Will & Patrick Fight Their Feelings (#4) by Leta Blake, Alice Griffiths Page B

hours.
    Unfortunately, Patrick hadn’t shaved since getting home from work, and Will now knows hours of kissing plus rough stubble equals insane beard burn.
    “Will.” His mom’s eyes narrow. “It looks like something to me.”
    “Mom, it’s fine. It doesn’t hurt at all.” His mind snatches on a good distraction from this conversation. “Is everything okay? Patrick said he saw you and Jason at the hospital.”
    “Jason’s mother had gallbladder surgery; there were a few complications, and she had to stay the night. We were checking in on her. Funny, but I didn’t see your doctor friend.”
    “My husband.”
    She tilts her head and examines him closely. Her eyes zoom in on his neck. Oh hell, the hickey.
    “Will Patterson, is that a…a love bite on your neck?”
    Will sighs again as his mother’s eyes widen in understanding.
    “Are you sleeping with Dr. McCloud?” she hisses.
    “Here’s your coffee, Will.” Jax slides it across the counter, eyebrow raised and amusement glittering in his eyes.
    Will takes the coffee, smiles tightly, and tugs his mother to the most secluded table in the back corner.
    “Keep your voice down, Mom,” he whispers as they settle into the chairs. He leans toward her over the table and shakes his head. “What sort of question was that to ask in front of Jax? I’m supposed to be happily married! Of course I’d be sleeping with Patrick.”
    She folds her arms across her chest and glares. “I don’t care about Jax’s opinion. I care about you !”
    A familiar angry churn begins in his stomach. “Mom, back off. I stay out of your relationships,” he says with a steady, meaningful gaze. “It’s time you stayed out of mine.”
    “And just what’s that supposed to mean?”
    “You know exactly what it means.”
    Her lips purse and her blue eyes narrow. “If you don’t approve of Jason, you should just say so. Kevin already has.”
    “Kevin doesn’t approve of Jason?”  His uncle had seemed plenty fond of the guy the day before when talking with Will.
    “He says it’s less about Jason and more about the children. But children are happy when their parents are happy. Studies show—”
    “Stop.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “I said stop. You’re out of control and you need to admit that.”
    “What?” She blinks at him and shakes her head. “Who…? This is unlike you, Will. What’s going on here?”
    “What’s going on is that you dare to criticize me and my choices when you’re out and about with your new boyfriend, being sexually inappropriate in public—”
    “Excuse me?”
    “Patrick saw you at the hospital making out behind the vending machines.”
    “That’s not public.”
    Will gapes at her. “Really? That’s your position?”
    His mother darts her eyes away. “Well, what’s your defense? Sleeping with Dr. McCloud? It’s not right and you know it.”
    “This isn’t a mother/son ‘who’s screwing up more’ competition. This is me calling you out on hypocrisy and being negligent as a parent.”
    Kimberly’s cheeks splotch red and her eyes go hot as a blue flame. “You watch your mouth, young man.”
    “Why? Because you don’t want to hear Caitlin is furious with you, or that Olivia misses spending time with you, or that Connor is going to get attached to Jason and then you’re just going to dump him eventually, breaking your kid’s heart? Or do I need to watch my mouth because you don’t want to hear I’m having consensual sex with someone you don’t approve of? I’m a grown man. I can make my own choices.”
    “Will, this isn’t like you.”
    “It is, Mom,” he says quietly. “It’s the new me.” He realizes he really hasn’t been the same since he met Patrick in Vegas.
    “If Dr. McCloud is blackmailing you, forcing you to sleep…”
    “The fact that you’d even say that shows how little you know about him and, come to think of it, about me.”
    She flushes. “Well, what on earth am I supposed to think,