Page 99 of Gorgeous

In the living room, in the comfort of my mother’s arms, I finally come clean to my parents about what happened to their son, minus the journalist part. Some things you justdon’t admit.

My father is the one who inevitably does me in. He comes to me on the couch and kneels at my feet, raising my chin with his strong fingertips. “He would be appalled that you thinkyouwould have savedhim.”

His statement makes me chuckle because it’s absolutely true. Drew never needed saving. He blazed in situations with the soul of a true badass. He was fearless. And a damn fine Marine.

“True. But at least we could have been together,” I say, regret spilling out of me one breath at a time.

My father makes this exasperated noise and my mother whimpers. “Is that what he would have wanted, Cade? For you to have died with him? For us to have been left without either of you?”

I swallow, staring at my father’s hard eyes. I’ve been a dumbass thinking they never wanted to see me again. “I thought you hated me,” I tell him quietly.

My mother pinches my side, causing me to flinch. “You better not say what I think you’re trying to say. Are kidding me, Cade? All this time … all the waiting…” She cries, and I pull her to me, ashamed of myself for never facing the truth. I should have given them their moment of rage or forgiveness. I took the choice from them by running.

“I’m sorry, Mama. I was an idiot.”

My mama pinches me and sniffles. “You sure were. We suffered for four years until Anniston contacted us. Four years, Cade!”

Only four years? I’ve been gone five and a half years. That would have meant Anniston and Theo knew about my parents long before Breck came along. “If it hadn’t been for Anniston sending us updates on you, we would have gone insane with worry.”

And now I know that’s what Anniston was doing. But honestly, I’m not even mad about it. I’m glad she and Theo took care of them when I couldn’t, when I could barely take care of myself. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t bear to face you after what I had done to Drew.”

Tears leak from my mother’s eyes but she doesn’t make a noise. “We wanted to come to you,” she sniffles softly. “But Anniston asked us to wait until you were ready. She said you would come to us.”

I scoff at her true statement. “Anniston tends to get what she wants one way or another.” In this case, predicting that I would eventually find my way back home.

My mother smiles. “She’s a sweet girl. She and Theo have been so nice to us.”

A grunt of disappointment in myself is the only sound I can respond with until my father gets up, his old knees popping with the motion. “We talked with Theo, and he thought it was time we gave you this.” Andrew Senior pulls a tattered letter from his pocket, and with great reverence, places it into my palm. “They delivered it with his things, when you were on the street.” He drops his head, willing the emotion back before continuing, “We couldn’t contact you, otherwise we would have. But then you were doing better at the Foundation and Theo thought it was best we wait.”

Fucking Theo.

Emotion sits thick in my chest like a bad cold when I clutch the dirty letter in my hand. I know what it is, and there is a part of me that doesn’t want to know what’s in it, and yet, a part of me craves to read his final words. “Thank you,” I mumble, staring at the letter like it holds the key to my sanity. “I’m so sorry,” I plead with my father, hugging my mother closer. “I’m so sorry for everything I put you through.”

My mother squeezes me, placing a kiss on my forehead, taking my father’s hand. “You’re home now. And that’s all that matters to us.”

My father claps me on the back. “You’re a Jameson. Nothing in the world would change that, Cade.”

My face feels damp. Is that …?

A tear.

Goddammit.

I swipe it away, holding my parents’ gaze as they stand in front of me. “I understand that now, sir.”

My father claps me on the back, my mother stroking my face once more like she’s memorializing it. “Get some sleep,” he says. “We’ll see you in the morning.” It wasn’t a question. Andrew Sr. quite literally gave me a look of death like if he doesn’t see my ass bright and early in the morning, he will hunt me down.

“Yes, sir.”

When they retire upstairs, I take several deep breaths. I think about waking up Theo and having a drink, but ultimately, I stay where I am on the sofa. I unfold the note and read until the words blur in front of my face.

Cade,

Can you believe the heat out here? Motherfucker, man. I will never be able to knock up a girl and force her to marry me with all my swimmers burnt the fuck up.

I know I’m dead when you’re reading this and it’s supposed to be some kind of sad, heartfelt goodbye note—I’m sure yours is very ass-kissing and will make our parents proud—but I’m not going to go out in a ball of mush.

So here it is.

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