Chapter Twelve
MASON
The silence that settled over the room after Corey stepped inside felt heavier than anything I'd experienced since waking up.
I'd played our conversation over in my mind a hundred different ways over the previous weeks, yet none of them prepared me for seeing my oldest friend standing only a few feet away looking as though he'd aged years since we'd last spoken.
He looked exhausted.
The overnight flight he must have caught from Florida showed plainly in the dark circles beneath his eyes, the creases in the clothes he'd clearly slept in, and the backpack still hanging from one shoulder as though he'd come straight from the airport without stopping anywhere else.
He didn't say anything immediately. Neither did I.
We simply held each other's gaze across the room, each of us remembering the last conversation we'd shared and the painful silence that had followed.
Jack quietly broke the stalemate.
He crossed the room first, stopping in front of Corey before extending his hand.
"It's good to finally meet you properly," Corey said sincerely. "I wish it was under better circumstances."
Jack smiled faintly before typing a reply.
Me too. Thank you for coming.
Corey read the message before giving Jack’s hand another brief squeeze.
"I owed him that much and more."
Mom reached Corey first, wrapping him in a warm hug before he had the chance to say anything.
"I'm so glad you're here."
Corey hugged her just as tightly.
"As soon as Jack called, I booked the first flight I could find."
Dad stepped forward next, pulling Corey into a quick embrace before resting a hand on his shoulder.
Corey glanced across at me, emotion flickering across his face.
"There wasn't anywhere else I was going to be."
Jack glanced between Corey and me and caught Mom and Dad’s attention with a message on his phone.
Why don't we grab a coffee? I think these two need a little time on their own.
Mom immediately agreed.
"I think that's an excellent idea."
Dad glanced from me to Corey.
"We'll only be downstairs if either of you needs us," Dad assured us.
Jack met my eyes for a moment, offering the smallest reassuring smile before slipping his phone into his pocket. He brushed his fingertips lightly across my hand as he stood.
A silent promise.
I'm not going far.
A few moments later the three of them disappeared into the corridor, leaving Corey and me alone for the first time since everything had fallen apart.
Corey dropped his backpack onto the floor before sinking into the chair next to the bed with a long sigh.
"I practiced this conversation for the whole flight."
"How'd it go?"
"It was brilliant."
"Yeah?"
"No." He rubbed both hands across his face. "It fell apart the second I walked through the door."
"I know the feeling."
Corey leaned forward, resting his forearms across his knees.
"I've been angry."
"I know."
"But not for the reason you probably think."
I waited.
"When you told me about you and Jack..." He shook his head slowly. "I wasn't angry because you're gay."
The knot I'd carried in my chest loosened just a little.
"I was angry because we'd spent so much of our lives together, and somehow you were carrying something that big all by yourself."
His voice caught unexpectedly.
"I kept thinking about every conversation we'd ever had.
Every road trip. Every practice. Every time somebody joked about you finally getting a girlfriend.
" He looked down at the floor before meeting my eyes again.
"I laughed right along with everyone else, and all that time my best friend was trying to figure out who he really was. "
"I didn't know how to tell anyone."
"I know that now."
"I barely knew how to tell myself."
"I know that too."
Emotion tightened my throat.
"I never kept it from you because I didn't trust you."
"I figured that out on the way here when I finally pulled my head out of my ass."
"I kept hoping I'd wake up one morning and everything would be...different."
Corey gave a sad smile.
"So did I."
I frowned.
"What?"
"I kept hoping you'd meet some amazing girl because I thought that's what would make you happy." He let out a weary breath and leaned back in the chair, studying me for a long moment before speaking again.
"When Jack called and told me you'd been hurt..." He swallowed hard. "Nothing else mattered. I thought I'd lost you."
"You didn't."
"I know." His eyes glistened. "But sitting on that plane all night..." His voice cracked before he managed to continue. "Do you know what I kept thinking?"
I slowly shook my head.
"I kept thinking the last conversation we'd ever had ended with me hanging up on you and refusing to answer the texts and calls that followed. I've hated myself for that."
"You shouldn’t have."
"I do."
I reached carefully across the space between us, ignoring the protest from my hip as I offered him my hand. "You were shocked. You needed time."
"I needed to be a better friend."
"You’re the best friend a man could have and I love you like a brother."
Corey’s eyes filled.
