Ulric tensed, his ears burning. “He says I’m fine.”
“Didn’t you have a boyfriend before you left?” Mom scoffed. “He thought you were fine, all the way until he dumped you like a bag of trash.”
Could that happen with him and Gage? Ulric didn’t want to think about it, but he remembered Wilkie saying, Gage’s never had a long-term boyfriend before. How long would it be until someone pretty came along? Someone who was an omega, and a better fit for Gage?
“I told you to go on a diet,” Mom said.
“I’ve lost twenty pounds,” Ulric answered quietly. “I’ve been exercising. And I’m on a diet.”
“You just look fatter than you were before. I don’t want to be seen with you in public.”
Ulric’s body felt too heavy, all over again. He glanced down and only saw all the terrible curves. Did Gage mind his weight in secret? Was it one of the things he would never tell Ulric, like how he’d been hiding his sister’s illness from Ulric?
The entire car was silent. Ulric pulled up at the hotel’s warmly-lit drop-off zone, a slender bellboy coming up to open the door.
“You should meet Gage sometime,” Ulric said. “You’d like him.”
Mom scoffed. “Is he a blind man? Is that why he can’t see all that excess fat?”
Ulric’s chest tightened. All his life, he’d only wanted to be accepted by her. But she never had.
“Gage loves him,” Wilkie growled, his voice low with anger. “He can see better than you ever will.”
Mom’s face twisted into a scowl. “On second thought, maybe you won’t be a good match for Ulric at all.”
“Thank goodness,” Wilkie retorted.
The bellboy opened the car door; Mom stalked out. Ulric sighed and forced himself to follow her out of the car. By the time he reached the trunk, Mom already had her suitcase—the bellboy had retrieved it for her.
“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Ulric said, his heart heavy.
Mom grimaced as he stepped closer; she didn’t like being seen this close to him in public. But she would throw a fit if he didn’t kiss her goodnight.
She turned her cheek toward him; Ulric kissed it. Then she stalked up the elegant stairs to the hotel lobby, never once looking back.
When Ulric ducked back into the car, he found Wilkie in the front passenger seat. “You’re perfectly fine,” Wilkie muttered. “And Gage thinks so. Don’t listen to a word she said.”
It was so difficult to breathe. “Don’t mention this to Gage.”
Wilkie frowned. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” Ulric put the car into drive, taking them away from the hotel. He didn’t want Wilkie to remember what his mom had said, he didn’t want Wilkie telling Gage.
His body prickled all over. When Gage saw Ulric... what did he really see? Ulric couldn’t imagine that he saw anything but Ulric’s excess weight. At some point, when Gage really opened his eyes, he would leave, wouldn’t he?
Ulric’s heart hurt. He shoved those thoughts out of his mind, heading for home.
It’d be best to savor what he had, while it lasted.
23
Gage Is Suspicious
When Ulric got home with Wilkie, he looked... a lot worse than Gage had expected. Even Wilkie looked troubled.
“What happened?” Gage’s heart sank. “Babe?”
Wilkie gave him an uneasy look before slipping upstairs. Which only mystified Gage more. “Did something happen to my brother?”
Ulric shook his head. “I picked him up from Crock Street, though. That was pretty bad. You might’ve thrown a fit.”
Gage frowned. Crock Street wasn’t the best part of Highton, but Wilkie seemed to be okay. “It’s something else.”
Ulric skirted around Gage; Gage snagged him by his middle, pulling him close. Ulric stiffened. That felt wrong. Ulric leaned into his hugs these days.
“Hey.” Gage turned Ulric around, kissing him on the lips. Ulric hardly returned the kiss. “Ulric.”
“I need to grab a shower,” Ulric muttered. “I stink.”
He smelled... okay. There was a slight whiff of perfume on his skin that made Gage’s instincts growl. Who had he gone to meet? “I’ll come with you.”
Ulric shook his head forcefully. “No.”
“Someone did something to you.” Gage slipped his hand up Ulric’s shirt, touching his skin. “Babe.”
“I’m not a babe,” Ulric said, growing agitated. “Just—Leave me alone right now. Please.” He pulled Gage’s hand out of his shirt, hunching into himself.
“What happened in Highton?”
“Nothing.”
“It’s not nothing.” Gage turned Ulric back around; Ulric shrugged him off and headed up the stairs. The last time Gage had seen him that worked up, Ulric had huddled into a ball in the kitchen, stuffing his face with cake. And the look in his eyes that night—he’d been nervous somehow.
Was that related to this?
Gage stopped by his bedroom, where Wilkie lay sprawled on his bed, typing into his phone. “Hey, Wilkes. Tell me about today.”
Wilkie looked over warily. “What’s there to tell?”
“Who did Ulric meet in Highton?”
Wilkie cringed. “You’ll have to ask him.”
That wasn’t fair, either. “You can’t tell me?”
“Nope.” Wilkie mimicked zipping his lips. “I promised Ulric.”
Damnit. Gage growled, needing to solve this. What was Ulric hiding? More than that, he didn’t want Ulric going to bed looking like someone had kicked him in the gut.
So he slipped into Ulric’s bedroom, filling his lungs with that honey oak scent. Ulric had a nice king-sized bed, with a few cartoon duck plushies along one wall, some posters on the other walls, and another of Gage’s shirts tucked halfway under his sheets. When Gage picked it up, he found it crusted over with dried come. A lot of it.
Gage’s instincts rumbled, satisfied. Although, to be honest, he would much rather get Ulric off himself. So he could hear Ulric gasp, so he could feel Ulric shudder in his arms.
He perched on the edge of Ulric’s bed, facing the closed bathroom door. Just waiting. He listened to the sounds of Ulric showering, imagining rivulets of water on Ulric’s skin. The shower spray stopped. There was a bit of silence—probably Ulric drying himself. Gage’s cock thickened at that
