Chapter 11
Chapter eleven
Cody – Breakeven
When I woke, I was hungry and slightly hungover. I went out to the Waffle House; there was always one along the big exits off the highway. I sat at the bar and ordered fried eggs, toast, and hashbrowns.
I’d turned my phone off before I started drinking, thankfully, since I didn’t want to run the battery out. I didn’t turn it on again this morning for a completely different reason, though. I didn’t want to see what Daddy had texted me. Or how many times.
The coffee was hot, even with four creamers dumped into it, but it was so good and went a long way toward making me feel better. I sipped it quietly, simply trying to enjoy that one thing and not think about the rest of it.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the guy sitting next to me drown his waffles in syrup. “What a morning, huh?”
“You could say that.”
“I’m from Arkansas, here on vacation with family, but I needed to get away from them for a few minutes.” He cut into his waffle then shoved a big bite into his mouth.
“I was with a group, but I left them.” I thumbed over my shoulder, as if that indicated where my group was. I didn’t actually know the direction from where I was sitting at the breakfast counter, not that it mattered.
“Mmm…that your fancy sports car out there?”
“Why?” I side-eyed the dude. He had a nice smile and that wholesome boy-next-door look going on, making him seem harmless, but I knew better than to trust that.
He shrugged with what seemed to be a carefree attitude.
“No reason. Just thinking how nice it would be to have that kind of car for a road trip or something.” He nodded, bobbing his head up and down too many times.
“Like on a gorgeous day like this. The sun. Palm trees. Think I’ll go to the beach when I’m done.
” He gestured to his plate before digging into his food again.
“Might even take the fam.” He chuckled to himself, but I didn’t get his inside joke.
He was right about some of that for sure, but everything felt so cloudy with these decisions hanging over me that I didn’t even care about the sun.
I wanted to go back to Daddy and the others.
I wanted to enjoy the rest of our Pride trip.
I also wanted to go home and hide or go back to the hotel and pull the pillow over my head, shutting the world out. But the clock was tick-tick-ticking.
What was I going to do?
Everyone was heading for Key West right now, so if I wanted to join them, I had to decide that fast.
I finished eating, wallowing in the guilt of having left and worried everyone, and languishing in the rest of my emotional mess.
I should go back and tell Warner that I wanted to be his boyfriend, his little, but not move in with him.
Except I did want to move in with him. My stupid brain was all over the place.
“Dude. You are thinking entirely too hard over there.” The stranger wiped his face and smiled at me again.
“I have serious decisions to make.”
“Well. I always say trust your gut. Can’t go wrong with that.”
“Hmm. Thanks.” Totally not helpful when my gut was telling me opposite things at the same time. It was also telling me that I didn’t have to figure it out alone. No, this stranger couldn’t help me, but my best friend could.
After finishing breakfast and paying, I climbed into the car, locked the door, and turned on my phone to call Joey, ignoring the other calls and texts.
“Ohmygosh-Ohmygosh, Cody!” Joey squealed like we hadn’t spoken in weeks rather than the few hours it had actually been. “Are you okay? Everybody is worried about you.”
“I know. I know. I had some thinking to do. I’m sorry I worried you.”
“And everyone else, too. Especially Daddy Warner.”
I exhaled loudly. “I know. I feel bad about that, but I needed space.”
“Do you still need space? Or are you coming back? I want to do the PRIDE with you, Cody.”
“I know, Joey. I’m not sure, though.”
“Whatever you’re upset about will be okay. Daddy Warner loves you.”
“I know that too, but I don’t know what I want. It’s bigger than the trip, Joey. He wants me to move in with him, and I’m not ready.”
“I thought that was all going to wait until after the trip.”
“Me too, but I haven’t stopped thinking about it. Not for a second, and I can’t take the pressure it’s making in my chest.”
“So what are you going to do now?”
“That is the question, Joey. Maybe you can help me.”