AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I promise,” Oliver said, but knew deep down he wouldn’t do this again. Not until he’d worked himself out a little more, got himself closer to the man Gabriel deserved. “Sleep well, love.”
“Mm, I will. Goodnight.”
The line went dead, and Oliver spent another few minutes mopping up his face and ignoring passers-by giving him curious looks. When he felt like he could stand on his own two feet again, he strolled back into the pub, and didn’t quite meet Leo’s gaze.
He noticed there was no fresh drink on the bar, however, and glared. “Where’s my whiskey?”
“Dad rang. He’s sending a car, so I closed out the tab.” Leo grabbed Oliver by the chin, forcing him to look up. “Did Gabriel break up with you?”
“No.” Oliver took a long breath. “Told me he loved me and missed me and…” His throat went tight again, and he cleared it, yanking his chin away from his sibling’s fingers. “Anyway, so what are we doing?”
Leo stared for a while before answering. “Lunch. He’s having us brought to lunch with the lawyers. Talking about the estate. I want to go fucking home, Ollie.”
“I know. And we will. Very soon.” He felt as miserable as his sibling sounded, but what else could he do? They had to be adults about this whole thing. No more running from their problems.
Seventeen
Stepping off the plane was the greatest feeling of relief Oliver had ever experienced in his life. Tension he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in his neck and shoulders started to relax, and he was struck by a profound exhaustion.
Leo opted to drive, immediately on the phone the second they got in the car, and Oliver was dozing by the time they made it back to the house. The smell of home, the feeling of being away from everything else, struck Oliver hard. He had a difficult time keeping it together as he threw his suitcases against the wall and went to the fridge for a bottle of water.
“I’m heading out,” Leo said as Oliver cracked the top and took a long drink. “You need anything?”
Oliver’s eyebrows shot up. “How the hell can you go out? We just got off a bloody international flight. I want to die right now.”
“I can’t sit still. Mikey’s on his way to get me.” Leo gave him a casual shrug, and though Oliver felt a pang of worry in his gut, he couldn’t bring himself to care much.
“Just be careful. I’m going to sleep for ten hours, then maybe go see Gabe.”
“Don’t forget dad wants all those forms faxed over to him,” Leo said as he leaned over to the hall mirror and applied some red lipstick. “They seemed vaguely important.”
Doing his best not to sigh, Oliver nodded and watched as Leo flounced out the door. He knew on some level he should be more concerned about his sibling’s behavior, but he wasn’t going to police how Leo was coping. As it was, it was taking everything in him not to have Gabe over immediately. But he knew he needed space, to center his head, and part of that was being on his own for a little while.
Being home was a small comfort, and as he slipped into his room, he found one of Gabe’s discarded t-shirts. He threw all of his clothes onto the floor, slipped the t-shirt over his head, and crawled into his bed. It was only moments before sleep claimed him, but it happened in his safe space, surrounded by the smells of home, and the person he loved most in the world.
* * *
He wokewith the sun the next morning and felt a little disoriented by too many hours of being in his bed. He checked his phone to make sure he hadn’t slept more than a day, then rushed to empty his painfully full bladder. He scrubbed his teeth, ignoring his stomach which was begging for food, and shuffled back into his room for his phone. The one thing he wanted more than anything in the world now, was to call his boyfriend.
There was a good chance Gabe was working, but when his boyfriend picked up, he let out a huge sigh of relief. “Hey, you.”
“Hi,” Gabe said. “When did you get in?”
“Last night. Leo buggered off, and I crashed. Just got up actually, and was hoping you hadn’t eaten yet?”
There was a small pause, then Gabe laughed. “How about brunch? We could go to that little place you love by the beach?”
“You’re a bloody dream,” Oliver breathed into the phone. “Meet you there in twenty?”
“Already on my way.”
Oliver left off theI love you, in spite of wanting to shout it to any and everyone who might hear it. Instead, he scrambled for some jeans, brushing his hair out of his face, hating that he still smelled like a stale airplane. He kept on Gabe’s shirt, figuring his boyfriend wouldn’t mind so much, and slipped his feet into some sandals.
It was only a fifteen-minute walk, and he was almost bouncing in excitement when he spotted Gabe’s head of shaggy, dark curls waiting amongst the Sunday brunch crowd. His feet picked up their pace without him consciously aware of it, and before long he was tugging Gabe into a soft kiss.
“Mm, God I have been thinking about that all week.”
Gabe reached up, cupping Oliver’s cheek, his dark eyes drinking him in. “Me too. I’ve already put our names in, so it shouldn’t be long.”
