Chapter 25
chapter twenty-five
It’d been a mostly peaceful couple of weeks. Forrest and I had spent time settling into our new normal, which was proving less difficult for me than I’d expected. There were a few things I struggled with, especially if I thought too hard about everything, but I could handle it. For the most part.
When I got overwhelmed, all I had to do was find Forrest, and he made it all okay again. He took my breath away, reminded me how much I loved him, how much he loved me, and why this was worth it. God, being with him was worth the whole planet and more.
I slid my phone into my pocket and flopped onto the comfy couch, curling up into Forrest’s side. “They should be here any minute.”
Forrest pulled me further against him, wrapping his arm around my back. “Okay. Do you think they’ll like me?”
“They’ll love you because I do. I think having them come here was a good idea. It’ll probably be easier for Tobi.”
“I hope so.”
“Don’t worry too much.” I leaned up, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “This’ll be good for all of us.”
We’d decided to have Callum and Tobi meet us at Pride and Pages while it was closed. It was still light outside, but it wasn’t by much. The sun would be setting soon, and the moon would take over for all the city lights.
There was a knock at the door, signaling their arrival. “I’ll let them in. You just sit here and look pretty.” I patted Forrest’s thigh.
“I can do that.”
“You can. Very well, might I add.”
He smiled. “You flatter me.”
I made my way to the door, unlocking it before opening it. Callum was the first to slide inside, a big grin on his face. “It’s been a minute.”
“I know.” I leaned in to give him a side hug, patting his back. “You should’ve texted me if you wanted proof of life.”
Callum was scowling, but Tobi laughed. “He won’t even text me, his boyfriend. Why do you think he’d text you?”
“‘Cause I’m his best friend. Or so I thought.” I rolled my eyes dramatically.
Cal scoffed. “You’re such a little shit. You know that?”
“Aw, I love you too. Is this you valuing our friendship?”
“No. This is me hating you. I hate you now.”
“Rude.”
“Okay, that’s enough.” Tobi placed a hand on my shoulder. “This is a nice place.”
I started leading them to Forrest, who stood up from the couch. Callum extended his hand to shake. “Nice to officially meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you from River, now that I know you’re his brother.”
Forrest’s eyes widened as he hissed through his teeth. “Oh, God. I can only imagine what he’s said. He’s kind of an asshole.”
“That’s not the vibe I’ve gotten from him. He speaks really highly of you.”
“Wow. I’m surprised.”
Cal and Tobi took seats on the beanbag chairs sitting directly in front of the couch. I curled back up into Forrest’s side, leaning my head on him. I looked up and over them, taking in the aisles of bookshelves. “So, what do you guys think of the store?”
They both made cursory glances, Tobi looking around with more interest than Callum. He’d never been much of a reader, from what I knew about him. “It’s really nice here. I like what it stands for. Have you owned it long?”
“A little while, yeah. I like it. After working meaningless jobs that destroyed my body and mental health, it’s been nice to be my own boss. Though I have other people I have to manage, which is kind of weird.”
“Did you always want to own your own business?”
“Hm.” Forrest tilted his head. “Not really. Mamá started up a food truck a few years before I opened this place, which gave me the initial idea. She was really supportive about everything and helped me with the admin aspect and how to get started. Best decision I ever made.”
“That’s really awesome. I definitely understand the managing other people part. Tobi and I were both managers when Crew and Price opened up Fire and Ice.” He gestured to Tobi and himself. “I prefer it, but Tobes definitely doesn’t.”
Callum had never had the passion Tobi, Price, and Crew had. He said he was miserable as a cook, which made him the odd one out.
Tobi shook his head, scrunching his nose. “No. I want to cook, not be all up in people’s business. I’ll leave that to y’all. I can’t imagine ownin’ the whole thing and being responsible like that.”
“It’s definitely not sunshine and rainbows.
” I chimed in. “I’ve had a few nightmare employees, as if owning a bar wasn’t hard enough on its own.
” I shuddered at the memory of the three I’d had to fire over the years.
