From This Moment by Kim Vogel Sawyer

Author:Kim Vogel Sawyer [Vogel Sawyer, Kim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2021-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

Jase

Jase pushed his key into the lock, twisted the knob, and stepped inside his apartment. Then he stopped, his heart firing into his throat.

Cullen Wade slouched in the middle of Jase’s sofa, knees widespread and arms stretched along the sofa’s back. He didn’t even move when Jase entered, only offered a lopsided smirk and said, “Hi.”

Jase looked at the keys in his hand, then at Cullen. “How’d you get in here?”

Cullen shrugged. “Pretty easy if you’ve got a nice stiff library card. Which I do.”

His next expenditure would be a dead bolt. Jase dropped his keys into his pocket. Remembering what Sister Kraft had said about having kids up here, he left his door open even though it let in the cold air. He folded his arms and aimed a stern frown at Cullen. “It isn’t cool to let yourself in at somebody’s place when they aren’t there. It’s a good way to get yourself accused of breaking and entering.”

Cullen swung his arms down and sat up, clamping his hands over the knees of his torn jeans and glaring at Jase from beneath thick brown bangs. “Does it look like I broke my way in? Besides, you told everybody at church that you were always available, twenty-four seven. But maybe you didn’t mean it.”

The challenge in the boy’s tone set Jase’s teeth on edge. Did he have to test Jase at every turn? But he realized the real reason Cullen bugged him. Cullen reminded Jase too much of his teenage self, using cockiness to hide unworthiness, rejecting others before they had the chance to reject him. If Jase’s foster parents and Brother Tony and Sister Eileen and so many others at Grace Chapel in San Antonio hadn’t loved on him in spite of his unlovable ways, how might he have turned out? Cullen didn’t need Jase’s anger. He needed Jase’s love. Maybe his tough love.

Jase took two steps and perched on the arm of his sofa. He gave a nod. “I did mean it. I’ll be there for you when you need to talk, but from now on, you gotta call first. Set up a time. And we need to meet in my office, not here”—he sent a quick glance around the living room—“in my home.”

Cullen rolled his eyes. “Sheesh, didn’t know there was a bunch of rules to follow. All I wanted to do was tell you I kinda fibbed to you yesterday.”

“Oh, yeah?” Jase eased onto the sofa.

Cullen slid to the opposite end. He angled himself on the seat and aimed his pimply face in Jase’s direction. “Yeah. About my medical condition.” He fiddled with the ragged cuff on his hoodie sleeve. “See, I don’t exactly have a problem with my bladder. What I have is a problem with sitting so cramped together. I get…sort of twitchy. You know, like there’s bugs or something crawling under my skin. And I gotta go to where there’s more space. You know what I mean?”

“You mean you get claustrophobic.”

Cullen nodded.

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