Micah Johnson Goes West (Get Out, #2)(58)

“Sam!” his mother cried.

Maia giggled.

“—But it doesn’t matter now!” Sam said. “The Mitchell Clan is one again!”

“I’ll drink to that,” the patriarch of the family said.

“Any excuse,” Sam and Dane said together.

Micah had to admit it was impossibly cute, how things could change in an instant.




I GUESS I can do coffee. When?

Micah was about to type a response when Sam sat beside him. Micah had escaped to the pool to get some privacy, but of course that meant Sam had to check up on him. “What are you up to?”

Micah quickly tapped Tell me where and when and sent it before Sam could try and peer over his shoulder. “Nothing.” He saw Sam was still wearing his T-shirt a la Peter Allen, and reached over and yanked the knot free so it covered up his stomach again.

“Hey!” Sam protested.

“You can’t carry that look off.”

“You’re just turned on by me. Can’t stand the sight of my washboard abs.” Sam lifted the hem, exposing his treasure trail.

“There are better abs in the change room,” Micah said.

“Really?” Sam leaned in. “Who?”

“Like I’m going to tell you!”

“I thought we said no more secrets?”

“Come on, I’ve got to have some.” Micah grinned.

“I think there’s been enough secrets lately to last us a decade.”

He could be right, Micah thought, but he wasn’t sharing any thoughts on how attractive some of his teammates were. “Okay. I’m arranging to meet a guy. For coffee,” he added quickly, lest Sam thought he was up to his old tricks.

“A date?” Sam crowed. “Micah Johnson has a date? This day keeps getting better and better!”

“Fuck off.”

“So who is the lucky guy?”

“Let’s not talk about me,” Micah said, deflecting. “Let’s talk about you gaining a gay brother.”

Sam smiled. “I didn’t gain him today.”

“What do you mean?”

“I knew he was gay. We all knew he was gay. We were just waiting for him to be comfortable enough to tell us. We tried to hint to him that he could, but he was always oblivious to it. I guess it’s just fear of rejection. But I know I didn’t want to push him until he was ready.”

“Wow,” Micah said. “What was it you were saying earlier about secrets?”

“I know.” Sam at least had the good sense to look a little shamed. “It was horrible watching him try to do it. He was so angry, and I kept trying to be his older brother, but he’d push me away. So we brought you in.”

Micah jerked involuntarily. “What?”

“We thought maybe you’d be a role model for him, showing him that we were okay with him being gay.”

“It actually made him feel worse.”

“I know.”

“So, you didn’t really want me? I was just a convenient pawn to out your brother?” Micah could hear the note of betrayal in his voice, even though he was trying to clamp down on it. He had thought he was welcome here, that he had been wanted for who he was, not what he could do for the family.

“No, not at all!” Sam winced. “Aah, this is all coming out wrong.”

“Much like I did,” Micah said.

“Come on. You’re a great guy, Micah. And we did want you because of you. So it was kind of like two birds with one stone, helping you out and hoping that would affect Dane and help him too. Is that such a terrible thing?”

“You wanted me here to be some kind of role model for Dane, and look at what you ended up with.”

Sam took a swig of his beer, as if he was preparing himself for a speech. “Micah, the mistakes you made weren’t because you were gay. Do you know how many other guys are in this exact same situation around the country? First year in the big leagues, earning more money than they’ve ever had before, drinking, hookups with girls after the game, just the same old thing. It’s part of the adjustment phase, and they’ve been trying to improve it and make it less difficult for the new players, which is where the fostering comes in. So I feel like I’ve failed you. I was meant to help you, and I didn’t.”

“You didn’t fail me. I hid everything from you.”

“But I should have known. And I did, on some level. I knew you weren’t exactly happy, but I didn’t know the extent. We were meant to protect you.”

“You can’t protect anyone. And anyway, I came to you when I was ready. So it wasn’t entirely a lost cause.” Micah took a deep breath; being emotionally open was never easy for him, but he had to be or else he would be doing the exact same bullshit this time next year. “I knew you were there for me, Sam, I always did. It was just too hard for me to do it. And that’s my fault, not yours.”

“I feel like getting soppy with you,” Sam said. “Do you want me to get soppy here?”

“I’m almost too scared to answer.”

“It’s just, you’re a good guy. It might have taken a little while, but you being here brought my brother back, and I got a friend to boot.”

“You’re drunk,” Micah teased.