"I don't deserve you."
"Yes, you do."
For a heartbeat neither of us moved. Then Corey stood, stepped carefully around the side of the bed, and wrapped his arms around me as gently as he could.
I hugged him back just as tightly as my injuries allowed. Neither of us cared that tears found their way onto our cheeks.
After eight years of friendship, neither of us needed to pretend the tears weren't there.
We stayed holding each other for a long time.
Neither of us seemed in any hurry to let go, as though the embrace itself repaired something words never could.
I'd forgotten how many memories lived inside a friendship stretching back eight years.
Backyard hockey games with plastic sticks, endless weekends spent at rinks throughout Florida, celebrating championships, suffering heartbreaking defeats, and every ordinary day between those moments had shaped us into the men we were now.
One difficult conversation hadn't erased any of that.
It had simply forced us to find our way through unfamiliar territory together.
Corey eventually let me go, lingering beside the bed as though he wanted to make certain I really was there before settling back into the chair.
"I spent the whole flight telling myself I wasn't going to lose it the second I saw you."
"How'd that work out?"
He glanced at the damp sleeve of my hospital gown and smiled.
"About as well as you'd expect."
"Yeah."
We shared the kind of smile that only existed between people who'd known each other for years.
"I'm really glad you're okay, Mase."
"I'm really glad you're here."
"I owe Jack an apology too."
"For what?"
"I judged him before I knew anything about him." He shook his head. "I was jealous, and all I could think about was the fact he'd turned your life upside down."
"He kind of did and you have no need to be jealous."
Corey huffed a quiet laugh.
"I've figured out Jack is probably the best thing that could have happened to you."
I couldn't disagree.
"I've never been happier, Corey."
"I can see that." He rested his forearms across his knees. "It hit me somewhere over Texas."
"What did?"
"The fact I'd spent the whole flight worrying about losing my best friend when in reality, I might have gained another."
Emotion settled heavily in my chest again.
"I should've trusted you."
"You needed to trust yourself first." He shrugged. "Everything happened when you were ready."
"I still hate the way I kept it from you and the way I told you."
"You mean telling me you’re gay by introducing me to your boyfriend over a video call?"
"When you put it like that..."
"It wasn't exactly subtle."
"No, it wasn't, and I can't deny it hurt. But if I'm being honest..." He leaned back in the chair. "Getting a phone call from Jack telling me you were lying unconscious in hospital helped me put everything into perspective real fast."
"Were you angry during the flight?"
"No."
"What then?"
"Scared. More fucking scared than I’ve been in my entire life."
The few words carried more weight than an entire speech.
"I kept thinking I'd wasted the chance to tell you none of it mattered." His gaze drifted toward the window before returning to me. "You were still Mason. The guy who'd had my back since middle school. The guy who nearly got suspended for punching a senior because he thought I was being bullied."
"He was bullying you."
"He borrowed my calculator."
"He threw it in the lake."
"That's beside the point."
"I disagree."
Corey laughed for the first time since arriving.
"I'd forgotten how stubborn you are."
"I've had a concussion. I'm entitled."
"You've been stubborn since we met."
"I prefer determined."
"I know you do."
The easy banter we'd always shared slipped naturally back into place, and for the first time since I'd told him about Jack, it felt as though the distance between Florida and Spokane had finally disappeared.
A quiet knock interrupted us before we could continue.
Jack appeared around the partly open door first, balancing a cardboard tray carrying four coffees while Dad followed with another tray loaded with muffins and fruit. Mom smiled the moment she saw Corey and me talking comfortably, the relief on her face impossible to miss.
"I'll take it that means we don't have to play mediator," Dad observed.
Corey stood immediately.
"No, sir..." He caught himself and smiled. "Sorry...Richard."
Dad chuckled.
Mom handed Corey a paper cup before crossing to my bedside.
"I had a feeling everything would work itself out."
"It did."
She brushed a hand lightly across my shoulder.
"I never doubted it would."
Jack caught my attention as he handed me a cup fitted with a lid and straw. His eyes searched my face.
Everything okay?
"Everything's okay."
His shoulders relaxed almost immediately.
Corey noticed the exchange and grinned.
"I get it now."
I frowned.
"Get what?"
He nodded toward Jack.
"The way he looks at you."
"I noticed that the moment we arrived," Dad agreed.