Riding Tall Read Online Free PDF Page A

details! But I’d want to know in general terms. Not just because of diseases or whatever, but because….” Another frown as he tried to figure this out.
    “So you could do the same,” Mackenzie suggested. He still wasn’t giving any clues about his feelings on this topic.
    “No,” Joe said. He was pretty sure that was true. He didn’t want an open relationship, didn’t want to fool around with some other guy. He’d been terrified of coming this far in the relationship, but he’d made it and he wasn’t interested in taking any steps backward. But if it was what Mackenzie wanted…. “I guess I just wouldn’t want to be the stupid one. I’d want to know just… just to know.”
    Mackenzie’s expression was becoming clearer now, and Joe wished it would go back to being unreadable. “I was with Nathan for more than five years , and I never cheated on him! I have never given you a single reason not to trust me! You honestly think I’d fuck around just because I was away for a couple nights? You think I’m such a slut that I couldn’t control myself if I went to a few clubs?”
    “You were so drunk you can’t remember how the night ended! You told me that five minutes ago! I mean, if you were so in control of yourself, how’d you end up getting so wrecked the night before a big day of work?”
    “You think every time I get drunk I fool around with the first guy I see?”
    “Not the first one, maybe.” Okay, that hadn’t come out quite right. “Fuck, Mackenzie, I just asked . If you say nothing happened, I believe you. It just seemed like the sort of situation where something might have happened, and I wasn’t sure we’d ever really had a conversation about it, so… I guess I just wondered. That’s all.”
    “Because we hadn’t had a conversation about it?” Mackenzie’s outrage seemed to be growing with each attempt Joe made to explain. “You know what? We haven’t had conversations about lots of things! We’ve never explicitly said that I shouldn’t pour bleach down your throat when you’re asleep, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to do it!”
    “Okay, I think having sex with someone is a bit more tempting than killing me with bleach. Jesus, Mackenzie, that was the first thing that popped into your head?”
    Mackenzie huffed out an exasperated puff of air. “Okay, yes, that was a strange example. But, seriously? If I’d gone down there and fucked around for two nights and come back up here, that would have been okay with you? I mean….” He looked like he knew he shouldn’t say the next part, but then he decided to say it anyway. “Nathan would have kicked me out for even thinking about it. But you’re just all casual—”
    “No,” Joe said quickly. “Not casual. And it wouldn’t have been okay. But, I guess… I guess if it came down to having you on those terms or not having you at all, I’d take you on those terms. You know?”
    And now Mackenzie’s expression was back to being unreadable. Finally, he stepped forward and reached for Joe’s hand. “You’re an idiot,” he said as he tentatively entwined his fingers with Joe’s. “And I forget that sometimes. I think that just because I’m crazy about you, and just because I tell everyone I know how crazy I am about you, and just because it’s sickeningly obvious to anyone with eyes that I’m completely crazy about you… I think you might actually see that yourself. Silly me.”
    Joe didn’t really want to argue on this one. “Sometimes I need things spelled out for me,” he admitted.
    Mackenzie nodded, then stretched up to give Joe a gentle kiss. “First letter is I.” He stepped back far enough to get a good view of Joe’s expression. “Second letter is L.” He was still watching Joe closely, as if expecting him to bolt. “Then O,” he whispered.
    Joe was frozen. Things were happening too fast. Well, not in general. He’d been thinking about saying what he was pretty sure Mackenzie was saying.