When I was a kid, I never went to summer camp or sleepovers. I carry a card with me all the time that explains my condition to doctors should I ever get into an accident. I have done all that and continue to do those things within reason, but Alex, thanks to you, I finally know what it’s like to really live. Those ten years alone? I’d exchange them without hesitation for just one day with you.” Noah lifted his head and pressed a quick kiss on Alex’s lips. “Also, I drive like an old lady, but I somehow still managed to get into a traffic accident, so…”
Alex sighed and closed his eyes for a second. “Just hope for the best?” he asked softly.
Noah nodded. They sat in silence. Noah didn’t disturb it with any more words. He just enjoyed the feel of Alex’s hand in his.
“I don’t like it,” Alex muttered after a while.
Noah fought back a smile. “You wouldn’t be you if you did.”
Alex narrowed his eyes. “Are you saying that I’m hard to please?”
Noah straightened himself and in a quick move, threw his leg over Alex’s thighs and straddled him. He looked deep into his boyfriend’s eyes and basked in the infinity of love he saw there. He placed a kiss on the corner of Alex’s mouth. “I’m saying you’re stubborn.” The kiss was followed by another one on the tip of Alex’s nose. “Persistent.” The other corner of Alex’s mouth. “Tenacious.” The shell of Alex’s ear. “Wonderful.” Alex’s neck. “Perfect.” The next kiss landed on Alex’s mouth. “And I love you.”
“You should. I’m very lovable,” Alex grumbled with a smile playing in the corners of his mouth, but a determined gaze replaced all traces of humor in a matter of seconds. “I’ll hope for the best,” he said. “But I will also fight for your rights because I’ll be damned if you’re taken away from me because of some outdated, discriminatory policy.”
God help whoever got in Alex’s path.
24
“Mr. Ellison will see you now.”
Alex got up from his chair and smiled at his father’s assistant as the woman opened the door of the office.
His father was sitting in his chair, laptop in front of him on the desk, clicking away at the keyboard. It was the same scenario as always, but this time, Alex did not drop into the chair but stood in front of his father’s desk, waiting patiently. They hadn’t spoken since that last phone call, on the day of Noah’s accident. Alex had been too busy to even think about his father, let alone call and try to smooth things out between them, so he had no idea what to expect from this meeting.
All he knew was that if he was going to succeed, he was going to have to start this meeting differently. If he was going to succeed, he was going to have to make his father take him seriously.
When usually his father took his time before acknowledging Alex’s presence, his father, too, had seemingly decided to break some of the ingrained habits as he pushed the laptop away from himself almost immediately and looked at Alex.
“Son,” he said in greeting. That was new.
Alex nodded. “Hello.” He didn’t remember the last time he’d started a conversation with his father on such a civil note.
“To what do I owe this pleasure?”
Alex nodded toward the chairs. “Can I take a seat?”
His father’s brow furrowed. “Of course. Would you like something to drink?”
As painfully polite as that interaction was, it at least kept Alex from falling into his old routine where he’d say something disrespectful to which his father would reply with disappointment, to which Alex would reply with a joke, and it would go on and on and in the end, they would accomplish nothing.
That was not an option right now. Alex had too much at stake, so he was going to be well mannered and amiable even if it killed him.
His father leaned back in his chair as Alex unbuttoned his suit jacket and took a seat. The man looked at Alex expectantly.
“First things first,” Alex said. “Consider this visit my resignation. I will no longer be able to work for Ellison Group.”
His father stared at him with an unreadable expression on his face for long moments before he sighed. “I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise. You were adequate at your job, but even I can’t fool myself into thinking you were enjoying it. You lasted longer than I expected. You