Cocky, Stock & Barrel by Lina Langley

Author:Lina Langley [Langley, Lina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Half Past Three
Published: 2018-05-28T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

After a little while, Ethan felt human again. It was hard to divorce what had just happened from what he had come here to do, but once he was sitting up straight on a chair again and sex didn’t feel like it was on the table—though he had no idea, because with Max, it always felt like sex was on the table—he wanted to finish the conversation that he had come here to have.

This time, Max had brought him a glass of diet soda. He was taking sips as Max stared at him, not saying anything. Ethan knew he was the one who had to start this conversation, but he was still recovering.

He set his gaze right on Max’s face before he spoke. “You shouldn’t drop out,” Ethan said.

“Oh?”

“Look,” Ethan replied, looking away from Max. “I understand that good politicians are needed in the world. You have the opportunity to really affect change. I looked you up.”

Max grinned. “I guess once a journalist, always a journalist.”

“You’re a good person,” Ethan said, shaking his head. “I mean, a bit of a weirdo, but a good person nevertheless.”

“Thanks, Ethan.”

Ethan waved his hand in front of his face. “You need to run,” he said.

Max nodded. “I am,” he said. “Just not this time.”

“No,” Ethan said, his voice breaking when he spoke. He was surprised at how emotional he felt. “You don’t know if you’ll be able to run next time, Max. You don’t know that you’ll even be here tomorrow. You need to run while you can.”

Max watched him. When he spoke, his voice was sweet, low. He wasn’t close enough to Ethan to touch him, but Ethan could tell that Max’s hand would have been on him if the two had just been closer to each other. “Ethan,” he said. “I know you’re concerned, but I’m in no rush.”

“You should probably reconsider that,” Ethan said, an edge of anger creeping into his voice. He didn’t realize how strongly he would feel about this, but he hated that Max was taking the future for granted. “You don’t know—”

“I know,” Max said, waving his hand in front of his face. “But I don’t want a fake boyfriend to win. I want… I don’t know, I guess it’s a little silly, but I want to be myself. That’s how I want to win.”

Ethan cocked his head. “What’s wrong with being single?”

“Nothing,” Max said, after a little while. “If you’re straight. But if you’re gay and you’re single, you have to be some sort of weird pervert. They’re okay with politicians being gay as long as they’re basically housewives, you know, with the white picket fence, the expensive dog and an adopted baby. But if you’re single, voters think you’re a pervert.”

“That’s not fair,” Ethan said. While Max was answering, Ethan was thinking about how horrible the idea of Max being single was, but also how horrible the idea of him being with someone else was. He didn’t know which one he preferred, because both of them seemed like absolutely terrible choices.

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