See the Light by Cassandra Carr Read Free Book Online

returning to his with obvious reluctance. “Yeah. Me and you and that guy I messed around with in juniors. He probably thinks I’m bi, though.”
Patrick sat up straight. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope.” Jason rolled over to the other side of the bed and rose, grabbing his jeans.
“I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“You didn’t.”
“Bullshit.”
“Look, it’s not something I talk about. Ever. It just…is.” Jason speared Patrick with a look. “How many people know about you?”
Patrick paused for a moment, considering, while Jason pulled his briefs and jeans back on. He took a second to mourn the loss of the sight of Jason’s naked body laid out for his perusal but forced himself back to the conversation. “Um, offhand, I’d say about twenty.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? Twenty?”
“Yeah. Both of my parents know, my siblings—I have two sisters and a brother—and their spouses. That’s eight right there. If I count myself like you counted yourself, that’s nine. Then there’s my two road roommates while I was playing—”
“Hold the phone. Your teammates knew?”
He shrugged. “They were both cool guys, and I trusted them.”
“How did you know they wouldn’t go blabbing it to the rest of the team?”
“Because I knew them . One of them had a gay brother, and the other had broken up a gay bashing back when he was in juniors. Neither of them would’ve outed me.” Gentling his voice, he said, “So your parents don’t even know?”
Jason curled up in the arm chair behind him, clearly uncomfortable with the current topic. But this was important, and Patrick wasn’t letting it go until Jason made him.
“My dad is a construction supervisor. I haven’t heard him say anything outright homophobic, but the couple of times I helped out on the crew when I was still in juniors, I heard plenty from the other guys. Not directed at me, of course.” He shrugged, but the gesture wasn’t casual. “My mom is really insecure. I thought if I told her, she’d blame herself or worry about what other people thought about it. I just didn’t want to have to go through that kinda hassle.”
“But what about friends? Other family members?” Jason shook his head, and a profound wave of sadness rolled over Patrick. “Oh, man, I’m so sorry.”
“It is what it is.”
“I totally killed the mood. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s okay. It’s actually kind of nice to just be here and not have to look over my shoulder every second or worry about what people are seeing in my eyes or my body language, you know?”
“I do.” Patrick left the bed and approached Jason. “I can be your safe harbor. If you want.”
Jason smiled. “I’d like that.”
Patrick pulled the desk chair over to face him. “Now how about you take those pesky pants back off so I can lick you like my own personal ice-cream cone?”
“That’s a horrible line.”
“But it got you smiling, which was all it was supposed to do.” Jason let Patrick pull him out of the chair, and Patrick made short work of his pants before Jason could change his mind. Pushing the younger man gently onto the bed, Patrick stood back and gave him a slow perusal. “You’re fucking gorgeous, you know that?”
Jason smirked. “Ditto.”
Patrick approached Jason once more and straddled him. “So you don’t mind that I’m a little older than you?”
“A little older? Try way older.”
In response, Patrick tweaked Jason’s nipple. Hard.
“Ow. And apparently crotchety.”
“Oh, the hockey player knows big words.”
“My mom’s an English teacher. You should see the words I can pull out of my ass.”
“I’d rather put something in your ass.”
Jason stiffened. “About that…” “Yeah?”
“I don’t think I can do that.”
“You mean like never?”
“I’m not sure,” he said. “But the whole thing kind of freaks me out.”
“You don’t have to. And if you did decide to, I’d prepare you so good you’d be begging me to slide my cock into your