Page 68 of King of Liars

“I know, but it’s killing me.” I struggled once again, balling my hands into fists to muster the strength I would need to go. Before we did, I had to clear the air. “Are you okay with that? What I said about when he’s ready for help, finding us?”

Aiden took a moment to think before replying. “I’m fine with it. I’m not sure a guy like Sy…or Nick…or King will ever be ready for help, but the fact that you care so much shows what an amazing guyyouare.”

Aiden gave me a kiss, and then another, and another, as though walking me through one of the hardest moments of my life.

I knew I could get through it. It would take time. It would be hard. But with Aiden, I felt like I could break through anything, even the spell King had placed me under.

Epilogue

BOSS

Ryan and I set our pizzas and drinks on the table and sat down. This pizza parlor had become our regular place since we’d become official five months earlier, after we refused King’s offer to return as his knights. I expected it to be difficult, especially for Ryan, and even though we struggled, I was surprised by how quickly the emptiness I’d feared had been filled by what we shared with each other.

We were free, really free, from the bondage that had been our obsession with a guy who’d wanted us for so many wrong reasons.

Ryan took a bite of his Meat Lover’s, closing his eyes to savor the flavor.

“Pretty sure I recognize that expression,” I told him. “And it doesn’t usually involve pizza.”

He beamed before swallowing—another familiar act. “Hmmm…now you have me wondering which one I prefer, but I guess I’d be flattering you if I told you the truth.” He winked.

Damn, he had a way of being so fucking charming. Something I’d grown accustomed to since we’d become boyfriends.

His gaze shifted across my expression, as though he was drinking in my face. “You’re in a really good mood,” he noted. “How was your session today?”

Since we’d both come to terms with our fucked-upness, we’d started seeing therapists. Talking through the issues in my childhood and those I’d taken on with King and his knights made me realize how much help I’d needed and for how long. It wasn’t a magic fix, but it was the start of a journey, one I was sharing with Ryan.

“It was a good one today,” I said. “It’s getting easier now that we’re past the part where I feel like I’m dumping all this BS on him and asking him to put me back together again.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling. Not sure I’m quite there yet,” he said, his eyes wide as if he wasn’t sure he’d be getting there anytime soon. “Although, it’s kind of a miracle that I’m even talking to anyone about my daddy issues, so I guess there’s that.”

I reached across the table and took his hand, gripping it gently, feeling the familiar warmth of his touch. We shared something special, something that wasn’t just the sparks or lust with someone like King. We had that too, but there was something more. Intimacy. Real intimacy with another man.

“Hey, you’re doing fine,” I told him. “I know that’s been hard for you to face, and I hope you know I’m here for you whenever you need to talk.”

“That goes for you too, mister. We all have to grapple with some of this shit within our minds, but we have to remember we’re not on our own in any of this. Not anymore.”

I stared into his eyes, as if trying to decipher some text scribbled across his blue irises, looking for something deeper, attempting to see into his heart.

“Shit.” Ryan’s expression twisted up as he slid his phone out of his pocket. “Meant to turn this off for date night.”

Date night.We were too fucking cute these days.

“Oh, it’s Corey texting. He’s asking if we want to hang out with him and Stan this weekend.”

“Totally. I’m down for that.”

Corey and his partner, Stan, were starting to incorporate BDSM into their relationship, as Corey continued his counseling sessions to ensure he wasn’t leaning on it for the wrong reasons, as we had all done. Although Ryan and I had discussed the possibility of working our way to something along those lines, we weren’t there yet. We wanted to clear our minds—break away from the unhealthy aspects of what we’d done with Sy—before attempting anything like that. Besides, it was plenty of fun just to fuck around together. Fucking and being fucked by Ryan never felt wrong or toxic, never felt like any of those other things we had participated in with Sy.

It would take time on that front, and besides, we had plenty to figure out now that we had to consider how to keep things going after our senior years came to an end. Ryan would be graduating before me, and he was planning to work near campus for a while, at least until I graduated. I still had to take a Maymester and some extra summer courses.

It seemed like a miracle that we’d found each other, so we sure as fuck weren’t about to walk away from what we had.

Ryan and I caught up some more about our day and made plans for the rest of the week. When I heard the door creak open behind me, for some reason, I felt this pull to look.

I was certain I’d checked back plenty of times without noticing, but that time, I found my jaw dropping.

There he was…