Only You by Jerry Cole (the top 100 crime novels of all time TXT) 📕

as silly as doing the laundry, or going grocery shopping, or cleaning the house. But if there was one thing he would not stand for, it was having his work put down. And right in front of him!

“I’m going to dinner now,” he said calmly. “If tonight goes as well as I think it will... well, maybe you’ll get your wish.”

This time, it was his mother’s turn to look worried. “What does that mean?”

Bradley smirked and climbed in the car.

“Bradley. What does that mean?” She asked again, looking panicked. “Hello? Bradles?!”

But Bradley ignored her. He turned the car on, pumped the stereo to full volume and took off from the house without so much as a glance in his mother’s direction. It felt good too, having the final say like that. No doubt she’d spend the whole night and next day wondering what on earth he had meant. If only he could hang around and watch.

But he couldn’t. Not tonight. With his outfit looking as good as it did, and Bradley looking as good as he did by extension, there was no time to gloat. Tonight was going to be big. Huge even! And truly, he could not wait.

***

“You’re breaking up with me?!”

“That’s what I just said.”

“But... but... you’re breaking up with me?”

“Do you want me to write it down?”

“I don’t... how are you... you’re breaking up with me?!!!!”

Bradley didn’t know what else to say. Fuck, it was a miracle that he could speak at all! He had come to dinner tonight, expecting some sort of magical, transcendent evening. Instead, he was given the social equivalent of a pie being thrown in his face. Jackson, his boyfriend, his one true love, was breaking up with him.

“Please don’t make a scene,” Jackson sighed and rolled his eyes. “If I had known you would be a little drama queen about it, I wouldn’t have chosen such a nice spot.” He had his arms crossed, his lip curled and was fixing Bradley with a look of utter distaste.

It was perhaps a godsend that Bradley had now crossed into a moment of pure speechlessness, so that he could digest what had just happened without saying anything that might cause more embarrassment. Not that he really cared about that right now! He was so darn mortified he could have died.

Tonight was his and Jackson’s six-month anniversary and he was so sure they were going to take it to the next level. For Bradley, this most likely meant becoming ‘official’ with the possibility of living together... but that did seem a touch too soon. Although for Jackson, he would have considered it.

Even now, after having his heart broken, Bradley was still frustratingly smitten by just how darn sexy Jackson was. It was his square jaw and thick lips. No! It was his short cut curly hair and thick lashes. No! It was his bulging chest, his thick thighs, his ample cock! No! It was... it was... it was all of it! Jackson was a God among men, and he had chosen Bradley... until he hadn’t.

“Why?” Bradley spoke into his chest. He didn’t dare look at Jackson either, lest he fall for the man all over again.

“Really?” Jackson fidgeted in his seat; so obviously wanting to get the heck out of the restaurant. “You want to do this? Now?”

“Yes,” Bradley said softly, still into his chest. The world was spinning slightly, but he was slowly regaining his composure. “I want to... I deserve to know why.”

Jackson sighed so loud that the table next to them must have been able to hear. “You’re too young. It’s as simple as that.”

“Too young!” Bradley exclaimed, before quickly dropping his voice and hissing across the table. “I’m only two years younger than you!”

“In years, maybe,” Jackson shrugged. “But, Brad... come on. You’re twenty-five and you still live with your mom —”

“I’m moving out soon.”

“You can’t cook, I’ve never once seen you do anything close to a chore —”

“So, you’re ending it? Because I don’t know how to make a stir-fry?”

“And you haven’t worked once since I met you – not once!” Jackson was sitting up now, as if listing Bradley’s fault had gotten him invested. “You keep telling me that any day now it’s going to happen. But guess what, Brad? An opportunity isn’t going to just fall from the sky and land in your lap. You have to make it happen – and you just don’t want to. Or care to. I dunno, but that’s a fact.”

Bradley had never really considered himself an emotional person, but right now there was a storm raging inside of him. Gone was the self-contempt and pity. It had instead given way to anger, and resentment, and an urge to be proven correctly.

If there was one thing that Bradley hated, one thing! It was people talking about his job to him like they knew what they were talking about, when more often than not, they had no idea. Bradley was an actor, or at least an aspiring one. And one day he would be a working actor too. But it just hadn’t happened for him yet. And it would! He knew it would. It was his destiny. Right now, it was just a matter of being patient and waiting for the right role.

But try telling Jackson that. Or his mother. Or his friends. They all told him to get real and get an actual paying job, or to take smaller roles that were beneath him. None of them knew, but they all loved to talk about it.

“Fact, is it?” Bradley spoke through his teeth. “Fact?”

Jackson held up his hands in feigned self-defense. “It’s not just the acting,” he continued a little too coolly. “Honestly, mate. Like I said, you’re just a little too young. I’m twenty-eight next month, I have a job,