Trust in Me - Quinn Ward Page 0,59

long as you’ll have me.”

“Me too, Daddy.” That was one of the easiest promises I’d ever made. I still worried he’d get tired of me when the new wore off, but Mav was right. I needed to be the optimistic guy I used to be.

14

Theron

I wasn’t a fan of the utterly helpless feeling I got almost nightly. I hated that Sam was still paying rent on an apartment he rarely visited, other than to pick up clothes he’d forgotten. If not for his dedication to honoring his commitments, he could have temporarily cut back on his hours at work, so he wasn’t spread so thin while trying to study for the last finals he had to take before graduation.

The only silver lining was that he needed his little time like never before. But even that was a bit gloomy because we’d entered this phase of trying to keep his stress levels low enough that he could function. When you added in the anxiety over his parents’ visit this weekend, my boy was about ready to shatter.

“Hey, let me know when you’re ready…” Tom came barreling into my office the same way he usually did, but today he stopped in his tracks. He pulled out the chair in front of my desk. “Anything you wanna talk about, boss man?”

“Don’t call me that,” I scolded him. He knew damn well it pissed me off when he playfully put me on a pedestal. It was weird as hell being the boss of someone I’d grown up with, in the school where we’d first met. But he always had a way of turning up when I needed a friendly ear. “Sam’s family’s coming into town tomorrow morning and the timing couldn’t be worse.”

“Honeymoon has to end at some point,” he said, waving a hand dismissively. He cocked his head to the side and smirked. “Oh my god, you’re nervous about meeting the ‘rents, aren’t you?”

“The ‘rents? You’ve been spending too much time with your students,” I chastised. “And no, I’m not nervous about meeting them. Yes, it’s a bit soon by a lot of people’s standards, but we both know I’m not one to follow any sort of schedule.”

“You’re not worried they’re going to look down on you for robbing the cradle?”

I glared at him. I hadn’t been worried about that, but now I would be. Tom was such an asshole. The age difference wasn’t something I gave much thought to. I might have when our relationship was new, but it didn’t matter to me anymore because Sam was perfect for me. And, even then, there had been so many other hurdles for us to overcome that it had barely been a passing thought.

Tom held up his hands in surrender and laughed. “Hey, if you’re not going to tell me why you’re tweaking about this, I’m going to start making guesses.”

He leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees. I had to work to keep from squirming as he stared at me, as if he’d see the answers to whatever questions were brewing in my mind if he looked hard enough. “You’re in deep with him, aren’t you?”

“Deeper than I have any right to be,” I admitted. Around Sam, I tried to be confident enough for both of us but that didn’t mean I never dealt with my own insecurities. “He has it in his head that he’s never going to be good enough. And, I mean, I suppose I can understand where part of that comes from, but I wish I could make him see how special he is.”

“I don’t know much about your relationship with him, but I’m sure you’re doing everything you can,” Tom reassured me. “But this isn’t general anxiety, is it? You mentioned his family coming into town. Does the stress that has your shoulders hitched up to your ears have something to do with that? Does he not get along with his family?”

“The exact opposite, actually. They’re his loudest cheerleaders.” I’d heard so many horror stories and seen just how awful some parents could be when their kids weren’t the cachet norm they’d envisioned. I loved Sam’s family without even meeting them because they’d never made him feel he was less than because of who he was. “But that’s also why he’s nervous. And when he’s keyed up, I get stressed out because I don’t know how to make it better for him.”

“You guys are pretty much 24/7, right?” Tom smirked, knowing that before Sam, I’d sworn I