Chapter 26
Donovan
I’m dressed and trying to make myself look presentable, well, like I haven’t just had my brains fucked out, before going out to see everyone. But I gasp when I step in front of the mirror.
“How am I supposed to hide this?” I ask, pointing at the hickey Stephen left on my neck.
He appears behind me, resting his chin on my shoulder and pressing his whole body against mine, arms wrapped around my waist.
“You’re not,” he says, “that’s so that everyone knows you’re mine.”
“My mom is out there. I don’t think she needs to know that we’re together in this much detail.”
He chuckles, “And you honestly believe your mom will just think we’ve been up here talking?”
“There’s a difference between having suspicions, and then literally seeing a hickey on my neck.” I gesture to it again, the color vibrant against my skin.
“I know,” he says, kissing the hickey and nuzzling into my neck. “I like how literal this is.”
“Possessive jock,” I mutter, shaking my head, which only makes him laugh.
“Only about you, baby.” He winks at me in the mirror. “Now let’s go, I want to meet your family and friends properly.”
“Of course you do, you’re not the one with a giant hickey on your neck,” I say, playing with my shirt to see if there’s a way I can hide it.
“You wanna give me one, even it out?”
He spins me around to face him and bears his throat to me. I’ll admit, the temptation to graze my teeth over his skin and suck until he’s covered in marks is very high.
“You’ve got a press conference tomorrow, I know your media team are supportive, but I don’t think a hickey will give the right impression.”
“Fair, another time then, next time we see my parents, I promise, my neck is all yours.”
“Deal,” I laugh, wrapping my arms around him and leaning in for a kiss.
“As much as I love kissing you; you’re stalling,” he says.
“I’m not stalling, just trying to make up for lost time.”
“We’ve got our whole lives ahead of us, plenty of time for me to make it up to you.” He kisses me softly, cupping my face in his hands. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” I say, loving that I can say this to him without fear, it feels so natural, so right. “Come on, let’s go and get this over with.”
“You’re making it sound like you’re about to walk the plank or something.”
“I’d rather walk the plank than stand in front of my mom with this hickey on my neck.”
We enter the yard outside the clubhouse hand in hand, and the conversations stop, all eyes turning to us. Stephen was right, it will be obvious to everyone what we’ve been doing for so long.
“Did you two… talk… about everything you needed to?” Diablo says, and the guys start whooping and hollering.
“Alright, alright!” I hold up my hand to quiet everyone. “In case you missed it earlier, this is Stephen.” I nod my head to him and smile. “And yes, he was my roommate at Winbrook, but he’s also my boyfriend.”
Everyone cheers and my mom and Beth jump up to hug us both.
Boyfriend. He’s used that word a few times now and it still doesn’t feel real, but he said it himself, he’s out.
There will even be a press conference tomorrow announcing our relationship.
Shit. I have a boyfriend… a ridiculously hot, pro-football player, boyfriend.
“I knew it, I knew this would all work out,” Beth says, grinning as she pulls us to sit next to them.
“Sure you did,” I chuckle.
“No, I did.” She turns to my brother. “Didn’t I tell you that this would all work out.”
“Mmm, I’m not sure that you did,” he says, winking at me behind her back.
“Why are you lying? We literally talked about it.”
“Nah, I don’t think we did, princess.”
“We did; we definitely did—” she looks between us and sees the looks on our faces. “Fuck you both, okay.” She nudges Diablo. “You’re meant to be on my side.”
“I’m also meant to be on my brother’s side,” he chuckles, “I can’t win.”
“Yeah well, you lose more if you’re not on my side,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest and pulling away from him in jest.
He leans in to nuzzle her neck, but she brushes him off.
“Okay, you’re right, you did call this. Come on, I was just messing, princess.”
“No,” she smirks, shaking her head. “You said we didn’t talk about it.”
“We did, come on.” He tries to kiss her, but she twists away, failing to stifle a laugh as she does.
“Okay, stop messing with me.” He wraps his arms around her and pulls her to him, squeezing until she laughs.
If you’d asked me six months ago if the two of them would work as a couple, I’d have laughed and said no way in hell.
But now, I can’t imagine them not being together.
They bring out the best in each other for sure.
My brother isn’t as serious or angry as he used to be, I’ve never seen him laugh the way he does with Beth.
And he lets her just be herself, gives her a break from her responsibilities, supports her. They’re perfect together.
