Page 16 of Piece Us Together

He blows out hard, his lips vibrating. “A…day.”

I rest my head on his shoulders and sigh. Then, because I need to, and also because Bryce is a sucker for gossip and I know it’ll cheer him up, I say, “Maison and I found a dom. Like a guy to be my dom. While Maison watches.”

He chokes on air, his body heaving so violently I’m forced to remove my head from his shoulder and inch away. His face is red when he turns wide eyes on me. “Are you fucking with me?”

“Nope. I’d say I wish I was, but despite how fucked up it sounds, I—fuck, Bryce, I’m so relieved.” I close my eyes, shaking my head. “I shouldn’t be. If it doesn’t work, I’ll be fucking crushed. I should try to manage the hope a little, but…”

“But your safe place is with a dom,” he says quietly, an echo of my confession to him that day in the grass.

“Yeah…”

“Nolan? Hey, look at me.” I open my eyes. He’s smiling. I can’t place if it’s sad or happy, the expression riding the line between the two. It tips into happy when our gazes meet. “You deserve this. Let yourself hope. Sometimes good things happen, you know?”

“Maison is good.”

“You can’t have more than one?” He arches an unimpressed eyebrow. “What about this house? Our friends? Freedom? I’m not saying that to make you feel bad or ungrateful, because I know you’re grateful. Just open your eyes a little. This is our happy ending. You want a dom? Then you get one. Sounds like Maison already agrees. If this guy doesn’t work out, there are others. If the plan doesn’t work out, you’ll find something else. You get to hope, Nol. Maybe don’t put all of your faith into this specific guy, this specific plan, but let yourself believe that at some point, you’ll get to have it all.”

They’re pretty words. I want to believe them. I think if I try hard enough, remind myself enough, maybe I can.

“What’s your happy ending?” I ask before immediately flinching. “Sorry, that’s—wow. I shouldn’t have just asked that. Talk about personal.”

He gives me a look. One that says,buddy, we are way past personal. “If I don’t want to answer, I won’t. You can always ask me anything.”

“Okay—have you noticed that Keats, like… watches you like a man dying of thirst and you’re an entire pool of water?”

Bryce narrows his eyes. “Tell me about your dom. Have you met him?”

I stick my tongue out at him, which gets me a real smile. I want to tell him, though. Even without the need for an emergency contact. I want to share the excitement, the fear, the hope, with someone who isn’t going to be affected by it the way Maison will be.

“You can’t tell anyone, okay? It’s not—I’m not ready for that.”

“Of course,” he promises, all serious now. I trust him. He might be a gossip queen when it comes to gathering information, but I’ve never once heard him spilling that information to others.

I take a deep breath.

Then I tell him.

I tell him everything. I admit it’s the dom Carter tried to play with when he and Travis were taking a break. I tell him Maison tried to fill the role first and how disastrous that ended up being. I explain what it was like seeing Hunter for the first time. I tell him the things we discussed and the way I felt. I tell him most of my hopes and a lot of my fears.

I tell him I’m afraid it won’t work.

I tell him I’m more afraid that it will.

He hugs me when I finish. It’s a fierce hug. Protective. It feels good. Solid. We both seem to exhale in relief.

“I need an emergency contact,” I croak, my voice hoarse from talking with my throat so tight. “Will you…?”

“Sign me the fuck up.”

Chapter Six

Hunter

“You didwhat?”

“I—”

“No, don’t repeat it. I fucking heard you. What the fuck were you thinking?”

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