Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
“I can’t wait,” he replies, and I know that no matter what happens, now or later, everything will be okay. Anthony and I will take every battle on together.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Anthony
I lose myself in the beat of the music, the way it vibrates through me, shutting off my mind and letting me enjoy this moment with my friends. Hayes and Donovan are dancing with me—I’m surprised Hayes is willing to do it—and Ana and Eric are cheering us on from the couch. Hayes is more hesitant with things like that than Donovan and me, and I know he’s doing it partly for me, but maybe for himself too, for all of us. We deserve this moment. We deserve every moment of every good thing that comes to us.
I grab Hayes by the hand, spin him around, then pull him close. We playfully grind against each other, a damn coming from Eric.
“Relax your hips a little.” I grab on to them, and Hayes tries to do as I say, focusing on his movements. “There you go. That’s it.”
“I suck at this,” he says.
“No, you don’t,” I reply, just as I hear Rylan’s, “You look pretty hot to me.”
I turn around to see Kason and Rylan watching us, Rylan pumping his brows while Kason gives me a huge smile, arms crossed, leaning against the wall and staring.
“Shut up,” Hayes teases his boyfriend.
“Please don’t stop,” Kason adds, and I love that he knows this is innocent, that I don’t have to feel self-conscious in any way, just dancing and enjoying my friend.
Hayes wraps his arms around my neck, and I continue to dance with him for a moment, then turn around and give him a twerk, ass against him. He drops his head back and laughs, everyone in the room laughing along and clapping.
“I should stop before I make a fool of myself,” Hayes says, then gives me a hug.
“Come over here and twerk on me like that.” Rylan grins. Hayes rolls his eyes, but we all know he loves it. He walks over to his boyfriend and wraps his arms around him.
My stomach flip-flops as I give Kason my full attention. I don’t know why I’m nervous. I have no reason to be. Even after Malcolm’s podcast and the terrible things he said, no one in this room believes him. Everyone here loves me.
Kason loves me.
And God, do I love him.
I won’t let anything Malcolm or anyone else says or thinks dim my shine. It wasn’t easy, but I made that decision tonight, and I don’t plan on going back on it now.
I give Kason a grin, then quirk my finger, calling him over. He looks behind him, pretending he’s not sure whom I’m talking to, then points to himself.
“Yes, you, Flirty Boy. Come and dance with your man.”
There’s a chorus of awwws, but as much as it makes my heart happy, I only have eyes for Kason right now.
He walks over to me, immediately wrapping his arms around me. Mine encircle his neck as he lifts me off the floor in a tight hug.
This is what I care about, not what some narcissist says, not what people I don’t know or strangers on the internet think. The people in this room. My crew at Lush. Kason’s family. Chelsea.
Me.
Mouth close to my ear, his voice only for me, Kason says, “I’m so proud of you.”
His words lift me higher than his arms currently are. My first instinct tonight had been to run, hide, to curl in on myself and let Malcolm’s lies get to me, to let them make me feel like I’m not worthy of Kason, but that’s not what I did, and that’s not what I ever plan to do again. “I’m proud of me too.”
He nods, setting me back on the ground again. The look in his eyes says, Later. We’ll talk about this later, which is exactly what I want. This moment is about us and our friends, and I want nothing more than to soak it all up.
“You gonna dance with me now, beautiful?” he asks.
“Damn straight I am.”
And that’s what we do. Ana and Eric join us, our group, our family, enjoying this night together. We dance until I’m sweaty and exhausted. Until my throat hurts from laughing and singing at the top of my lungs. This is what life is about. Malcolm will never have this, but I do, and I always will.
Hayes won.
Donovan won.
I won.
When we’re danced out, we turn the music down, Kason and I cuddling in one of the chairs as we all talk and laugh…God, there is so much laughter. It’s late, and everyone must be exhausted, but that doesn’t stop us. It’s like we all want to live in this moment because this right here, this is what matters.
It’s almost four in the morning when our friends leave. Kason and I hold hands, walking them to the door, and once we’ve locked it behind them, Kason eases me against the door, my back flush against it. He runs his big hand along my face, cupping my cheek. “I’m so glad you came here.”