Page 42 of Balance

“You really want to meet him?”

“Dude, next to me, he’s the most important person in your life. Yes, I want to meet him. I have to make sure he’s good enough for my best friend.”

“I think he is.”

“You say as if you get a vote.” Charlie laughed and folded his arms over his chest.

“I’m pretending that you didn’t say that.”

“We both know your taste in men cannot be trusted.”

“Are you still salty that I said I didn’t ship Link with Ganondorf?”

“Uh, duh. They’re like the ultimate enemies to lovers.” Charlie had a love of all things enemies to lovers. Books. Movies. Games. Porn. He said there was nothing more romantic than winning over someone who used to hate you. Something about seeing someone at their worst and choosing them anyway.

I tried not to think of how that might apply to Matthew and me because he’d met me when I was… well, maybe not at my worst, but we’d definitely gotten off on the wrong foot.

“I think you should be happy that I don’t want to date someone who was my enemy. Somehow that seems like a less healthy choice in real life.”

“Don’t come at me with logic,” Charlie said, pouting a little.

I rolled my eyes and stuffed my hands in my pockets to keep myself from strangling him. “You can meet him.”

“Soon,” Charlie stated, a fact just because he’d decided it was.

“Soon,” I promised.

CHAPTER 22

MATTHEW

It wasn’t that I was ignoring Jett’s opinion on the matter, but it was more like every time I was with Troye, he took up all my attention. I was enamored with him, from the way he moved to the impish look he’d get on his face sometimes when he was feeling particularly sassy.

From our time together, I’d learned that there were many sides to Troye. There was the version I’d met on the plane. The overwrought, overstimulated, under-caffeinated version who was high-strung and about to snap. There was the avid gamer boy, the one who could talk about game play and strategy for hours. Who could dissect user experience like a surgeon with a scalpel. Then there was the current version of him. The comfortable Troye. The kind of silly, kind of sassy version of him that he let loose when he was comfortable.

I’d only just met this version, but it was quickly becoming my favorite. This version of Troye was soft and sweet but able to tease me playfully with a rapier wit. He didn’t worry about saying the right thing or acting the right way.

This version of Troye was the one who called me Daddy more often than not. The one who asked for spankings and who cuddled me after and told me how good the spankings made him feel. This version of Troye felt like it was mine and mine alone. Like maybe it hadn’t existed until I’d given him the space to find this particular Troye inside him.

The end of March had come and gone, and the days were increasingly spring-like in length and warmth, prompting me to want to spend some time outside with Troye. We went for walks along the riverfront, and after I’d buy him hot chocolate and we’d sit in a cafe and drink until his nose and cheeks were no longer wind-kissed and pink.

It was on one of these occasions, about mid-April, when Troye looked at me from across the table. His hands were wrapped around a mug of hot chocolate, even though the day had been unseasonably warm.

“My best friend, Charlie, wants to meet you. He’s been after me for a while, to be honest.” Troye ducked his head like he’d done something bad by delaying the request of his friend. Troye couldn’t stand not pleasing people.

“I’d love to meet your friends.”

Troye’s laugh didn’t have any air in it. “Friend. Singular. Not plural. Charlie is the only fleshy friend I have. All my other friends live in my computer and a lot of them aren’t friends; they’re just people I know. Well, not even that. They’re usernames I’m familiar with.” Troye snapped his mouth shut. He looked like he wanted to reach out and snatch the words back and unsay them.

“I know how that feels. Jett is my closest friend, and for years he was the only person I socialized with. It was hard to have a social life when you were working twenty-six hours a day, ten days a week.”

“But it paid off. Gemstone is an amazing company.”

Sometimes when Troye looked at me, it was like he had stars in his eyes. As if I were the universe, and he was in awe of me. I was sure that I didn’t deserve such admiration, and though I told him as much, it was one thing Troye refused to budge on.

Gemstone was an amazing company, though. And Jett was an infinitely patient partner because he was still waiting on me to have Troye sign that release. Or be officially hired. Or for me to do literally anything that would protect the company in the event that Troye ended up being secretly litigious.

The question felt like acid in my mouth, like the words were made of weapons and launching them would destroy Troye.