Page 52 of Under the Texas Sky
“Finding everything okay?” the deep voice from earlier asks behind me.
I close the cover on the book I’m currently looking at–a book about a blind man and his nurse–and place it in my pile. I glance over my shoulder, then I’m frozen in shock. Because standing in front of me is a man with dark brown hair, friendly eyes, and a face I would recognize in any nightmare I have.
Hunter.
Trent’s boyfriend.
The current hiccup in my plan to win said man back.
We stare at each other, and he looks at me quizzically. I realize he’s waiting for me to respond because he asked me a question.
“Yeah, I actually found more than I originally came in for.” I force a chuckle.
His face brightens when he sees my stack on the floor. “You have some really good options! Have you read any of them?”
Uh, why would I be buying them if I’ve already read them?
“Oh, um, right,” he says. “Sometimes, people just read on a device, instead of physical copies.”
I want to slap myself on the forehead, because of course I accidentally said the snarky, asshole comment out loud. He’s just trying to be nice. “I’m sorry, you’re right,” I say. “Are there any other ones you recommend?”
Does he not recognize me, does he not care? Did Trent ever tell him about me?The thoughts are battering at my brain while he bends over to pick up my stack and inspect it.
“These are all really good. Is there anything specific you were looking for? I just got in a few from a new author, but they’re more on the sad side.”
I scrunch my nose up at that, and he laughs lightly.
“Sad books are good,” he says, “as long as they end with a happily ever after. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve read and loved some books without a happily ever after, but I prefer when the couples end up together.”
Why does he have to be so likable, and so people-persony? It would be a lot easier to not like him and ruin his relationship with Trent if he didn’t seem so generous.
“Happily ever after? Like in fairy tales?” The thought piques my interest. Because everyone loves when Prince Charming saves the princess, but if it’s in the LGBTQIA+ section, that means anyone and everyone gets their happily ever after, with whoever the heck they want.
“Exactly like that, and sometimes the roads they take to get there are hard. That’s where the sadness comes in.”
Well, it looks like it’s about time for me to take my stack of books and learn how to get to the happily ever after. “Thank you, I’ll definitely have to come back and check out the rest of them.”
“Come by whenever. I’m the owner, but also the only employee, so if the door’s open, I’m here.” He carries my books for me to the checkout register and tells me about the new author he’s going to do a display shelf for while he scans and bags my things.
“Have a good night, Kian,” he says, following behind me and opening the door for me.
So he does know who I am, yet he still went out of his way to be nice to me.
I need him to be an asshole so that when I sabotage his and Trent’s relationship, I don’t regret it.
But he just gave me the tool I needed to figure out how to get to mine and Trent’s happily ever after.
CHAPTER 45
TRENT
Mitch is sound asleep in his bed when I peek my head in to check on him. I click the TV off and move the word search puzzle book off his chest.
In the quiet of the room, with only the steady sound of Mitch’s breathing, I finally break down. I bite my lip so hard I taste copper, then lick at the wound trying to soothe the sting. It’s no use. My lip hurts, my head hurts, my heart hurts. There’s an ache in my core, a wound in my chest that has never fully healed, but has continued to be picked at. Constantly raw and aching, no matter how much I try to get better. It never works.
Warm tears are cutting lines down my face. Every moment where it felt like my world was falling apart over the last two years flashes before my eyes. Kian leaving. Mitch getting sick. Moving out of the apartment Kian and I called home. Every birthday he wasn’t here to celebrate with me. Every anniversary that went by without a hug or a kiss from the person I love most in this world.
I replay every memory, soaking in the despair I felt in those moments, even though I brushed those feelings off like nothing could hurt me. But they can hurt me, they did hurt me. I can’t be strong like this any longer.
