Page 88 of Josh’s Play

When he stopped, I pulled off him and moved forward. He reached for me again, but I swatted his hand away once more. “Next time, baby.” Aiming my throbbing cock for his lips, I moved in close, brushing his mouth as I jacked myself off. I didn’t last long, and soon ropes of cum were painting his chin. I adjusted so that some shot into his mouth, locking my eyes to his, still riding the high as I implored him to, “Taste it.” He closed his eyes and his lips and did just that.

I collapsed on him, our heavy breathing syncing up, and eventually we got up to shower together again.

I was back to whining as we made our way out of the shower.

“Can I just curl up on your bed again? Maybe live here forever?”

I’d meant it as a joke, but Cam looked so serious when he said, “I wish you could.” He lightened the mood quickly by slapping my naked ass and continuing, “But you’d still have to go home for Easter, and so do I.”

I flopped on the bed to power up my phone. Campbell delivered my bag, placing it next to me on the bed.

“Get dressed. I’m sure your niece is missing you.”

“Do I look like the Easter Bunny to you? She won’t even notice I’m not there.” All the same, I started a new text chain on my phone, one that included Devon and my brother, and texted them both:

Josh: Sorry I flew off the handle. It was a shock. Come to the house, Dev. I’ll see you both there.

Cam headed back to Mayville, and I took a walk that felt almost as long, past the gazebo to cut through the forest until my family home loomed in front of me. I could hear people outside, so instead of going in through the back slider, I walked around the side of the house, glancing at the neighbor’s, the home that used to belong to Vera’s grandparents. I thought about my brother and his late wife and how happy they had seemed.

The trauma of Anna’s death hit me, but I also really tried to think about what she would wish for Jamie and for Vera in their circumstance. Of course, she would want them to be happy, and of course, that’s what I wanted for them too.

“That’s all well and good, Anna,” I said to the house as if it was the manifestation of my dead sister-in-law. “But I bet you never imagined he’d find his fucking light again with someone half his age. A guy half his age, for fuck’s sake, Anna!”

In my mind, ghost Anna assured me that all that mattered was Jamie’s happiness. It may have been her or maybe my own psyche that further contributed, Maybe you should stop worrying about Devon and Jamie and focus on your own love life.

I rounded the corner to find my family clustered on the sidewalk on the far end of our house, all staring up the road in awe toward the curve of the cul-de-sac. I turned to follow their gaze, and my jaw dropped like theirs at the tableau in front of me: that of my brother on one side of a child’s bike, my best friend on the other, both of them with their hands extended, running astride my niece as she took her wobbling first pedals without either of them holding on. Both men stared intently at the girl with the crooked helmet before looking at each other. By some unspoken communication, they both stopped and let Vera ride on her own before they shared a quick conversation we couldn’t hear, and Jamie ran up to help Vera slow down and stop.

That unspoken glance between them reminded me so much of Cam and me. How I could always sense where he was when we were in a room together. How important it had been for me to learn his facial expressions, and what it meant when he ran his fingers through his hair.

“Hello, dear,” my mother said, though she hadn’t stopped looking at the scene to acknowledge me.

“Hiya, Ma.”

The trio arrived in front of us to complete silence until my mother began to cheer, and we all followed along, congratulating Vera on riding her bike for the first time. Jamie was holding Vera, and Devon was absolutely beaming at them. Vera wiggled until her father put her down, and she beelined for her grandmother, talking a mile a minute. Jamie returned Devon’s smile, and I knew in that moment that they had something special. I thought back to the week before, when we had been in Brooklyn, and wondered how I’d missed it. Maybe I’d been too absorbed with my own secret. Devon and I really did need to have a heart-to-heart.

Jamie took the bike from Devon and headed toward the garage while the rest of the family followed Nat and Vera to the house. Devon and I fell in step together at the back of the crowd, and he stopped after a few paces and looked my way.

All of a sudden, I couldn’t wait to tell him everything about Cam. I couldn’t wait to tell all of them.

But first things first: I apologized for walking in on him and my brother (ew!). “Sorry, man. But you gotta admit, it’s a little weird. No! It’s a lot fucking weird. And … in the dorm? Dude!”

Devon looked toward the driveway where Jamie was lingering, watching us, before muttering, “You said you were gonna be away.”

“I know I did,” I apologized. “Anyway, much as there is now more than one haunting image emblazoned on my mind from yesterday, I’ve ... come to understand … I mean, you’re sure, right? This is what you want? You aren’t just fucking around?”

I could see it, right there on his face even as he tried to hide his eyes by staring intently at the ground. Devon Miller was head over heels in love.

“J, I really, really care about your brother.” He found the strength to look me in the eye. “Really.”

“Okay, then,” I said, ready to explain that I understood because I was secretly head over heels myself.

“Okay, then? Just like that? I had this whole speech planned! I was ready to grovel, and do your laundry …”

“Just like that, man. I’m not saying it won’t take time for me to be totally comfortable with it, but you should be happy, and so should he.” We hugged, and I could sense him seeking out Jamie over my shoulder. I decided my news could wait since Jamie was leaving later that day, and Devon and I still had a few more months as roommates. I was even more convinced to wait when the happy couple reminded me that they wanted to tell the rest of the family about their relationship that day.

I offered to take Vera out back to play so that they could talk to my parents and the rest of my siblings but not before I made sure to threaten my brother that he would answer to me if he broke my best friend’s heart. I pointed next at my best friend and threatened him with the same thing.

I shared my news with Devon later that evening and shared with both him and Cam that I was worried I would be as obvious looking at Cam as Devon had been beaming at my brother all day long up at the house. Devon had left us alone in the dorm, and Cam seemed so dejected when I said we probably shouldn’t spend too much time together in public.