The Color of Summer by Anna Martin

Author:Anna Martin [Martin, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-64405-140-5
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2019-05-28T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

THE MORNING of the Reed family cookout dawned with the sun working hard to burn off the mist from the mountains. Max had worked late the night before, keeping the studio open when a group of people came in, all wanting to be tattooed.

Unexpected walk-ins late in the afternoon was always Max’s worst nightmare, but the group turned out to be pretty awesome. They were from Richmond and had heard about the grand opening party at Sweetwater Ink from the Instagram stories of one of the tattoo bloggers who’d attended. The four girls and three guys all had dozens of tattoos each and seemed to be on more of a fact-finding mission than a well-thought-through plan to get tattooed.

He’d played with little gap-filler tattoos—a black cat, a skull, a key, a bottle of poison. The designs themselves were fun, and the atmosphere in the studio had been buzzy. The group were respectful and attentive, even if they had ordered pizza to be delivered halfway through the evening. Max hoped he’d sent them back to Richmond with a good impression of his studio. They were definitely people who would influence future customers.

He stretched on the bed, rolling over to tug his curtains open. Yep, today was going to be a scorcher. When he was younger, Max had loved summer days like this. He’d hang out at the lake on the ranch’s property with Shaun and their little gaggle of friends. Summer in the city was never the same, and he relished the opportunity to lie out and enjoy the sun.

Shaun was driving back this morning and said he’d pick Max up on the way over to his parents’ house. That gave Max a couple of hours to run his chores and still have time to make himself look pretty for the party.

He hadn’t managed to catch up with Mr. and Mrs. Reed since he’d been back, and he was excited to see them. When he was growing up, he’d spent as much time at Shaun’s house as he had at his own. At graduation, Mrs. Reed joked with Max’s mom that they took joint responsibility in raising their sons.

It was a little after eight thirty when Max finally rolled into the shower.

He could admit to himself that he was nervous about the cookout. Shaun was his best friend, practically his brother, and Max still hadn’t told him what was going on between himself and Shaun’s older brother. They had never kept secrets from each other as kids and he hated the idea of doing it now.

Tyler had slipped into being comfortable with their relationship easier than Max could ever have anticipated, though Max was still waiting for the shit to hit the fan. He didn’t like the idea that Tyler was basing his big gay crisis on his attraction to Max. He’d been in a similar position before, with someone who’d used Max to explore their own sexuality, and it had sucked.

Max had to remind himself that this wasn’t college, and Tyler wasn’t the sort of guy who would treat him like that.

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