Page 57 of Resisting You

At the sight of Oz’s sign name, Frey glanced up to see the man himself hovering a few feet away from the table. Fuck. Frey had entirely forgotten Oz was supposed to be meeting them at the movies, but he was also in his head about it. He was trying not to think about Fuckface Frank, who seemed to always have it out for Frey.

He was Rex’s Room Parent, and although he was just as hearing as Frey, he never hesitated to point out all of Frey’s failings when it came to raising his son. He was pretty sure the guy had a homophobia stick shoved up his ass so far it was poking into his lungs, but the guy hadn’t ever been overtly bigoted, so Frey couldn’t call him out.

But God, he wanted to.

‘Shit,’ Frey signed when his back was to his son.

Oz’s brows furrowed deeper. ‘Frank said you tried to bring a date to the movie, and when he told the guy to leave, you stormed off.’ Oz glanced at Renato, and Frey let out a quiet sigh.

‘Frank was being an asshole,’ Frey signed close to his body so Rex wouldn’t see him swearing. ‘Rex and I ran into Renato in the lobby, and I invited him along. Long story,’ he added when Oz’s eyebrows shot up. ‘I’ll tell you later.’

‘Okay,’ Oz signed slowly, his hand lingering between them. ‘I’m guessing Frank kicked you out.’

He hadn’t kicked Frey out. He told Frey if he wanted to slut around, he needed to do it where children couldn’t see. Luckily Rex was too busy hiding in Renato’s neck to have seen it, but the other kids had. And so had the parents.

And Frey had made it worse by shoving his middle finger in the guy’s face, so he didn’t exactly have moral high ground after that.

‘What did he say?’ Oz demanded.

Frey rubbed both hands down his face before dropping them toward his chest. ‘Can we talk later?’

Oz’s gaze cut to Rex, and then he nodded. ‘Sure. Want me to go ahead and take him now?’

It was hours early, but Oz didn’t seem like he minded. ‘You don’t have stuff to do?’

Oz laughed. ‘I was going to watch some Disney movie with a bunch of kids I don’t know. I’ll take Rex to that Deaf cat café across town, and we’ll work on his conversation fluency there.’

Frey sagged a little. He felt a gut punch of relief because he was still processing everything, and it was all too much all at once. ‘Thank you.’

Oz nodded, and then he stepped aside and waved his hand until he had Renato’s attention. ‘Good to see you again. I meant to say thank you before I left the hospital.’ He kept his signs very slow, mouthing along.

Renato smiled softly at him. ‘I’m glad you’re okay.’

Oz nodded once more, then held his hand out to Rex, who shot up from the table. He had chocolate smeared on his cheek, and his hair was mussed, but Oz didn’t seem to care. Rex threw his arm up for his dad, and Frey picked him up, kissing his cheeks over and over until he burst into a fit of giggles.

‘Be good,’ Frey warned.

Rex rolled his eyes, then turned and threw himself at Renato. For a moment, Frey had the urge to step in and grab him, but Renato just opened his arms and pulled Rex into a careful hug, mindful of his sling.

‘Don’t hurt yourself,’ Renato warned.

Rex nodded seriously. ‘I’m being good. Can you come sleep over at my house tomorrow?’

Renato looked up at Frey, confused.

“Sleepover. Please feel free to say no,” Frey said aloud, mortified.

‘Maybe’ was the answer Renato gave.

‘I can make you a groom! You can marry Daddy!’ Rex hopped away before Renato could answer, and Oz smirked at Frey before leading the small boy out of the restaurant.

Fatigue stole over Frey as he collapsed in his chair, and he didn’t have the courage to look up. He and Renato had fucked. They’d even gotten emotional. But there was no chance in hell his wedding-obsessed son wasn’t going to send the man screaming into the mountains, never to be seen from again.

The silence dragged on until Frey finally cracked. “Well. Feel free to?—”

“Frey?”

There was another moment’s pause, and then Frey looked up. Renato was leaning forward, his elbow on the table, chin propped in his hand. His eyes were soft and concerned. Frey swallowed heavily, but he had no idea what to say—what to do.

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