18. Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eighteen
Clay
I woke in Justin’s arms, which was fucking amazing. I was so damn relaxed I could have slept for days. It had been a long time since I’d felt this rested.
Tender kisses feathered over the back of my neck, so I knew Justin was awake. “That was the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a while.” I turned from his embrace and lifted his chin to see a sweet smile. “Good morning, darlin’.” A quick kiss to his forehead seemed appropriate.
Justin giggled. “Is that what you call all your bunkmates?”
He was damn cute. “No. I’ve never had the opportunity to have a pet name for anyone. How’d you sleep?”
“You didn’t have a pet name for Hun… Sorry. None of my business.” His face flushed, which was adorable.”
“Uh, no. Hunter wasn’t fond of anything mushy.
In fact, most people didn’t know he was gay, much less engaged to a man because he wore his ring on a chain around his neck.
He didn’t want people who contacted him for vet work to judge him because of his orientation.
” It sounded terrible when I said it out loud, but that was the arrangement we’d agreed upon when we got engaged.
I’d always suspected the reason Hunter had dragged his feet when it came to planning the wedding or hiring an architect to build the barn behind the main house was because he wasn’t ready to accept himself as gay.
His parents hadn’t been thrilled about the two of us getting married, as I’d witnessed myself while we were together.
“Why do you have to shove it in peoples’ faces?
If you must be gay, be discreet about it.
” His mother had reamed the two of us after Hunter—surprisingly—accepted my proposal.
We’d been together for nearly five years.
It didn’t seem far-fetched to me that we’d want to be together for the rest of our lives, but as Melanie said her piece, I’d seen the remorse on Hunter’s face. It broke my heart.
I was so incensed by Melanie’s chastisement that I left the party without Hunter because he said if he left with me, it would make him look bad in front of his parents’ friends.
Mama hadn’t been invited, but when I told her about it, she was pissed.
She wanted to call Melanie to “give that wretched woman a piece of my mind,” but I talked her down off the ledge.
I loved her so much for her vehement reaction to what happened.
Those were some of the unhappy memories I’d blocked out when I thought of my relationship with Hunter.
I didn’t allow myself to wonder if Hunter and I would have actually walked down the aisle because it made me sad.
It seemed as though he’d been trying to go forward with our wedding plans, but something always kept him from making final decisions that get the ball rolling.
Maybe he just didn’t know how to tell me he didn’t want to marry me?
As the words entered my mind, my heart clenched. I hated the idea that perhaps he’d been planning to call off our engagement when he figured out how to do it without hurting me.
Hunter had been dead set against running our engagement pictures in the paper by claiming that trying to start a new business was hard enough without airing his sexual laundry, which made sense at the time.
His words were the basis for me forbidding Mama from scheduling a formal engagement photoshoot at the farm.
Looking back on it, maybe his protests were about more than just starting a business. I was trying not to think of it as his way of keeping us a secret.
“Clay, I’m so sorry for bringing up your deceased fiancé. I didn’t mean—”
“No, Justin. It’s not a problem. Ask any questions you have, and I’ll answer them. So, I was thinking, if you want to go to St. Louis to check into Ramon’s death, maybe you wouldn’t mind if we stopped by my farm to check on my mama?”
Justin’s face lit up. “You’d take me to meet your mother?”
I laughed before kissing the gorgeous man, our tongues swirling together as if they were meant for each other. “Oh, hell, yeah. Mama would love to meet you.”
“I’ll pick you up after I catch a shower and check out of the hotel. I’ll be back in an hour, okay?” I held Justin in my arms as we stood by the front door of his apartment.
Justin and I made breakfast together—fluffy scrambled eggs and buttery toast—and it was fantastic to have a companion in the kitchen. Hunter tried, but he couldn’t boil water.
“I’ll be ready. Just text me when you get here, and I’ll come down.
Parking is a bitch around here, which is why I took a rideshare to the restaurant.
” Justin kissed me again before I left him, hurrying down to my truck.
He wasn’t kidding. The street and small parking lot behind his building were full to capacity.
“Okay, Clay. Get your shit together. Comparing Hunter and Justin isn’t fair to either of them.
Hunter and I had our relationship, and if fate is kind, Justin and I will have ours.
No two relationships are the same.” And now, I was talking to myself.
Out loud. In my truck. Hell, maybe I was losing it.
After a quick shave and shower, I decided to call Mama to tell her I was planning to bring Justin to the farm. Knowing her, she’d want the warning.
I sat on the side of the bed and hit the contact. The phone only rang once before she answered. “Hi, Clay. Everything okay, honey?”
“Hey, Mama. Everything’s just fine. I wanted to give you a head’s up that I’m coming to the farm in a few hours to stay for a couple of days, and I’m bringing Justin with me. We’ll be there by lunch time.”
The silence had my stomach flipping. I thought she’d be jumping for joy, but apparently, I wasn’t the right person to determine what Mama would think.
There was a quiet sniffle before she spoke. “Does this mean—wait, what does this mean?”
I inhaled a deep, cleansing breath. “It means I’m trying, Mama.
Justin needs to go to St. Louis for a project, and I’m going along to keep him company and help where I can.
I want to show him around our place because it’ll help him make suggestions regarding our financial planning. I said that before, remember?”
“I do.”