“Excuse me,” a small shy voice interrupts us. It’s Jake, but the confident kid from earlier has gone, instead he’s looking at Stephen in awe.
“Oh hey, Stephen, this is Jake; Jake, this is Stephen.”
Jake sighs, “Of course he’s Stephen Choi, everyone knows that.”
“Right, sorry,” I chuckle.
“Hey,” Stephen grins at him. “It’s nice to meet you, Jake.”
“Please can you sign this for me?” Jake asks, nervously holding out some paper and a pen, something clearly ripped from a notebook in his mom’s purse.
“Sure thing,” Stephen says, taking the paper and pen. “But I can get you some better stuff than this too; so I’ll sign this, but I’ll make sure to give Donovan a jersey and some Warriors stuff for you.”
“Woah, really?” Jake asks, his eyes lighting up.
“Absolutely,” Stephen says. “So, you’re a Warriors fan?”
“Yeah, I know all the team stats, and all the players, and their stats too,” Jake says, his nerves evaporating. “Did you know that you had an average of ninety-five receiving yards per game when you played for Winbrook?”
“Uh, yeah,” Stephen chuckles, “I did know that.”
“I think you’re gonna beat that with the Warriors. You already scored three touchdowns in the first game, with a hundred and fifty-six receiving yards.”
“Wow, you really do know all the stats,” Stephen says. “You like going to games?”
Jake’s face falls. “I’ve never been to a game, it’s too expensive.”
“Yeah,” Stephen nods, “you’re right, tickets can be expensive. Luckily, you know a Warrior now, so I’ll see if I can get you some.”
“Oh, us too,” Diablo says, pulling himself away from Beth to get involved with the conversation.
“Yeah, us too,” Tank shouts from the next table over.
“Guys come on,” I chuckle, “he said he’d try and get some tickets for Jake and his mom, not the entire club. Besides, you can pay for yours!”
Stephen nudges me. “It’s okay, they keep trying to give me a section, but I always turn them down, it would look pretty sad with just my parents sitting in it. I’ll arrange it for our next game.”
“Really?” I ask. “You’d do that for my family?”
“Of course, anything for you, baby.”
He smiles and kisses me before grabbing my hips and pulling me closer to him, so I’m a little spoon between his legs.
He rests his chin on my shoulder so he can see people and join in with the conversation.
No one else even questions it, I guess they’re used to having girls sitting on their laps and stuff, but to me this is huge.
Having my family and friends here with Stephen’s arms around me, I couldn’t have asked for anything better.
As the night drifts on, Slim takes Daisy and Jake home, and most of the guys make their way inside to continue drinking.
We stay outside with Mom, Miguel, Beth, and Diablo, enjoying the fire pit that he’s built.
We’re all bathed in an orange glow from the flames and Stephen looks so beautiful, I can’t believe he’s mine.
“It’s nice to see you happy, mijo,” Mom says.
“Thanks, Mamá. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about all of this sooner, it’s just, we were keeping it quiet.”
“Because of me,” Stephen adds. “It was complicated with football, I wasn’t out, but now I am, and it means I can have Donovan in my life, show him off to the world.”
He nuzzles into my shoulder, and I quickly rearrange my shirt to make sure the hickey is covered, really not wanting my mom to see. He gives me the slightest smirk when he notices.
“We saw the game,” Beth says, “and the interviews. I’m sorry that happened to you.”
“Yeah,” Stephen says sadly, “it’s all ended well, but, I wish it hadn’t happened like that.”
“It wasn’t fair that you were outed like that,” I say. “Fucking Kyle.”
“Language, mijo,” Mom mutters.
“Sorry, Mamá, but if you knew about him you’d say the same thing. He’s not a nice person.”
“Donovan’s right,” Beth says. “I’ve heard a bit about him, and he’s a nasty piece of work.”
“Sounds like someone needs to teach him a lesson,” Diablo says.
“Stephen already broke his nose,” I say, trying to convey to my brother that he really doesn’t need to get involved.
“Huh, well that’s made me like you even more,” he says to Stephen, and I roll my eyes. Of course Stephen getting violent makes my brother warm to him.
Stephen chuckles, “I’m not proud of it, and it’s not something I should make a habit of, but he deserved it. There’s more to it which I’m not allowed to talk about yet, but basically Kyle sold his story to a gossip column.”
“Sold his story?” I scoff. “What story?”
“According to him, what really happened that night is that I came onto him, but he turned me down, so I punched him and told him to never tell anyone I was gay.”
