Perfect Together by Kristen Ashley

“Just, you know, you’re home and around them more, so be…you know, cautious, okay?” Sah advised.

They’d all been crushed when their dad left.

Sure, their parents fought, but most of the time, it was like today. They were just two strong personalities who had no problem laying it out. Their mom would be funny, their dad would be cool and egg her on, sometimes it’d escalate and then they’d disappear in their bedroom where the argument might get loud, but then it’d get very quiet for a long time.

So there was love, a lot of it in that house, and having half of the engine that drove that love walk out the door, the buzz of the house had changed drastically and it had been hard to take.

The three of them didn’t lose him, just time with him.

But Mom lost him, and it was killer, watching that.

And maybe it was good advice to be cautious.

But since they broke up, his dad never followed him home from practice with the lame excuse that he was bringing the booze over for their get-together early, but also to grab a beer and shoot the shit, and that was not about him initiating Yves in Gastineau Family Hold Your Drink 101.

Dad could do that at his house.

It was about Dad being in a place where he could see Mom, and she could see him.

“I’ll be cautious,” Yves said.

And he would.

But still.

Their parents were getting back together.

“Can I go back to my date now?” Manon asked, and it wasn’t snotty. She wanted to know if Yves was cool.

“Yeah, sister. Have fun,” Yves said.

“Later, bros,” she replied then her face blinked out.

“You good?” Sah asked.

“Yeah,” Yves answered.

“See you tomorrow,” Sabre said.

“Tomorrow, brother. Later,” Yves replied.

Sah blinked out too.

Yves shut his laptop.

Then he picked up his phone and called Theo.

“Hey, babe,” Theo answered.

“Hey,” he greeted his boyfriend. “So, one, I’m a man now, my dad gave me a beer, and two, strap in, because I’m springing you on them tomorrow and then you’ll be on the Gastineau train and we’re all along for the ride, which is sure to be rocky, of Mom and Dad getting back together.”

Theo’s laugh was deep and rich, and Yves felt it in the two places he always felt it. In his chest, and points south.

“Looking forward to it,” Theo said.

Even though his man couldn’t see him, Yves smiled.

“Are you sure this springing me on them gig is the right way to play it?” Theo asked (again, he’d mentioned it before).

“One, Dad knows you,” Yves pointed out, because that was true. Theo played rugby with him and had for the last five years, and his dad had always been their coach. “Two, yes. I’m sure.”

“That’s what I’m worried about,” Theo muttered. “The him knowing me part.”

“Thee, I told you how it went Wednesday.”

“Him being cool, and him being cool with us doing each other are different things.”

Yves didn’t know what to say to that.

Then he figured it out. “He doesn’t know specifics.”

“He’s still going to know we’re doing each other.”

“I haven’t told them I’ve gone there. Just that I’m gay.”

“Your mom will convince herself you’re a virgin until the day she dies. You told me she’s in denial about Sah.”

“I didn’t say denial, I said she refuses to talk about it, and it takes her at least ten minutes to look any of his girlfriends in the eye.”

“Denial.”

Yves smiled again.

“Your dad, though. You told me he told you when he gave you the sex talk that he’d lost his virginity at sixteen and he understood the sex-on-the-brain thing. Just be smart about the sex-on-the-brain thing. So he gets it, he’s a guy, he’s been our age, which means he’ll totally know we’re fucking.”

“Shit,” Yves muttered. Theo was totally right.

“Tell them about me and then text me if it’s cool to come over, okay?” Theo said.

“I don’t want it not to be cool,” Yves admitted.

“You want to force their play so they’ve got no choice but to play it cool with me when you gauged shit wrong the last time and hurt your dad’s feelings. Don’t do that again, babe. I think you learned benefit of the doubt is the way to play this.”

“But you don’t think he’ll be cool with you?” Yves asked.

“What I think is, it’ll be a shock to him, and you need to give him a beat to come to terms with that before I’m in his space.”

Yves saw the wisdom of this, so he said, “Okay, you’re good with being standby until I text you?”

“Fuck yeah. I can’t wait to try these crab cakes.”

And again, Yves smiled.





CHAPTER 7





Yea





Wyn





“I’m a yea,” Kara stated, leaning into her island with her martini glass coasting over a plate of brie and thinly sliced apples.

Not a surprise, as Kara was my take-no-prisoners, eat-no-shit girl.

She was also petite, red-haired, wore glasses, had two children in their late teens who were more intelligent than our collective group, and thus they scared me, even as I adored them. She was also so good at makeup, a couple of times when our artists let us down and didn’t show up, in a pinch, she had shown up, and done a beautiful job.