Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 58874 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58874 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
They sat and pulled their chairs close together, legs bracketed, knees touching. “Your brothers are healthy, safe, home, working.” He tipped a bottle against his mouth and took a drink. “There’s no crisis to manage, nothing broken that needs fixing. Life is good and you’re not used to that.”
He set the bottle on the table and twisted it from side to side. “You once told me that life isn’t fair and survival’s what matters.” He looked at Tor. “You’ve been surviving for a long time, Tori. Maybe your entire life. You got so comfortable existing in chaos and crisis that no amount of it could rattle you.” He took another drink, his gaze not leaving Tor’s. “What you’re feeling now is peace. You’re not used to that, don’t know how to live in it, and that’s what’s scaring you.” He nodded to himself and lowered his gaze to the table. “It scares me too sometimes. Things are so calm now, so easy. My body starts bracing itself for something to go wrong and then it doesn’t but the adrenaline’s still there, leaves me rattled.”
Tor drank his beer. “What do you do about it?”
Jule tilted his lips up and raised his gaze. “Wake you up in the middle night so you can fuck it out of my system.” His smile widened. “Works pretty well.”
Tor laughed and covered Jule’s hand with his. “Thanks. That helps.”
“Good.” Jule leaned closer and rested his head on Tor’s shoulder. “Glad all these years of therapy are paying off for something.”
“You haven’t attacked a guy with a pipe in years, so it was already paying off.”
“Take your dick out with someone else and you’ll see how quickly that part of my control goes out the window.”
Tor kissed his head and laughed. “Love you, Julie.”
“I love you too.”
***
They held the wedding in the joined backyards at sunset. It was more casual than any of his mother’s dinner parties, but she arrived on time, with a smile, along with her parents. Langston came a little earlier because he was officiating the ceremony and he wanted to go over things before they started. Jule suspected he was struggling to believe they were keeping it as short and simple as he had already explained, which would have been annoying if his mother’s husband wasn’t such a genuinely nice and earnest man. As it was, Jule felt nothing but gratitude that she finally had that kind of person in her life.
In a twist of fate their childhood selves never could have predicted, the chief of police was at the Dunworthy house, by invitation. Tor had agreed only after Chief Montez promised that he’d ignore anything he saw or heard while he was there. His brothers and cousins were giving him a wide berth regardless.
Lydia came too. Jule tipped his head toward the edge of the patio where she was huddled close with Titan, laughing and talking. “That’s either a match made in heaven or a disaster waiting to happen.”
“Either way, I trust Tan to bring it better than flavor-free dessert,” Tor said.
Jule cracked up. “Ready to make this legal?”
“Would it matter if I wasn’t?” Tor joked.
“No.” Jule straightened his collar. “You look nice all dressed up.”
“This shirt’s coming off as soon as the ceremony’s over.”
“I’m counting on it.”
Tor cupped his hips and gazed into his eyes. “I’m ready.”
“When I was in kindergarten, I met a boy. I insulted his bed and hit him. Instead of getting mad, he laughed, told me that he built his own furniture, and then he taught me how to create our own fun. I made my first friend that day. All these years later, and you’re still building my world and making sure I’m safe having fun in it. Twenty-four years with you, Tori. I’m excited for more.”
Being the center of attention wasn’t Tor’s preferred role. Neither was public speaking. But he stood in front of everyone they knew, posture straight, demeanor composed, and true to form, packed an emotional punch and said everything without using many words. “Yesterday, today, tomorrow, forever. You’ve always been my best friend, Julie, and I’m honored that now I get to call you my husband too.”
Wetness coated Jule’s eyes, but he blinked it away.
They both looked over at his stepfather, who seemed uncharacteristically emotional. “Do you have the rings?”
Jule nodded and held his hand out, the two gold bands sitting on his palm. Tor immediately covered Jule’s hand with his own.
“Do you, Torrence Dunworthy, take Julian Sterling to be your husband? To honor and cherish him till death do you part?”
His heart skipped a beat when he placed Tor’s ring on him.
“I do.”
“And do you, Julian Sterling, take Torrence Dunworthy to be your husband? To honor and cherish him till death do you part?”
Tor smoothed his hand over Jule’s palm, picked up his ring, and then slid it onto his finger.