She looks at me, tilting her head. “Sss-sometimes ww-we have to go th-thhrough… ssscary stuff to g-g-get t-to the g-g-good part.”
“Yeah.”
“Mm-mmaybe you’ll c-c-come with WWWes w-w-when I have s-surgery.”
Wes pushes away from the kitchen counter. “Mom, Jett can’t do that. He has work.”
“Ssso d-d-d-do… you,” she counters.
I reach for Wes’ hand and thread my fingers through his. “I could come with you, you know?”
He gapes at me, and I pull him closer, snaking my arm around his waist. Leaning in, I mumble into his hair. “We’re done running, remember? From the hard stuff.” Wes relaxes against me. “We only run for fun now.”
He snorts. “Run for fun?”
“You know what I mean.”
He snuggles up against me. “I do. And I’d love for you to come if you want.”
“I want.”
Evie claps her hands together. “I-It’s sss-settled then.”
“You boys must be hungry,” Brenda says, waving at the table. “Sit down. Let’s have some…” She eyes the clock on the wall. “Well, it’s hardly breakfast anymore.”
“It looks great, Grandma.” Wes rubs his hands together, then sits. He pats the chair next to him, his eyes glinting with happiness. I sit, and our elbows brush against each other whenever we reach for something or butter our bread. The simple touch alone, feeling Wes’ solid presence next to me, calms the last remnants of unrest, and I can finally breathe again.
We eat way too much food while we chat about random stuff, like the new restaurant opening down at the marina or how there’s a new cashier at the grocery store who’s very easy on the eyes, according to Evie. His name’s Teddy, and his smile is like sunshine, apparently.
“He’s a little young, Evie,” Robert grunts.
“N-n-no, he’sss not.” Evie crosses her arms over her chest. “Hhhe’s nice and he nnnnever… t-t-tries to rrrush me or… fff-finish my sentences fffor mmme.” Wes’ mom blushes adorably.
Brenda’s eyes soften. “There are worse things than being a little young, Robert.”
“Guess so,” he mumbles, and Wes’ mom beams as she continues to talk about Teddy and how he once gave her a bouquet that he said couldn’t be sold because a few of the buds had snapped off, but they were in perfect condition.
Wes reaches for my hand under the table, and we twine our fingers together. By the end of breakfast, lunch, or whatever, my jaw aches from smiling, but the dull pain in my chest is long gone, replaced by an overwhelming contentment.
When we finish eating, the weather has cleared up. Wes’ family decides to go for a walk along the beach—a long one—like they know we need some alone time.
After they leave, we make love in Wes’ room, glued to each other. It’s slow and tender at first, taking our time. I stay inside Wes after I’ve come, then fuck him again once we’ve both caught our breath, this time harder, more feverish. We claw at each other blindly, fingers digging into skin, leaving bruises and scratch marks. I can’t get him close enough. Now that I finally have him back, I want him imprinted on me. Wes lets go too. There’s a newness to his sounds, to his movements, like he, too, was holding back before. He begs me with his eyes, his lips, his hands. He urges me to fuck him faster, harder, tomake me fucking come, Jett.
I laugh, my chest bubbling over with happiness. I deny him again and again. I edge Wes like he’s probably never been edged before. I bring him right on the cusp of his orgasm, only to pull out of him and start all over again. Teasing his rim with my cockhead, I refuse to breach him as he curses me out, only to dip over into a sugary sweet version, coaxing me into letting him come. I love it. Ilovehim. I tell him again and again as I finally enter his perfect body, his eyes bright from unshed tears. I tell him as I thrust inside, feeling him clenching around me. He’s so soft, so hot, so perfectly mine.
In the end, he cries out with desperation for me to make him come, and I do, biting down on the fading bruise on his neck. He grunts loudly, the sound echoing in my chest, as he clings to me, his release washing over him. I spill inside him. At least, I imagine I do, and I can’t wait until there’s nothing between us. He trembles, clinging to me, chanting my name again and again.Jett. Jett. Jett.
I bury my face against his neck and just breathe him in. I almost lost this, lost him. The closeness, the lightness, the peace. His heart beats frantically against mine, and it’s the most beautiful sound in the world. A sound that tells me we’re here, together, and that we are real, alive, and in love. There’s nothing between us, and there never will be again. No walls, no secrets, no past.
I lift onto my arms and stare down at him. His eyes are impossibly blue, his sweaty bangs clinging to his forehead, his lips puffy and the prettiest pink. Wes grins up at me, utterly debauched and so fucking beautiful that my heart soars. He’s mine. He belongs to me. I’m keeping him for as long as he’ll have me, which I suspect is always, judging by how he’s looking at me right now.Foreverused to be such a scary word, but not anymore. Now I just want forever and then some—everything and just a little bit more.
I press a kiss to his forehead, and he sighs with contentment.
“I know why I love you so much. Well, part of it at least,” I whisper against his skin.
“Because of my magic hole?” he rasps.
A laugh shoots from my lips. “Shut up. No, because you give me this sense of, I don’t know, balance maybe. Like, the heaviness is still there at times, but you pull me in the other direction. And you not only do that. You make me want to move in that direction, too. Away from all the heaviness.”
