Chapter 23 #2
Affection flushed his features. Opening my mouth to suggest we should head back, I slammed it shut when a man appeared at Ryan’s side. A large grin was plastered on his face, and he looked ready to pee himself.
The slow turn of Ryan’s head in the direction of the young guy, who seemed barely legal to be in the bar—or at least back in the US—was enough to make the guy’s eyes widen. Comically so.
“Oh my goodness. You’re him. I’m so sorry to disturb you, Mr. Ryan, uhm... Mr. Broadwater—” Flustered, the bloke stopped abruptly, his face turning crimson.
Rather than releasing my snort, I formed a gentle smile and nudged Ryan.
“Ryan’s fine,” my man answered, his voice impressively normal. “There something I can do for you?”
The guy nodded, face still red, and I wasn’t sure he’d breathed at all since appearing. I willed him to take a breath and almost suggested as much, but thankfully, he gasped, sucking in air.
“It is you. Oh, holy nutballs. It’s just, I know you’re here relaxing, and I totally shouldn’t, but you are freakin’ incredible.
The last game at the end of the season… I swear, I almost had palpitations.
My boyfriend… he’s over there”—he waved over his head but didn’t pause for anything—“well, he adores you even more. He begged me not to ruin your night, but seriously, you’re Ryan freakin’ Broadwater. ”
This guy was pop-you-in-my-pocket adorable.
Ryan remained frozen at my side, quite possibly overwhelmed by the enthusiastic greeting.
“Anyways, I’d love to buy you a beer. You don’t have to talk with us or anything.” His eyes went wide, and a new flush of red filled his face. “But yeah, a beer, just for being incredible.” He finally paused, and there was an eerie quiet before Ryan cleared his throat. “Uhm…”
“We’d love to have a drink with you. But Ryan’s buying,” I offered helpfully. And that was how we ended up drinking with six twenty-one-year-olds, here celebrating Simone’s birthday, courtesy of her very generous parents, apparently.
Dean, the young guy who’d first approached, was not only a hoot, but he wasn’t lying about being a hard-core fan. But it was his boyfriend, Kieran, who pink-cheeked admitted to being the real wearer of that mantel.
We’d had a couple more beers, but I’d refused the shots. Honestly, I got handsy when I drank hard liquor. It wouldn’t be my drunken escapades that outed Ryan Broadwater to the world. And a drunk grope-y version of me could quite possibly do that.
“How long have you guys been dating?” I asked. Dean and Kieran were a cute couple, and on the surface looked like polar opposites.
“Just over a year now,” Dean answered, and I could almost see the love hearts in his eyes. “We met in a study group. Truth is, he was a bit of a dick at first.”
Kieran called, “Hey.”
“Am I lying?” Dean fired back, all sweetness and sass.
With a roll of his eyes, Kieran admitted, “No,” earning a chuckle from the whole group.
“Kieran’s on the basketball team,” Dean continued, and I couldn’t help but side-eye Ryan.
My boyfriend surprised me when he interrupted Dean’s story to ask Kieran, “Oh yeah, that’s cool, mate. You hoping to be drafted?”
Kieran gave a very audible gulp before shaking his head.
It was Dean’s sigh that snagged my attention. Nothing but adoration appeared on his face when he focused on his boyfriend, but his sigh was all frustration.
“Just don’t start.” Kieran’s voice was low.
Something was amiss, and with beer fueling me, I just came out and asked, “What’s going on? What’s with all the tension?”
Emotion shadowed Kieran’s expression. A quick dart of his eyes toward Ryan followed before he cleared his throat. “There’re no currently out League players.”
His words were a punch to the gut, and I could only imagine how they impacted my boyfriend.
“Honestly, it’s too hard fighting the system, fighting assholes all the time. Especially being so young.” He shrugged. “It’s just not in the cards for me.”
Fuck, his words hurt, his sadness and complete acceptance soured the beer I’d just taken a swig of.
“I’ve already said—”
“No.” Kieran cut Dean off, following with a tender smile.
“But I’d absolutely do it for you. I love you, baby.”
Holy hell, this felt like we were intruding on something too personal, and unfortunately, something I could completely relate to. Awkwardness crept into my stomach.
“What will you do for him?”
It took me a moment to register that the quiet, solemn question came from Ryan. Wide-eyed, I stared at my boyfriend, willing him to meet my gaze and wondering why he was digging, despite me doing the exact same thing a moment ago.
Self-preservation had kept me from pushing it, sickeningly sure I knew exactly what the bone of contention was.
“I’ve said I’ll keep our relationship on the down-low until he’s ready, or maybe something changes.”
Unbidden, I closed my eyelids, selfishly wishing we’d just gone straight back to the cabin rather than being smacked with reality.
These poor kids’ plight hurt my heart. Weren’t they too young to be dealing with such shitty realities?
Hell, it would only be a few years until I turned thirty, and I still felt unprepared.
“And I love you for it,” Kieran said, drawing my attention back. “But I’m not willing to do that to you… to us. I won’t lie about loving you.”
It was time to leave. With their sweetness and their pain beating so heavily against me, I couldn’t take any more. I took a calming breath and sought out Ryan. His attention was already on me.
And fuck, the look in the depths of his dark, penetrating eyes froze my breath. It stalled my heart, and I had no choice but to cling to the tabletop.
“I’m gay.” Ryan’s words sliced through the group quicker than slashing rain in a storm. “And one day I’ll be marrying Nate Griffin. And anyone who can’t handle that can go fuck themselves.”
No one spoke.
No one moved.
I wasn’t even sure a single soul in our group breathed. And when Ryan stepped around the table, arrowing straight for me, I knew our world was about to unravel.