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

One of the better parts of his new pursuit in acting was all the friends he was making. Before Europe, Bradley was a bit of a loner, truth be told. He always had a boyfriend, but that boyfriend was usually his only network. The idea of going to bars with groups of friends was completely alien to him.

Unfortunately, tonight was the one night he wasn’t going to be able to join them.

“Rain check?” he asked.

Isabelle frowned. “You better not be ditching me for a hot date,” she warned. “You know how jealous I get.”

Bradley laughed. “Does my mom count?” When Isabelle and the rest of the group raised their eyebrows at him, he hurried to explain. “I promised my mom I’d pack my room up tonight – which she took to mean that I wanted her help and now it’s a whole thing.”

“Cute,” Isabelle said. “A little mommy and son time.”

“If you don’t hear from me, assume I slit my wrists.”

Bradley said goodbye to the gang, promised he’d join them next time and then started to make his way home. As mentioned, he had a date with his mom and didn’t want to be late. Although to be fair, it wasn’t his mom that he worried about being late for. His concern was starting late, because if he did that, he would finish late which meant his phone call would be pushed back. And that simply would not do.

But yes, Bradley was packing his room up with his mother tonight and that’s because finally, he was moving out. That was the second great change to come out of Bradley’s trip to Europe; a desire for independence the likes of which he had never known before.

“I can’t believe my baby is moving out!” Bradley’s mother sat on the edge of his bed, surrounded by used tissues, and adding to the pile as the minutes wore on. So far, she hadn’t done anything even closely resembling ‘help,’ choosing to cry and carry on the entire time instead. “Is it true! Can it be!”

Bradley on the other hand was a man on a mission. Technically, he didn’t move out until the next weekend, but he had promised his mother that he’d have his room packed up long before that. He’d been planning on doing it mid-week, but his mother had insisted on today... only because she said she’d be helping.

“Nope,” Bradley said through gritted teeth as he hoisted a box full of heavy textbooks up from the floor and balanced it in his arms. “It’s all a big joke – surprise.”

“If only!” his mother wailed and then blew her nose so loudly into a tissue that the room seemed to shake. “Was it me?! Am I the reason!”

Bradley was quick out the door, adding the box to the pile that was slowly collecting in the living room. It was a process, this moving thing. First, he’d packed up everything he owned into boxes. Now, he was moving them from his room into the living room, by the front door. After that he’d have to put them in a car, take them to his new place, carry them inside and then unpack them... and all by himself.

“I’ll remind you that you wanted this.” Bradley was back in the room and headed for the next box. This one had random bits and pieces in it, so weighed close to nothing.

“I did not!”

“All right,” he rolled his eyes. “We can just pretend.” He lifted the box up, tucked it under his arm and headed for the door. As he did, his mother continued to weep like he was going off to war... and not moving literally two blocks away.

It had just kind of happened. With his trip to Europe being what it was, and his acting starting to take off, Bradley had one day been struck with the desire to move and live by himself. He was twenty-five after all and felt as if he needed his own space. Also, and this was a big one, his mother was constantly at him about getting his life on track, which was why her tears right now were more crocodile tears than anything.

The place he had lined up for himself was nothing special either. It was just a studio-apartment located above a convenience store. Three months ago, the idea of living there would have had Bradley curling his lip in disgust, kicking up stink and begging for a better option. Now though... well, now he could not wait.

“If you’re not going to help, can we do this tomorrow?” Bradley asked when he was back in the room.

“How about never!” his mother wailed.

“That too,” he sighed. He then checked the time, seeing that his phone call was less than fifteen minutes away. This stage of the packing should have been finished by now. “But seriously, I have something I need to do in —”

“Oh, I see. Already ditching your mother – you haven’t even moved out yet!”

“I told you I was busy later.”

“I thought you were... acting!”

“Mom...” Bradley put his hands on his hips and raised an eyebrow. “Do I need to give you a time out?”

It took a little more cajoling, but eventually Bradley was able to kick his mother out of his room with the promise that they would finish the packing the next day and then go out for lunch; a little mother and son time, as she called it.

Once he was alone, Bradley whipped his phone out and fell onto his bed. He still had a minute or two left, so he went about using the reflection in his screen to make sure he looked as good as humanly possible.

This time it was Sherman’s turn to call. The two were on weekly calls by now, although often they called twice a week, and sometimes even three times!