scared to come here as part of the club. I thought I’d feel…” He shrugs. “Like a poser. You’ve all made sense of your sexuality so much sooner, and I feel like I lose some credibility by coming in late.”
“You don’t,” Maximoff says strongly.
“Oscar kept telling me that too,” Jack nods, his eyes on me with a loving, emotional look. And I remember the start of his journey, where he asked for my help. I didn’t know if I’d be the right person for him, but I said I’d try.
I hold the back of his head, our foreheads pressed together in an intimate beat. My hand slides to his neck, and he says, “Kinney gave me the button, and I was surprised at how much I felt like I belonged.” He inhales. “That’s it.”
Then why are you more tense now, Highland?
I hesitate to call him out in front of everyone. Luckily, I don’t have to.
Jack turns more to me. “Can I have a minute alone with you?” To everyone, he says, “It’s not about the Rainbow Brigade. I just need to talk with Oscar.”
I nod. “Yeah, let’s go.”
Before I scoot, Farrow stands up on the other side. “You two stay.”
Maximoff slips out next. “We’re gonna watch a TV show upstairs in the loft before we leave.”
The booth clears in under a minute. They leave the candles, the half-emptied root beers, and melting ice cream pints.
Rocky Road is sticky on my fingers. I try to wipe off my hands, but I’m really just eyeing Highland at this point. Confused as fuck, worried. Concerned. “What is it?” I ask.
He grimaces. “Don’t hate me. Promise you won’t hate me, dude.”
Now I’m terrified. But my lovesick ass says, “I promise I won’t hate you.”
He runs his hands through his hair, keeps his palms on his head. “It’s…”
“You’re drawing this out and making this ten-times worse than it probably is.” My heart is stuck in my throat like a boulder.
He cracks a pained smile. “I should’ve told you so much sooner. I had so many opportunities—and again, I missed them. Let them slip by, and now it feels like an actual conscious secret. Fuck, it is conscious.”
Blood has drained from my face.
I think I’m near tears.
Motherfuck.
“What is it?” I ask again.
He cheated on me.
He doesn’t actually love me.
He doesn’t want to be with me long-term.
He’s married to a woman.
He has a baby.
“I’m rich,” he says.
It knocks me back for no other reason than it being tame. I just rode a fucking merry-go-round at a hundred miles per hour and jumped off. I’m gonna puke.
Legitimately.
“Oscar?”
“Oh my God, Highland.” I lean forward again. “Don’t ever do that to me again.”
His lips falter. “You don’t understand, Os.”
I groan out the rest of my heightened pulse in the palms of my hand. Feeling better, I look over at my boyfriend. “I understand that you’re rich.”
“No, like really rich, Oscar.”
I pause for a beat. “How rich are we talking about?”
“You know Charlie’s apartment in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood?” he breathes. “I could buy one of those.”
Holy.
Shit.
Shock is a lump in my esophagus. I’d love to tell him that I don’t care, but I really wish he felt like he could trust me with this sooner.
Jack rubs his jaw, set in a wince at my silence.
Little things are making more sense. Like why he got so upset when I paid for temp security to protect him when he has a lot of money.
I wipe up a melted puddle of Rocky Road. “So while you’re taking all of my clothes, you could probably just buy the department store?” My eyes meet his. “That’s what you’re saying?”
He nods slowly. “It’s inherited money. I have a trust fund. My parents are real estate developers.”
“Millionaires?” I ask.
“Billionaires.”
I choke on more surprise. Fucking shit. A billionaire. It doesn’t change how I feel about him. It might change who’s picking up the bar tab. Again, though, I can’t believe it took him so long to tell me. Was he that nervous?
I ease into my feelings. “Did you ever tell the famous ones?” I ask first.
“Not until recently, I told Moffy, Jane, and Sulli,” Jack admits. “I didn’t feel like money is who I am, so there was no reason to talk about it. It’s a trust fund. But my parents are proud of their successes. And I don’t want to be ashamed of what they’ve given me. Plus, I eventually want you to see where I grew up, and my house in Long Beach is really nice.”
“That has