Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 82187 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82187 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Ruxs and Green strolled over, both carrying paper boats piled with curly fries and wings.
“Curtis!” Green shouted. “We’re comin’ down next month and staying for the whole summer.”
Curtis smiled, taking Green’s food from him and helping himself, but Gen’s eyes widened, going pale as if he was about to be sick.
They hung out until dark fell. The music got louder and the beer trucks had much longer lines as the block party turned up several notches.
God lounged at a table with his brother and Hart. Their entire team was there, and he liked how relaxed they looked after the time off.
Day turned and gave him a slight wink while he chatted with Callum and his husband near the stage.
“Where the hell did Curtis go?” Gen asked, scanning the still-large crowd.
Before God could answer, the sky exploded into a brilliant array of colors.
The first barrage of fireworks flew high overhead, but these weren’t just normal fireworks. They split open into a massive burst of neon blue, red, and gold—Atlanta’s official colors.
The crowd went crazy.
Another set spiraled like spinning wheels, throwing showers of gold sparks that rippled down the sky like curtains.
Then came the smoke…
Billowing clouds of red, white, yellow, and then silver rose behind the explosions. Crackling comet tails streaked through the haze, leaving trails of glittering embers.
His team figured it out faster than the audience. It was Wes and Law, and the crowd began to chant their names.
The cheers were almost as loud as the window-rattling booms.
A series of fireworks burst in perfect symmetry, spraying peacock-fan shapes of emerald and sapphire light that seemed to hover in the sky before dissolving into diamond-like dust.
Ribbons of smoke twisted into tight spirals, then burst outward like blooming flowers, changing colors from deep violet to neon pink to blinding white.
Sparkling white strobes formed a web across the sky producing a waterfall of cascading silver sparks dropping so low, the crowd gasped, reaching up as though they might touch them.
Smoke seemed to glow from within, like northern lights trapped in a cloud.
The thunderous finale blasts were so powerful God felt the vibrations in his chest.
A sonic boom echoed off the buildings before brilliant red sparks gathered, coiling into words that hung inside a translucent smoke like magic and spelled out: GEN, I LOVE YOU
The crowd gasped.
Gen’s eyes went as big as saucers. “Oh my God.”
Another firework shrieked into the sky. It exploded in a burst of crimson flames, and the smoke swirled again. New letters burned through the haze: WILL YOU MARRY ME?
People were screaming. God glanced over at his brother, who was close to crying.
The final blast released a bouquet of bright-white heart-shaped smoke that burst into showers of pink sparks.
In the lingering smoke, one last message appeared: LOVE, CURTIS
The music cut out as Curtis appeared on the stage, looking more nervous than God had ever seen him.
He dropped to one knee, microphone shaking in his hand.
“Genesis Godfrey…I love you. Will you marry me?”
Gen bolted for the stage, shoving people out of his way as if he was running for a touchdown. He sprinted up the stairs, yanked Curtis off his knee, into his arms, and crushed their mouths together while the crowd and his team went crazy.
Fireworks kept bursting overhead, strobing the block in white and gold light and smoky hearts.
Ruxs yelled at God, “Bro! This kid’s making us all look bad!”
God laughed, arms crossed, soaking it all in.
Curtis was hugging Gen, the mic still on. “Is that a yes?”
Gen grabbed the mic, hair wild, face red. “Of course it’s yes, dammit!”
“Good.” Curtis beamed as he tugged on Gen’s hand. “Now, come on. I want you to meet my new friends, Wes and Law.”
Ramon Vasquez
There was no recollection of time in this darkness, no yesterday or tomorrow.
Just endless floating.
Vasquez drifted in a black ocean, weightless and heavy at the same time.
Voices seemed to echo around him, but they were too muffled to understand or hold on to.
Pain didn’t feel like pain. Instead, it felt like heat, a roaring pressure under his skin dragging him down when he tried to rise.
Sometimes, he thought he was still in the locker room, staring at himself in that scratched-up mirror, the tainted badge on his chest.
Other times, he was sure he heard his father coughing, whining, and begging for help.
Worse were the flashes of Joshi. His strong jaw and dark beard. The feel of his touch on his cheek and lips along his throat.
Vasquez did all he could to lean into those feelings that felt so real it was cruel, because he could never hold on to it. Every time he tried, it slipped right through his fingers like water.
He didn’t know if he was dead or alive. He’d never been a religious man, both of his parents had worked on Sundays.
He didn’t know if he was in Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory. He’d made choices that could’ve condemned him to any three. Had played both sides of the line until his world split beneath him.