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Had he been that in love with his ex-wife all those years ago when they’d first fallen for each other? He thought he had been.
There was nothing in his entire life that matched the stab to his heart when Cynthia told him she thought their son was broken and needed to be fixed.
He loved Justin exactly as he was. Cynthia didn’t. And he wasn’t willing to share his life with someone who didn’t accept Justin.
“I won the Sugar Land Elementary All-Fifth-Grade Swing Championship,” Colton bragged. “You can’t top that.”
Sir, cut it out lol
there were still those who despised Wes for who he was, who accused him of trying to change the culture of football. Who hated Colton, too, for his unwavering, unflinching public support of Wes and his place on the team.
There had also been whispers and hateful rumors passed along internet forums and message boards: that Colton was Wes’s bitch, that he was as gay as Wes was,
That Colton was on his knees for Wes and he’d do anything Wes told him to do as l...
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Colton was twirling Justin around and around and around, and Justin was laughing so hard he was almost hiccuping.
His own nights of happiness were in the past, but as long as Justin was smiling like that, as long as Wes was there to keep loving him, Nick’s life would be set.
Ergonomics is easier than general studies, you know? But what do I do with an ergonomics degree?”
As soon as he’d made it clear he wasn’t going to declare for the draft, EPSN stopped talking about him,
It had been a bucket of water to his face when he went from daily headlines to nothing overnight.
That reporter had used Wes’s love for Justin like cheap bullets fired at the rest of the team.
Why had that hack journalist ripped Wes’s heart out? Why had he tried to destroy their team? Why had they let him? Why didn’t they listen to Wes? And why was Wes gone?
There were days when it felt like Justin and Wes were men, and Colton and some of the rest of the guys on the team were still boys,
It was the way the world seemed perfect when he wasn’t alone. When he felt like he was part of something wonderful.
Sometimes he didn’t know whether he was welcome when Justin and Wes got like this.
Technically Justin just came to see Wes…
Beers tonight had become their shorthand for the four of them going out: Justin and Wes and Nick and Colton.
His dad had walked away when Colton was five years old.
Colton used to imagine that, thanks to his name being all over ESPN, his dad would show up out of the blue one day, appear in the stands at a game, as proud and happy as Nick or Wes’s dad was,
The freshman linebacker had dropped his shoulder and plowed into him, knocking him back.
You’re not supposed to be tackling you twit
Pain. Something wrenched loose in his shoulder when he hit the ground. Something that used to be whole ripped, and his whole arm went limp like boiled spaghetti.
“Get the fuck off the field!” he heard Wes roar. “You’re off the fucking team!”
He yanked before three. False start, Colton wanted to shout. False fucking start, ten yards and a fucking punch to the face.
She’d been concerned, but when he asked if she could drive up from Houston, she’d said she had three huge days of trial coming up and couldn’t make it on such short notice.
Bitch YOUR CHILD is in the hospital
He bunched the sheet in his left fist and clenched his jaw hard enough to crack the joint. It sounded like a branch breaking in the silent room.
Jesus
He wanted to not be scared and alone and feeling like the world was caving in on him.
“I canceled my trip. I did what I needed to over the phone.”
Oh wow, he’s better than his mom
It wasn’t like his mom came up to see him a whole lot—or ever—so her not coming now wasn’t some kind of aberration.
She loved her job and loved being single, and, Colton suspected, she especially loved not needing to support a kid anymore.
You had a serious tear to your labrum and multiple torn ligaments, as well as two breaks to your collarbone. Your shoulder was fully torn away from your chest. Only your muscles held the joint in place, and some of those tore as well.
Jesus Christ
Colton grabbed Nick’s hand and curled sideways, slumping over as his heart, with all his fears inside it, fractured.
They all crowded in Colton’s room to eat, perching on the old couch and the edges of his bed, his desk chair, his ergonomically modified beanbag chair, and the floor.
Awww
Wes and Justin moved into Colton’s bedroom for that first night, Wes sleeping on the floor next to Colton while Justin took the couch.
Twenty-one years separated him from the boys, along with half a lifetime of experience.
he’d realized everyone he’d left behind was somehow connected to her and their old life. Their friends were mostly her friends,
“I’ll come see you every day, Colton.” “No, jeez, you don’t have to. I wasn’t trying to guilt you into—” “I want to come see you. I’m happy to.”
“I mean,” he finally said, his voice soft. “I’m not going to say no, don’t come. I’d love it if you did.”
He wasn’t hanging out with Colton for Justin’s sake, either. No, he liked Colton all on his own, and he and Colton had a unique friendship independent of Justin and Wes.
Colton was the closest friend Nick had made in years, maybe since Nick was in college.
Colton, for all his goofiness, had a mind like a steel trap.
Jesus, Wes and Justin were practically finishing each other’s thoughts. Nick hid his smile as he leaned back on the couch.
Apparently the backup quarterback was buckling, so frazzled he couldn’t find his ass or the ball with both hands and a search warrant.
He rubbed at his collarbone, right over one of the screws the doctor had inserted and a line of stitches beneath gauze dressing.
Geez
if he was dropped in the countryside, he’d die in a ditch before he managed to unfuck himself enough to go the right way down a dirt track.
Lmao
Be good, damn good, at sports. Be anything except himself. People left when he was himself.
Sometimes Colton and Justin could fill up the room with conversation, and Wes would just sit back, smiling at both of them, holding Justin’s hand.
Last night, though, Nick had gone out with Justin and Wes, taking them to a family dinner before they headed to the ranch for the summer. That had stung. Family dinner for three.
