Though Ellis hadn’t known it, Clark had said precisely what he had needed to hear. Ellis threw himself into Clark’s arms and hugged him like the lifeline Clark had been so many times. Dams broke in Ellis, and longing for Bryn filled Ellis up to the brink.
“What’d you think?” Clark joked, his voice tender “We’d excommunicate you from the merry band of New Amsterdam queers for falling for one of them?”
Ellis snorted and burrowed against Clark. He really had been afraid, he realized. He’d been scared that caring about or, heaven forbid, loving somebody outside their group might mean he would lose the men who’d helped him find a way to love himself or others in the first place.
“You’ve been talking about Bryn for months, honey,” Clark murmured. “We’ve been paying attention.”
Resignation se
