re staying?” It wasn’t computing for some reason.
He nodded. “We can all stay as long as we’d like. You know how much I love this team. Sterling, Gideon, Brooks, Kieran, you. I’m hoping you all decide to stay with me.”
“That’s…” I was stunned. Speechless.
Max shook his head and slid the contract in my direction. “You don’t have to decide to make a permanent move right now. Think it over. Talk to Kieran or whoever you need to talk about it with. We have time. For now, though—you’re in on the rest of the season?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Great.” He passed me a pen.
I flipped through the contract, skimming over each paragraph. It was the same as any other TV contract I’d had and nothing jumped out at me, so on the final page, I scribbled my name. Micah Pollard.
A lightness enveloped me, my shoulders loose and relaxed. Immediately, I pulled out my phone to text Asher.
Micah: Great news. I’ve been offered a contract to stick around for the rest of the show—four more episodes.
After that, I hurried home to tell Kieran the good news. I hadn’t seen him the night before, after Asher had brought me home, and today at work, he’d been off on a shopping trip with a junior designer.
When I stepped into the house, he was reclining on the couch already, shoes off, socked feet on the coffee table. He looked over at me and grinned. “Hey. You’re home.”
“I am. With news. I—” I looked more closely at him. There was a mysterious purple blotch on his neck. “Is that—Oh my God, Kier, you did not.”
He slapped his hand to his neck. “What? It’s a mosquito bite.”
I couldn’t suppress my laughter. “You’re fucking kidding me.”
“No.” His face turned bright red and he scratched lightly at his neck as he scowled. “It is. It’s a mosquito bite. I swear.”
I smirked. “Okay.” He’d tell me when he was good and ready, so I just shook my head and moved on. “Guess what.”
“What’s up?” He slowly lowered his hand from his neck before shifting on the couch so I couldn’t see it.
“Have you talked to Max about the rest of the show?”
He nodded and hummed. “Yeah. He got to me this morning. I’m sticking around through the last episode.”
“Me too,” I said, barely able to contain my excitement.
“That’s awesome. Have you told Asher?”
Kieran knew a little about us, of course, but he didn’t know everything. He’d agreed to pretend he knew nothing when we’d gone out the night before, to keep Asher’s secret confidential. When I gave him a look with narrowed eyes, he held up his hands.
“Hey it’s clear he’s smitten with you. That was obvious last night.”
“I don’t—how was that obvious? We didn’t even touch each other last night.”
Kieran chuckled. “I could tell by the way he was looking at you. All heart eyes. He barely said a word to anyone else, and you both left early. Together. Give me a break.”
“He just brought me home.”
He raised one eyebrow. “If you say so.”
“You wanna talk, we can talk about your mosquito bite.”
He exhaled sharply through his nose and picked up the TV remote. We were at a stalemate.
I collapsed onto the couch and kicked my shoes off. “What are we watching?”
“Some doctor show. Is that okay?”
“Fine by me.” I pulled out my phone. Still no response from Asher. The text was marked read, but he hadn’t replied. In an attempt not to worry, I put it face down on the couch next to me and tried to focus on the television.
We ate dinner a little while later—sandwiches, because we were both feeling lazy—and I decided to go to bed early. As I was getting ready, my phone pinged. My stomach flipped anxiously as I picked it up.
Asher: I know it’s late, but can you come over?
I didn’t care how late it was. I replied as quickly as my fingers would move.
Micah: I’ll be there in a few.
I was glad I hadn’t changed clothes yet, not that it would have stopped me. As I pulled my sneakers on, Kieran appeared from the kitchen with a bowl of ice cream.
“Going somewhere?”
“Out.”
He nodded knowingly. “Tell Asher I said hi.”
I flipped him off and headed to my car. The drive to Asher’s wasn’t far, but by the time I arrived, my stomach was in knots.
What if he wanted me to come so he could end things?
We had agreed on a “just for the episode” rule, and the episode was all but finished.
The what-ifs pounded through my mind as I got out of the car and headed up the front steps.
As I raised my hand to knock, the front door swung open. Asher was on the other side, dark hair damp from a shower, shirtless, low-slung sweatpants the only thing between me and, well, the rest of him.
“Hi,” I said, nervous energy zinging through me.
Asher grabbed me and hauled me inside before shutting the door, shoving me against it, and kissing me breathless. It wasn’t long before I was hard and aching and so, so desperate for him to touch me, but when we parted, I resisted the urge to drop to my knees and yank his sweats down.
“We should talk,” I said quietly.
He nodded. “You’re right. We should.” He gestured toward the couch. I took a seat, and he sat at the opposite end, turning to face me. “You first.”
“Me? I…” How was I going to tell him I wanted to stay? That I wanted him?
He opened his mouth, inhaled deeply, and spoke before I had a chance to formulate my news. “I came out to my parents tonight.”
I sat back a little in shock, eyes widening. “You did?”
He hummed and nodded. “Yeah.”
“How did it go?”
Asher rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “It went really well. I told them I’m bisexual and they said they love me and that was pretty much it.”
“How do you feel?”
The soft smile on his face was all I needed to see. “Great. I’m glad I did it.”
We were both quiet for a moment. This is your opportunity, my brain screamed. Say something. “I’m staying.”
“You are?”
I nodded and reached for his hand. “Max offered to let me stay until the end of the series and then some. He wants me as a permanent part of his production team, the one he’s building right here in Port Grandlin. I can stay as long as I want.” I hesitated for a moment. “As long as I’m wanted.”
“You’re wanted,” he blurted. “You’re very wanted.”
“I am?”
Asher’s voice was just over a whisper when he spoke next. “I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone in my entire life. I think maybe… maybe it wasn’t about my sexuality at all. Maybe it was just about finding the right person.”
My heart fluttered with joy. I kept my gaze fixed on Asher’s for a long moment. “Then I’m definitely staying.”
“I have one more thing I need to tell you.”
I reached out and squeezed his hand. “Anything.”
“I think… I’m in love with you.”
I couldn’t contain my smile. My heart pounded as I took in his words, the worried look on his face. Before I could say anything else, he hurried on.
“You don’t have to say it back or anything. I just needed to tell you.”
“I love you too,” I murmured.
“You do?”
When I nodded, he pulled me to him and the next thing I knew, I was straddling him on the couch, kissing him hungrily. It didn’t take long for the kisses to heat up into something more desperate, and soon we were rocking against one another like there weren’t layers of fabric between us.
“Maybe we should take this to my bedroom,” Asher murmured.
“I think that sounds like an excellent plan.”
As we stumbled, kissing our way to the bedroom, all I could think about—besides how much I wanted to touch Asher’s dick—was how happy I was. I could hardly believe I deserved it, but I wasn’t going to let it go.