Cooper had been there for a couple hours when Autumn asked, “What time is it? Beverly is supposed to be here this evening.”

“I didn’t know you were having company. I could have come another day.” Cooper told her. Beverly was one of women his aunt sewed with. They’d met since Vernon and Autumn moved to Fenton and were really close.

“It was slightly a spur of the moment thing. She just called yesterday and I didn’t want to cancel. She’s going through some things with her son and needed to talk.”

“Ungrateful bastard her son is, if you ask me. It’s wrong what he’s doing to his mama,” Vernon added, with an angry lash of his tongue.

“Oh, Vernon, stop. It’s none of our business. It’s their concern. It’s easy for us to point fingers from the outside.”

“Point fingers? What the hell else is there to understand, Autumn?” Vernon looked at Cooper and shook his head. “The guy comes to dinner at his mama’s house with another man. Says it’s his boyfriend and she needs to accept it or have nothing to do with him. He damn near gave her a heart attack. Poor woman has been in tears for days. How’s she supposed to act when he springs being a faggot on her?”

Ice filled Cooper’s veins. His jaw tightened as he fought the urge to grind his teeth together. He hated that fucking word. He wanted to tell his uncle to watch his mouth. His instincts exploded inside him, to defend this guy he didn’t even know.

Because now I’m like him?

No, because it was the right thing to do.

“You know I don’t like that word, Vernon. And like I said, it’s their business. I’m just going to be there for Beverly. She loves her son. She doesn’t understand what happened to him…where she went wrong.”

Autumn’s words were an echo in Cooper’s head. Is that what they would think if they found out he was with Noah? That they’d done something wrong in raising him?

Not that he was really with Noah.

No, I just have him in my bed every night, and love nothing more than when he has his hands or his mouth on me.

“It’s not her fault, her son is letting his own family down,” Vernon told her. “What kind of man comes to his mama and drops something like that in her lap? He’s a grown man. If he was fag, he would have been before now.”

The urge to vomit crawled up Coop’s throat, questions he asked himself before this thing with Noah started, but had since pushed from his mind, finding their way to the forefront again. He’d always been with women. Loved women. How could he be interested in a man now? It wasn’t who he was. This whole thing wasn’t Cooper.

But the way he makes me feel…invincible. Incredible. Fucking buoyant.

But could he do it? It was like he’d tried to live in a bubble with Noah the past couple weeks. Could it go any further than that? Hell, Cooper didn’t even know how to be gay. Not that that made any sense, but everyone knew he was always with women. If things kept going, how could he ever step out with Noah? People wouldn’t get it. He didn’t get it, and the thought of letting Vernon down after all he’d done for him, made that ice inside him start to take over again.

“Well, let’s just stop worrying about it because it’s not our problem.” Autumn interrupted his thoughts. “Why are you stressing about it if you don’t have to?”

But they would have to stress, worry and deal with it if Cooper kept up with whatever he was doing with Noah.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Noah was surprised to hear the kitchen faucet running when he came downstairs. He hadn’t known Cooper was home from his uncle’s. It wasn’t like Coop not to make his presence known, and it definitely wasn’t like him to come home and start washing dishes. From the clanking going on in the other room, the man obviously wasn’t in a very good mood.

That God damned uncle of his. Noah’s body got tense just thinking about him. He didn’t doubt the man loved his nephew but he always found a way to make Cooper feel like shit too. Noah always felt at odds when it came to Vernon. In some ways, the man gave Noah things his own family didn’t, but just as often, he was a jerk.

Heading straight for Cooper, Noah stepped up behind him, the front of his body lined with Cooper’s. Automatically, he reached his hand around palming the bulge under Coop’s zipper and put his lips next to his ear. “Need help relieving that tension?”

Cooper went rigid against him. Hell, Noah didn’t even think he was breathing. He should have known this would happen. Actually, he had known it would eventually, but he didn’t want to believe it.