Page 55 of Hello Forever
“But…” I was worried for Cax. “We still don’t know what’s going to happen. Yourbrothers…”
“I know,” he said, putting a hand on my arm. “But I just can’t do it anymore. I tried to manage the situation, and I failed. He wants a confrontation. I can’t stop him. And I’m sick of walking away from you. That’scowering, Axel. I’m so done with the wholething.”
“Okay,” I said softly. I looked up at Josh, who had been listening quietly. “Two for dinner. I’ll bring something. Just tell me what—a side dish? Asalad?”
“A salad,” he said. “We’d never eat oneotherwise.”
“Fine.” Ilaughed.
“Seven o’clock,”hesaid.
“Awesome,” Cax replied. “We’ll be there. And I’ll bring wine. I’ll probablyneedsome.”
“Deal.”
* * *
With Josh’s permission,I kept the weird letter in order to show it to mylawyer.
“I’ll leave now, because you’re already late for work,” Cax said, stepping into hisshoes.
I caught up to him before he got to the door. “Hey. Kiss me,” I whispered. He did, and it was so fucking sweet. I ran my hand gently over his ass. “Areyousore?”
Cax blushed. “A little. But Idon’tmind.”
I kissed him one more time, but then I had to release him or I’d never make it to work. “Are you feeling all right? Would you tell me if youweren’t?”
“Mostly, and yes,” he said, grabbing his coat. “I don’t want my life to fall apart. But if it’s inevitable, I’ll deal, okay? Let’s just see what happens. And if he gets uglier with us, we’ll console ourselves withmoresex.”
I laughed. “All right.” I liked this new, tougher Cax. I liked him a lot. But I was still uneasy. There was something about his father’s weird letter to Josh and Caleb that smacked of desperation. “You should probably stay out of your father’s way until next week.That’swhen—”
“The hearing. I know.” He buttoned his coat. “I’ll make myselfscarce.”
“Tell me if you hear anything weird from him,” Ibegged.
“I will.” He stepped forward and gave me a quick kiss. “I’ll see you tomorrow night at seven.” Thenheleft.
Thirty minutes later I ran into work, late. I sat down in my chair and tried to gather my thoughts. I needed to call my lawyer about the letter and to confess that Cax and I had been friendlier than I’dplanned.
“Somebody got laid!” Boz hissed. “Damn.Finally. Tell me who it was so I can thank him personally. I was getting tired of thelongface.”
I looked up in surprise. “Don’t know what you’re talkingabout.”
“Dude, you’re sitting there just smiling at your computer’s login screen. And you’re an hour later than usual. You might as well paint it on yourforehead.”
Good grief. “What was your major at Barmuth,anyway?”
“Psychology,” he said with a chuckle. “And just admit it. I’m prettybrilliant.”
“You’re pretty annoying is what you are.” Ignoring his laugh, I finally got downtowork.
Later, when I called the lawyer, he said he wanted to see the letter that Josh had received. So at lunchtime I ran it over to hisoffice.
“This is weird,” he said, squinting at the text. “It’s soclumsy.”
“That’s what Ithought,too.”
He slipped it into a plastic sleeve. “You never know—we might end up dusting it forfingerprints.”