I then took a breath and admitted, “I also want the two of you to meet.”
“Oh, joy! I’m so glad, Clay. I’ll make dinner for the three of us. Do you think he likes spicy food?” Mama was a great cook, and I was sure Justin would love anything she made.
“Not too spicy, okay? We’ve only eaten together a few times, and I haven’t noticed that he shies away from anything, but I can’t be sure. Maybe wait a bit before you unleash your hot wings on him?”
Mama laughed. “How about a good, old-fashioned meatloaf? I was just about to go to the store myself. You need anything?”
One thing for sure, I couldn’t ask Mama to pick up some condoms for me. The thought of it made my skin crawl.
“No, uh, I’ll stop in town before we get home. We’ll come over once we’re settled.” That was the best way to handle it.
“Oh, then if you’re stopping anyway, can I send you my grocery list? I’m in the middle of starting a new project, and I’m waiting for a delivery of clay. This way, I won’t have to go to town.”
I chuckled. Mama did her damnedest to stay away from the rumor grapevine in town because, as she always said, “I have no earthly desire to become the object of it.” I couldn’t blame her. In the least. Some folks in Sterling City were just plain mean.
“Yeah. Send it to me and don’t get pissy if I pick something you wouldn’t ordinarily buy. Love you.”
Mama cackled loudly before the call ended.
I put the phone in the pocket of my jeans, gathered all my clothes, and loaded them into my garment bag. After I checked the bathroom and all the drawers again, I went down to the lobby and checked out.
Twenty minutes later, I double-parked on Justin’s street and sent a text that I was downstairs. Justin hurried down the front steps with a suitcase in hand, which I hurriedly took from him and put behind the seat with my garment bag.
“Ready?” I opened the passenger door and he hopped inside, buckling his seatbelt before I shut the door.
I walked around and got in, staring at him. “You okay?”
“A l-little n-nervous.” He quickly scrubbed his hands on his denim-covered thighs, staring out the front windshield.
That would never do. “Come here.” I leaned closer to kiss his sweet mouth.
At first, he was stiff, then he finally kissed me back, which was exactly what I wanted. He needed something else to think about besides having him meet my mother.
He placed his hands on my cheeks and kissed me with fervor. His tongue tasted like something tart. Cherry?
We pulled back and I brushed his bangs off his head. “Better. What did you eat?”
There was a cute giggle he emitted that was surprising.
“The last piece of chocolate-covered cherry candy. They’re my weakness.
My mother used to eat them all the time, and I used to sneak them when she wasn’t looking, though I think she knew.
She hid them in one of the cabinets that I could reach instead of higher ones. Do you like them?”
I fastened my seatbelt and shifted into gear, slowly driving down his street toward the highway. “I like chocolate, and I love cherries. It’s that sugary syrup on the inside that I’m not partial to.”
Justin turned in his seat wearing a bright grin. “Oh, then you’d love these. No syrup. They’re just chocolate covered dried cherries. It was the last one in the box, so I’ll order more if you want to try them.”
The idea of the two of us making any kind of plans for the future—even if it was just sharing a box of candy—appealed to me very much after what had happened in my past. “Can’t wait. So, we have to stop at the grocery store for Mama. She’s going to—”
Just then, my phone beeped, so I grabbed it from the pocket of my jeans and slid it into the cupholder.
When it automatically connected to the truck’s Bluetooth, I glanced at the dashboard to see a text from Mama.
“And, right on time is Miss Pansy’s grocery list. Can you open it?
My code is a really hard one. One-two-three-four. ”
Justin picked up the device and punched in the numbers I’d announced, smiling as he turned the screen toward me. “That’s not very safe, you know. Experts say you should have a unique, random password.” His smirk was beautiful.
“Yes, I’m well aware of the advice, but I forget random passwords, so one-two-three-four is something I can remember. I got tired of being locked out of my phone.”
Justin giggled again. “Should I open the text?”
“Please. Let’s see what we’re in for.”
“Okay. Uh, this is a quote, ‘Son, don’t be cheap. Buy the brands I list, not the generic versions. Thank you. Love you.’ Whoa, this is a very detailed list.”
Justin then went on to read the list to me—brand, size, and product—in that sexy voice I’ve liked since I met him. My dick started to swell the longer he spoke.
“Do you know what meatloaf mix is?” Justin grinned.
I chuckled. “That would be a veal, pork and beef mix that the head butcher at the Sterling City Shop and Go mixes especially for Mama.”
“Ah. Chef’s secret. That’s cool. So, what will your mother think of me? Does she know anything about my alleged demonic possession?”
I glanced in his direction and smiled. “I haven’t told her anything about your business, darlin’. Mama is going to love you regardless of anything, because I—because you’re a great person.
“As far as your alleged demonic possession, Justin? I know you were possessed by a malevolent spirit. I don’t understand it, but I saw it for myself. I’ll vouch for you should you ever need it. I believe in you, Justin.”
The adoring expression on his face as I glanced at him was beautiful. He believed I would protect him, and in my heart I vowed that I’d do so with my life.
“Thank you, Clay. You might not understand how much that means to me, but it means a lot.”
I wanted to wrap my arms around him, but since I was driving, that wasn’t possible. Justin confirmed what I believed about him—he was an amazing man. He was an amazing man I was coming to find I wanted as my own.