Blue Boy (gay) ✔️

25. Blue Echo.

"Jason? Jason?!", Karen impatiently snapped her fingers.

"What?", he said absentmindedly.

"Where are you with your thoughts?" she asked. "Or can I save myself the trouble and guess that you were thinking about Conner. Like every other second of the last four weeks after you walked out of the house," she wryly added. "Luckily, you had a job as a distraction."

He smiled. Alex had arranged a nice commission piece for him who had served as a cover for his actual occupation.

"I'm really proud of you, Jason. You did a great job and still kept in touch. CJ was very happy that he could see and speak to you regularly."

He shrugged. "A promise is a promise."

"You didn't promise anything," she corrected him. "You said you'd do your best." She took a sip of her coffee. "When can I see what you really worked on?", she asked out of nowhere.

Jason choked on his coffee. "Karen?!", he shouted skittishly looking around. "What are you talking about?"

She looked at him happily. "Your reaction already tells me enough, little brother."

For a moment he contemplated keeping her in the dark, but with a deep sigh he just caved. "Besides my commission piece, I'm also working on something else," he admitted.

"Ha!" Karen exclaimed.

"But it's not finished yet," he hastily added. After a brief hesitation, he cautiously gazed at Karen. "I don't know if I want to make these paintings public, but if you want, you can see them," he promised.

"Who else," she fished defiantly.

Jason bit wobbly on his lower lip. "I don't know yet."

Karen frowned. "Sounds complicated."

"It is," he agreed.

Karen read a message that just came in on her phone. "Conner just arrived." She looked up. "Just come for dinner," she pleaded. "If you don't like it, you can always leave."

Jason took a shaky breath. "Does Duncan say anything about Conner's looks?"

"No," she reread the message. "I'll ask." Her thumbs flew over the keys. Almost immediately she got a reply back. "Better than a week ago," she read. She responded head-shaking to his tormented frown. "Why don't you wipe the slate clean and start over? He's survived all these weeks without you and is no longer dependent on you."

"Exactly," Jason sighed. "He will get his life back on track and move on." After a brief silence, he continued with an almost whispering: "I assume I have to do the same." 'For the second time,' he thought in himself.

"Did you really drive the car from New York to San Francisco, Uncle Conner?", CJ asked in awe. The boy hung on his every word from the moment he entered the house.

Jason sat diagonally opposite him eating with long teeth. Their greeting had been extremely cool and impersonal. It was hard not to stare at Conner. Duncan had said he looked better than he did a week ago, so he just had to assume he probably looked bad. However, in his opinion, Conner had not looked so attractive before. There seemed to be a new essence in him, which he was irresistible drawn to. Under the table, he clenched his fists. He should be fighting these kinds of feelings if he wanted to be able to maintain contact with Conner.

"Yes. I took your father's advice and looked up some comrades," he high-fived CJ grinning.

"Oh right," Karen said. "How was Theo? Is everything going well with his rehabilitation?"