One had stolen from me, another showed up high on cocaine, and the last one wouldn’t show up for her shifts.
“I’m very grateful to have Mav and Melissa, just like I’m sure Price and Crew are glad to have all of you guys. ”
“It’s bigger than we ever thought it would be. I mean, I know I was gone for a decade, but.” Tobi looked down at the floor, shrugging. “I remember when it was still only an idea. And then we made it happen together.”
I understood that feeling. Driftwood had been nothing more than an errant idea I’d had one day.
Something small and, at the time, seemingly unattainable.
The reality hadn’t hit me until probably six months in that I’d officially accomplished my dream.
My dream—not my parents'. Not my coach’s. Nobody’s but my own.
Cal squeezed Tobi’s knee. “It sure did, baby. Now we’ve got the new place opening up, and even more people joining us.”
“Can I just say that I can’t believe I’ve gotten to meet all of you?” Forrest laughed. “I was starstruck the first time I met Crew and Willow. You guys are, like, famous.”
“He totally freaked out. It was funny.” I nudged him gently, remembering his stuttering nervousness in the beginning.
“Crew and Price are the famous ones.” Cal waved his hand dismissively. “We’re one part of the whole. I’m glad we made it this far, though. I’m pretty proud, honestly.”
There were nods of agreement at first, but a quiet settled between us. Not necessarily an uncomfortable one—just quiet. It was weird, honestly. My two best friends and my new boyfriend are all in the same room, trying to get to know each other.
My two worlds were suddenly colliding, and one of them was a world I hadn’t known was ever going to exist but was really fucking grateful for.
“So,” Cal broke the silence. “You’re the one-night stand that left a hickey on Jack’s neck, and now you’re the love of his life. Quite the pipeline.”
“Callum!” I admonished. What a fucking meddler.
He held his hands up in defense. “I’m simply making conversation. I knew you guys were going to stay together the moment Jack here freaked out about me asking about you. There was something different about his reaction.”
Uh-huh. Simply making conversation, my ass. There was no way he'd have known from that alone.
Forrest turned to me with an eyebrow raised. “Oh, really? You freaked out about me?”
“I did not.”
“He so did. Tobi was there; he can back me up. Fishy was there, too. He’d say the same thing.”
“Fishy?” Forrest questioned.
I leaned closer to him, whispering. “Their dog’s name. Fishbowl. Fishy for short.”
Forrest laughed loudly, the sound going straight to my heart. “You named your dog Fishbowl?”
“Don’t ask questions, Forrest. Cal will get really defensive about it.”
Cal nodded, confirming it. “I have a bit of a knee-jerk reaction when it comes to my baby. He’s a sweet, round boy who flops like a fish and pees when he’s excited.”
“Oh, I need to meet this dog at some point.”
“Wanna see a picture?”
“Uh, duh.”
Callum was digging in his pocket to get his phone out, but Tobi stopped him, placing his hand over Callum’s. “Hold on. Before you start gushin’ about Fishy for thirty minutes, I wanna say something.”
Cal pulled his hand out of his pocket, leaning back. “Okay. Go ahead, baby.”
I gripped onto Forrest’s arm while Tobi collected himself. He chewed on his bottom lip for a second before clearing his throat and looking up at Forrest. “I’m sorry about the other day. Truly. I feel really fuckin’ bad about it.”
Forrest was already shaking his head before he’d finished. “Please don’t feel bad. I already told Jack that I understood. Because I do. We didn’t know you had walked in, and if I’d heard the back door, I would’ve moved away.”
I couldn’t help but wince, remembering everything in excruciating detail.
Turning around, only to find Tobi punching Forrest over and over again.
How fucking panicked I’d been because Tobi was panicking and I had no idea what to do.
Trying to pull Tobi off Forrest, the man I loved, even if I hadn’t wanted to admit it yet.
Tobi’s voice was quieter, his face falling into a deep frown.
“That didn’t give me the right to hurt you like that.
Jack told me who you were, but I was in such a fucked-up state, I couldn’t really process it.
