Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
“You don’t have anything to thank me for,” I told him. “What are friends for?”
And Theo was that. Regardless of his age, he was my friend.
I looked at Cam over Theo’s head, at my boyfriend whom I loved, and smiled.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Camden
I’m going to get married, and I’m going to try and forget you. ~ Letter from Henry
“Oh, it’s so good to see my boys!” Mom hugged me.
“It’s good to see you too, Ma.”
“And my sweet Sawyer.” He was next as Dad hugged me, and then Mom added, “And this must be Carter. Welcome to the family.”
“I… Oh, wow. Thank you. I’m so happy to be here,” Carter replied, and I was reminded again how great my parents were. They would accept anyone we brought home, no questions asked. I wondered if Jude’s father would be the same. He had no problem with Rush, but sometimes it was different when it was your own child.
“It’s a shame your young man couldn’t make it,” Dad said, and I tried to ignore the way his statement stabbed me in the gut.
Yeah, it was a shame. I was trying not to be bitter about it, unsure if I had a right to be upset at all. Jude was with his family, with his dad and Rush…whom he used to be in love with…but who was my friend and happened to be in love with Lincoln…and I wasn’t a jealous guy. I really fucking wasn’t, and I trusted Jude, but Christ, I wanted to be with him.
“Yeah, but he’s with his dad, so it’s understandable. Maybe we can plan something soon.”
“You know his father would be welcome here,” Mom said, and the last thing I wanted to tell her was that Jude had never been with a guy before me and wasn’t ready to announce his sexuality to his family. She’d worry and have a thousand questions I didn’t want to deal with.
“Do we get to open a gift early?” I asked, changing the subject.
Mom swatted my arm. “You’re always the worst about that! Oh my God, Carter, we used to have to hide the gifts at a friend’s house or Camden would find them. He’d find Sawyer’s too and then get too excited and spill the beans.”
“I bet Sawyer didn’t search for his gifts,” Carter said.
“That’s because I’m the good one,” Sawyer teased, but he was looking at me funny, like he knew exactly what I’d done, and he probably did.
“You’re the suck-up one,” I said playfully, and then we all went back and forth on the subject of gifts and holidays past as we moved into the living room, because this was serious conversation and we all needed to sit down when we got to all the trouble I’d gotten into as a kid.
Carter was great. He fit right in, and as I watched Sawyer with him, I was both so damn happy for my little brother and slightly jealous. I wanted Jude with me. I wanted Jude to look at me the way Carter looked at Sawyer.
Fuck, I was so damn lost over the man.
It was December 23, and we always did this sort of lead-up to Christmas. Not with gifts, of course, because my family hated me and didn’t support my need for now. But we did have a tradition when it came to food. Tonight we would go out as a family and have Italian. We weren’t Italian, but we all loved it, and that was what we always did. Ice cream always followed.
Christmas Eve, Mom would make a roast and potatoes, which would be phase two of the Burke Family Foodmas, and then we’d have chocolate-chip cookies and watch A Christmas Story because it was the best holiday movie there was.
And this was the first time Sawyer would have someone home for the holiday.
All through dinner I watched Carter and Sawyer and wondered what it would be like to have Jude there…wondered what he was doing. Were he and his dad having a good time? Was his dad enjoying seeing Jude’s day-to-day life? Did he even know Jude had a friend named Cam?
We hadn’t talked all day. I thought about calling him but didn’t, and I didn’t know why. But then, Jude didn’t call me either.
It was late that night and I couldn’t sleep, so I went out to Mom and Dad’s sunroom with a snack. Everyone else was asleep, but I wasn’t surprised when I heard footsteps less than five minutes after I got there.
“You got into the cookies already?” Sawyer asked.
“Nope. It was…Santa…?”
“They’re on your lap!” he countered, falling down into the chair beside me.
“It’s Foodmas! I can’t help it.”
Sawyer chuckled, and we were quiet for a moment before he asked, “What’s wrong, brother?”
I didn’t bother to question how he knew something was the matter. I also didn’t let myself think before I answered, just let the words fall out. “I know you think you’ve always needed me more than I need you, but that’s not true.”