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Garret’s eyes flashed with both surprise and acknowledgment. His cheeks turned pink and he leaned across the desk, giving me a charismatic stare filled to the brim with wonderment.

“I… love you too,” he confessed.

“You… do?” I was so overjoyed that I felt like I was floating outside of my body for a moment or two.

“Yes.” He nodded, chuckling as he clutched my hands with his.

We both stood up and walked around the desk to bridge the gap between us.

“I love you so much, and you have no idea how good it feels to release that into the world,” I said as Garret wrapped his arms around me.

Our eyes locked and we kissed. It was the most sensual moment of my life. It was as if his fingers left welts of pleasure on my skin every time he grazed up against me.

“Me too,” he said. “I didn’t even realize that was how I felt until you said it out loud.”

I grinned and stroked his stubbly cheek. “Thank you for reciprocating. Even if you hadn’t, it wouldn’t have changed the way I feel about you.”

Garret’s demeanor shifted instantly. It was as if a fog had lifted and there was no longer a heavy cloak draped over us.

We had reached a milestone moment where Garret finally understood and had seen the light. I was hopeful that from that point forward, he would be able to let go of his current club’s location. We could build a new club together, where our lives were joined instead of parallel. I wanted to be unified in everything we did. The new club was more than just a business, it was a fresh start for both of us.

20

Garret

I lay in my bed with Felix’s warm body peacefully sleeping beside me, enamored by him and grateful to have him to keep me company. His presence was physically and mentally comforting and helped me sustain my peace of mind.

My emotions were hanging on by a thread, but I was doing my best to remain positive. Felix was more optimistic that we would be able to attain a reasonable solution to the mile-long problems we were facing.

I exhaled slowly, trying to relax both my mind and my body. I rolled over on my side, facing away from Felix and closed my eyes. I forced my mind to shut off until I saw nothing but dark, blank, empty space.

I knew I was going to have to comply with Felix’s grandiose suggestion to sell the club and build a new one, but I just wasn’t quite there yet. I would sleep on it and make the final decision in the morning.

I was drifting off to sleep but not all the way unconscious when I smelled smoke. At first, I thought the burning smell was part of an early dream I might be having. When it grew more prominent, weaving through my nostrils, I sat up sharply. I knew there was a problem.

Panic began to swell through my body. I couldn’t explain the plunge into hysteria, but I could sense that there was a real fire and that this wasn’t something dreamed up by my imagination.

I glanced over at Felix. He was sound asleep, dead to the world, in an out cold kind of sleep.

“Felix,” I whispered and gently began to shake his shoulders, trying to quickly rouse him.

He groaned and smacked his lips, stirring slightly but he mumbled something and tried to pull the covers up to his neck.

“Felix,” I said, louder this time. “Wake up. I think there’s a fire downstairs.”

Felix rolled over, blinked at me in a groggy manner and frowned. “How can that be? The fire alarms aren’t going off.”

I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that I couldn’t explain. “I know, but I smell smoke. Don’t you? Something is wrong…”

I trailed off. My throat felt swollen with crippling anxiety.

“Okay.” Felix nodded.

He sat there for a moment like he needed to prepare himself and wake up all the way. He tossed the sheets off his torso. He was naked, and so was I. “Let’s go and check it out.”

He sounded like a father trying to reassure his son that there were no monsters under his bed. The monsters might not have been under our bed, but they definitely existed.

We quickly pulled on shirts and shorts and walked to the door. Felix pressed his hand to it and didn’t open it. He rapidly yanked it away.