Page 331 of Shadowman
Luthor and Ren adopted a ten-week-old Boxer-Bulldog puppy last month and named him Parker. Parker Tobias Deon-Xavier.I know, right? An extremely queer dog name.
So yea, they’ve immediately become insufferable gay dog-dads, and it’s massively entertaining. Ren is popping off pics of Parker at the beach, and itishighly adorable. So much so that I’m not paying attention to where I’m walking…
“Whoa!” a guy gasps when I crash into him.
“Oh, shit! I’m so sorry,” I’m apologizing before I can even process what happened.
But then I do. And I freeze like a goddamn wax figure.
“No harm.” The voice I haven’t heard in over four years chirps. “You’re lucky, though… This is my good Bud Light t-shirt,” he teases while I’m gawking. “They don’t just hand those out to any… body…”
His words roll to a stop, and then flop out of his mouth, now agape as he recognizes me. We’re both speechless. Just staring while the rest of the world moves around us like everything is normal.
Like the universe didn’t just decide to uppercut me in the soul.
“Byron??” he finally breathes out, bright blue eyes as round as saucers.
“Uh… yea. Hi,” I croak, feeling suddenly very dizzy….
Standing in front of Michelangelo Russo.
He still looks exactly the same. Sure, it hasn’t been that long, in the grand scheme, but the least he could do is have a beer belly, or a hairline that’s receding even just a little. Butno. He’s still drop-dead fucking gorgeous.
Thanks a lot, whoever is controlling my simulation.
I shake myself out of it fast, because this isn’t a problem. I can handle this. It’sno big deal…
I clear my throat. “It’s good to, um… see you.”
He shakes his head in disbelief for a couple more seconds before his lashes flutter. “Sorry… this is just really tripping me out right now.” He huffs, then swallows.
God, I can vividly remember every single time I had my hands around that throat…
Shake. Away. That. Thought.
“I mean… yea. It’s good to see you too,” he says, voice awed, eyes dipping over me once. Just once, but it’s heavier than I expected, and now my face is burning. “You look… Did you get bigger??” He grins, but bites it off quickly. “Thicker, Imean. Just, uh… Sorry, I’m embarrassing myself.” He releases a breathy chuckle and clears his throat. “You look good.”
My stomach is churning. “You too.”
He must notice that I’m radiating a lot more awkward tension than he is, because he backs up and fiddles with his cup of coffee. “It’s been… a long time.”
I nod robotically, seeing nothing but the night that changed my life. Between his legs, with his hands tied, fucking and crying with him. And then his father ripping me away and theyearsof searing pain that followed.
Governor Russo got ahero’sfuneral. I’m not sure how—what kinds of strings The Ivory had to pull, or what they even said. I purposefully never read or watched anything about it because I couldn’t deal with seeing his face while people cried and mourned, like he wasn’t the biggest scumfuck on the planet.
“I, um… I should’ve reached out sooner,” he mumbles, shifting nervously. It’s interesting, he was always so sweet, kind and quiet. But behind closed doors, he was an entirely different animal. “I know I should’ve, and I’ve felt awful about it for years…”
My brows zip. “Oh…?” It’s all I can say.
“Yea, I mean, what happened between us was… crazy. And I was afraid…” His voice trails.
He doesn’t need to elaborate. I know what he means.
He was afraid of his father.
But how is he thinking he could have reached out?? Did he not know that his father banished me to hell in the middle of the ocean? I guess he wouldn’t… But that thought never crossed my mind until right now.
“I really wanted to reach out, you know?” he murmurs softly, topaz twinkling back at me, like it did so many times in the dark… “I’ve thought about y—”