You’re obviously a good guy. I just… I don’t know.
I’m sensitive to that sort of stuff, so I reacted, and that’s on me. Not y’all.”
I leaned forward, rubbing my hands together anxiously.
I just needed to do something with my body.
Though he was saying it was fine, I still felt awful about it.
“Cal told me he was going to come by, and I forgot. I wouldn’t have invited Forrest to come see me if I’d remembered someone was coming.
I’m sorry for forgetting, and we’re both sorry that you walked in on us. ”
“Yeah. It may not be anyone’s fault in particular, but it seems like we all have something we’re sorry about.
” Forrest rubbed a soothing hand up and down my back.
“Thank you, though. For coming here and meeting me officially. I want to be a part of you guys’ lives, just like I’m going to be a part of Jack’s life. ”
It took Tobi a second, but his eyebrows went from worried and scrunched together to relaxed as he seemed to accept it for what it was. An olive branch. Forgiveness and acceptance. Understanding. “I want that too. We both do. Thank you for forgiving me. Seriously.”
“Of course.” Forrest smiled. “So, how long have you guys been together? Tobi, you said you were gone for a decade?”
Tobi and Callum shared a look, both of their eyes widening before dissolving into laughs. Cal nudged Tobi’s shoulder before tugging him close. “Well, it all really started with that big snowstorm twelve years ago…”
The story was a long one, even if they didn’t add in all the super personal details.
By the time we’d left Pride and Pages, it was late enough that all I wanted to do was go home and sleep.
The only thing that would’ve made it better was if Forrest was with me.
He’d make sure I got a good night’s rest, and I’d get to cuddle him into oblivion.
A win-win situation.
He’d only been over that one time on my birthday, which did scare me a little bit.
Whether it made sense or not was heavily debatable.
Forrest had already seen such a large part of me.
It felt like if he came to my house, that’d solidify it.
If someone got to be in my home, that meant they were going to stay in my life.
I had to commit to them, which meant giving up such a large part of my control and my soul all at once.
We were getting close to my car. I threaded my fingers through Forrest’s, holding his hand in mine.
He looked down at me with a smile on his face, which I didn’t return.
Instead, I cleared my throat and took a deep breath because something like this required one.
Asking him to come stay the night was different from him saying he wanted to come over and me letting him.
I was the one offering this piece of myself to him.
Just as he’d started to frown, I interrupted him before he could ask what was wrong. “Will you stay at my house tonight?”
His smile came back, and it felt like I could breathe again. “Of course, sweetheart. I’m always willing to do that.”
“I’ve never let anyone over at my house before. Dating-wise, anyway.”
He squeezed my hand gently. “Really? So I’m that special, huh? I got to come over before we were even dating.”
Oh, he was special alright. More special than I could ever explain to him. “Yeah. Yeah, you are.”
“Does it have something to do with the magic?”
I laughed and shrugged. “Maybe.”
He cupped the side of my face, pulling me in. The tips of our noses pressed together. “Thank God I kept bothering you. Thank God for your bar existing. Thank God for Double Coverage.” A soft, quick kiss against my lips that had me chasing for more. “Thank God for magic.”
“Thank god for magic,” I whispered. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“Will you hold me while I sleep? Keep the nightmares at bay?”
Another kiss. “I’ll hold you until the end of time and even after.”
Good. I wanted him forever. I wanted this to be forever.
This exact moment when everyone was getting on with their lives around us, the moon was full in the sky, and the city kept going despite everyone else sleeping, but we had stopped.
We had paused. Just us against nothing else because nothing else mattered.
No amount of water, no such thing as death, and no nightmare of losing control could ever keep us apart now.
I was determined, just as Forrest had been.
Determined to keep the magic alive. Determined to bask in the freedom he gave me.
Excited to keep breathing the air he controlled for me as long as we were together.
Yeah. Thank God for one-night stands not staying as one-night stands.
We drove separately but found each other in my bed. My bed, my house, his arms. My safe cocoon of love and life, all warm and strong and always there. No nightmares. No worries about what came next. Just us.