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Archer
Archer had spent the better part of two weeks in France and God, he missed Grace and Jon. He didn’t think it would be so hard to be away from them. He had tried to call both of them all afternoon and into the evening yesterday and this morning, when he got up before the sun, he tried again. Neither of them was answering, and he tried to decide who to call to help track them down. He thought about calling his mother to ask her to run over to check on Grace, but if she and Jon were together, he’d have a slew of questions to answer that he wasn’t quite ready for. He didn’t really have any friends outside of Jon and Grace and calling Jon’s parents, to ask if they had heard from him, wasn’t the way to go either, but it was his only option. He just hoped like hell that they wouldn’t have questions that he wasn’t ready to answer. Hell, he couldn’t see Jon ever telling his parents about the three of them, and he couldn’t blame him. They’d never understand their lifestyle choices and that would just end up hurting their son.
He called Mrs. Hollis and when she said that she hadn’t heard from Jon in about two weeks, he worried that something was wrong. She promised to call Archer if she heard from either Jon or Grace, and he thanked her. Keeping it short and sweet was the way to go and he was thankful that Mrs. Hollis seemed to want to get off the phone.
He went for a quick run and showered, needing to get dressed for his morning meeting with his clients, when a soft knock at the door startled him away from his worry.
“I don’t need housekeeping,” he said in French, pulling open his door.
“Well, that’s a shame,” Grace said back to him in her rusty, broken French. “I’m very good at cleaning up messes,” she said. He looked between Grace and Jon who were standing in his doorway, holding hands, and wasn’t sure if he had conjured them both up from all his worry and anxiety or if they were truly standing outside of his suite.
“Are you both really here?” he asked.
“We are,” Jon breathed. “We missed you and couldn’t stay away another day, babe,” he said.
“I missed you both too, so much. I am getting ready to head out to a meeting though and it’s too late to postpone it,” Archer said.
“That’s all right,” Grace said. “Jon and I can freshen up and maybe have a quick nap. Will you be able to get away early today—you know, after your meeting?” she asked.
“I’ll try. I can see if Jordan can cover a few things for me this afternoon.” Jordan Smith was his boss, and they were supposed to meet for a quick breakfast and then head to town for their meeting.
“Grace,” Jordan said, stepping from his room across the hallway. He looked her over, his eyes resting on her hand resting in Jon’s, and then he looked back up at Archer. “What are you doing in France?” he asked.
“We came to surprise Archer,” Grace said. She let go of Jon’s hand and he didn’t miss this sadness in his best friend’s eyes. He hated having to hide the fact that he was with both of them from the world. His boss couldn’t fire him for being with both Jon and Grace. Archer decided it was now or never, pulling Jon’s hand into his own and taking Grace’s hand into his other one.
“It’s a wonderful surprise, even though they both know that I hate surprises,” Archer chided. “Jordan, you remember Jon, right?” He had invited Jon to a few business outings when Grace couldn’t make it.
“Of course,” Jordan said. “Well, it’s good to see you both and I’m sure that you’ll have lots of catching up to do, but I need to steal Archer away for the morning.”
“Would you mind covering the afternoon for me?” Archer asked. “I’d love to spend some time with them, showing them around town.”
“Not a problem. Meet you down in the lobby?” Jordan asked.
“I’ll be right behind you,” Archer promised. “Just give me a few minutes to grab my wallet and keys.” Jordan nodded and walked down the hallway to the elevators.
“Shit,” Jon mumbled when his boss was far enough out of ear shot. “I’m sorry, man.”
“You have nothing to be sorry about,” Archer promised. He pulled Jon in for a kiss and then gave Gracie the same attention. “There, that’s so much better. I’ve missed you guys too,” he repeated. “And I’ve been dying to kiss you both. As for Jordan, he was bound to find out sooner or later. I’ll just have to deal with everything, but I’m sure he’ll be fine with us being together. I mean, what can he say? I can’t be fired over who I’m sleeping with, right?” he asked, although a part of him was worried, he at least tried to sound confident and self-assured for the two of them.
“Right,” Grace agreed. “I guess you’ll have some questions to answer though.” She was probably right, but he didn’t want her to worry about any of that now.
“Listen, you two get a shower and some rest and I’ll be back as soon as I can. They’ve got great food here in the hotel. Order room service and just have them charge it to our room.”
“So, you’re good with us all staying here?” Jon asked.
“Of course,” Archer agreed. “I have a whole suite to myself, there’s plenty of room. Make yourselves at home and I’ll be back in a few hours,” he promised.
“Thanks, babe,” Jon said. He gave Archer a quick kiss and carried their luggage into the suite, leaving Grace and him alone to talk for a few minutes. It was as if Jon could sense that he needed a few minutes alone with Gracie.
Archer pulled her against his body and wrapped his arms around her. “You good?” he asked.
“I am,” she said. “You were right, Jon and I needed some alone time and I’m betting that you two would benefit from some one-on-one time too. He admitted to me that he’s worried about being a third wheel to the relationship that you and I already have in place,” she said.
“We’ll just need to prove to him that isn’t true,” he said. “You’re usually up for a challenge, Grace.”
“I am,” she agreed. “How about I do a little shopping in town this weekend and give you two an afternoon to yourselves?” she asked.
“You sure?” he asked.