“Oh my god,” I groan, “it couldn’t be further from the truth.”
“I know,” Stephen says. “But the gossip site didn’t care, they had something about me that was newsworthy, so they kept digging, and found someone willing to corroborate.
They released it during the game because they knew it would cause the most impact, the Warriors and my name would be trending, so it would spike their views. ”
“Assholes,” Beth says. “Sorry, Sofía.”
“Don’t apologize,” Mom says, “he sounds awful, and what that gossip site did was just as bad.”
“Well we’ve got the press conference tomorrow,” Stephen says, “so we can tell the truth and set everything straight.”
“Are you sure you’re both ready?” Miguel asks. “This is going to bring a lot of attention on you both.”
He’s looking at me as he says it, and he’s not wrong. I’m going from being invisible, hiding my sexuality from everyone, to being out in the most public way possible.
“Honestly, I don’t know. This is going to throw us into a spotlight, which sucks when all we really want is to be together.
But I support Stephen, and I support his career, so whatever happens, we’ll figure it out.
” I look at him, and he feels safe; he feels like home.
“We love each other, and that’s the most important thing. The rest we can deal with.”
“I love you,” Stephen says, smiling as he rests his head against mine.
“And we’ve got people to help us, we’re not alone.
We’ve got the entire football team and staff; they’re all supporting us.
And Mindy, our media liaison officer, she’s been on this like nothing I’ve ever seen, she’ll help us navigate everything that happens online. ”
“Well you definitely have our support,” Miguel says, “whatever you both need.”
“Of course,” Mom says, holding his hand, “we’re here for you both.”
“And us, and the club,” Beth says, resting her head on my brother’s shoulder.
“Absolutely,” Diablo says, “just say the word and we can make it so that Kyle never fucking existed.”
“Mijo!” Mom says.
“I’m joking, Mamá,” he laughs, but we all know he isn’t, and that the club is absolutely capable of making that happen.
“I’d rather focus on the positives,” Stephen says. “We can finally do all the things we couldn’t when we had to keep us a secret. I can take you out for dinner, we can go to the movies—”
“Visible hickeys,” Diablo chuckles.
My eyes widen as I clutch my neck. I already know I’m blushing as my cheeks warm, and I can’t look my mom in the eye.
Beth elbows him and hisses, “Don’t embarrass him.”
“Sorry, little bro,” he chuckles. “It’s the first time I’ve been able to make a joke like that; I couldn’t resist.”
“Well did you have to do it in front of everyone?” I tilt my head towards mom and Miguel, still not able to look at them.
“Well yeah,” he says, “that just made it funnier.”
“Leave him alone, ángel,” Mom says. “I think it’s sweet.”
I groan internally, pretty sure that if she knew exactly what happened up in that room she wouldn’t be saying it was sweet.
How the hell do people do this? Sit with their parents and their partner with this kind of knowledge hanging over them.
I have a hickey on my neck, that my boyfriend put there while he fucked me…
and they all know. My mom and brother are bickering amongst themselves, but I’m ignoring their words, I don’t want to know…
“Breathe,” Stephen murmurs against my head, as he pulls me into a hug.
“I can practically hear your brain going into overdrive.” I squeeze his thigh under the table, not able to speak.
“What you’re feeling is normal, it’s just new for you.
It’s weird, the realization that your parents know about certain aspects of our relationship.
But it’s okay, we’re all adults here, and other than your brother making a joke, no one is talking about it. So breathe, baby.”
I focus on his words. This is normal, it’s just new. Which makes sense, I’ve never had a relationship before, and now I have one and it’s unfolding in front of my family. But Stephen’s right, it’s okay.
“They’re not thinking about the details,” he says, “all they care about is if you’re happy.”
Right, that sounds right, like something my mom would say. So this is okay… right?
I tune back into their conversation and they’re talking about something else entirely.
Beth is telling my mom about her decorating plans for the rest of their apartment, something to do with the color scheme for their bedroom.
Stephen’s right, they’ve moved on, they’re not even thinking about it.
I take a couple of breaths, the ball of anxiety easing in my chest.
“Thanks,” I whisper.
“Anytime, baby.”
He joins in with Beth and my mom, looking at the inspiration board on her phone and giving his opinions on the different styles.
His ability to calm me down and comfort me still blows my mind; it’s like he knows exactly when my thoughts start spiraling and how to bring me back.
As I watch him interact with my family, it hits me again that he’s mine, and that tomorrow, the whole world will know it.