Christmas Tree Wishes: An MM Holiday Romance by Kelsey Hodge

Author:Kelsey Hodge [Hodge, Kelsey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-11-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9 – Archie

I never in my wildest dreams thought that when River caught up to me, he was going to suggest we pick up where we left off. But here he was standing in front of me asking just that, and I had to say no. I’d never felt so ashamed of myself as I did in that moment. River might not have realised, but I spotted the flash of hurt on his face when I said no. What he had been saying had sounded wonderful, us picking up where we had left off in Phuket, and yet I still said no. I hadn’t wanted to tell him the reason behind my rejection because I knew the reason was silly. I’d hoped saying no would be enough, but I should have known that River wouldn’t let it drop, and so I’d had to admit that I wasn’t out.

I wasn’t sure what River was going to say because while we had been away, I’d been very open about my sexuality, and yet here I was, standing in front of him and telling him that I really was in the closet and had no plans on coming out. River hadn’t really questioned me on why I hadn’t come out, but instead pointed out that if I’d contacted him, he would have replied, then asked what my plan was after. Of course, my plan had been to go visit him in whatever city he lived where no one knew me, just like abroad, and I could be me, but I couldn’t tell that to River. How foolish would that make me seem? “We can be together anywhere except my village. The one place it would be easy to see each other.”

The whole conversation just made me feel awkward, and I hadn’t wanted to answer River’s question, so instead, I just tried to walk away like the coward I am. I was hoping by seeing my retreating back, River would get the answers he was looking for, but then River had called out to me. I considered ignoring him and continuing to walk, but I knew I couldn’t. When I turned, he’d asked if I was serious about what I had said about getting the Christmas tree back, and when I’d confirmed that I was, I was expecting for River to suggest we join forces.

My first instinct had been to say no, something I was getting very good at saying to River, but then I remembered the amount of work in front of me. From the research I had done so far, getting a Christmas tree for the village wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought, and I knew having the extra help would be great. But could I really work with River? He had insisted we could, that we could do it as friends, and I wanted to believe him so much, but I think the days of us being just friends was long gone. Yet the thought of spending time with River, of maybe finally getting to know everything about him, had won out, and I agreed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.