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Sammy chuckled. “What?”
James pulled the phone from her hand and gave him a shit-eating grin. “We made a bet. I said you’d move in with Logan this week, Danika said you’d wait for Logan to ask you, and she predicted that would be on Valentine’s Day, next week.”
Sammy was shaking his head laughing. “You guys got nothing better to do?”
James grinned. “Actually…” Danika giggled, and Sammy could see her perfectly manicured toes wiggling on James’s chest.
“Gross. Both of you.”
* * *
The morning after,they were back at it, trying to figure out which room could accommodate Sammy’s equipment.
“I told you I really don’t mind if you use my office. There’s not much in there anyway. I can clear it out in less than an hour. Who knows if I’ll ever––”
Sammy wasn’t having it. “Babe, you totally will. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I was watching you the whole time you were talking to Dave about all these new dealerships popping up in the area. You can clearly see there are plenty of opportunities for starting a car rental service and all that. We both love lying in bed all day, but you can’t deny you’re excited about being involved in something new.”
Logan grinned. “I am. I was pretty disappointed with my parents, but truth be told, after that dreadful dinner was over, I felt relieved. I didn’t hate what I did before, but I don’t think I could just go back there and carry on as if nothing ever happened.”
He glanced at the pictures on the wall – a large family portrait of him Sophy and Jordan in the middle of artfully placed frames displaying candid moments of his family. The photograph had been taken about three years ago for Easter. Sophy had set up her camera outside in the meadow and they had sat in the tall grass surrounded with blooms, Jordan wearing adorable pink bunny ears, all three of them laughing. Sammy loved that image.
Logan had slowly been bringing the photographs out and placing them where they had been before the accident. Remembering his lovely wife and beautiful child was something Sammy hoped would soon be a celebration of their memory. He had no illusions that it was as simple as being able to look at mementos of them without bawling his eyes out every time, but it was a start. He encouraged Logan to talk about Sophy and Jordan as often as he wanted to, especially if something they did or saw jolted a memory of them in his mind. He wanted to normalize this experience for his lover and to show him that remembering his family fondly didn’t always have to lead to painful and dark thoughts.
Logan returned his eyes to him and there was a flicker of darkness there. Sammy had learned to recognize it all too well – self-loathing, doubt, hesitation. He decided to take a page out of Danika’s book.
“Uh-uh!” Sammy reached across the table, hooked his finger under Logan’s chin, gently forcing him to look him in the eyes, and then did his best imitation of his former arch-nemesis. “None of that!” They both burst into laughter as he had retold the entire episode to Logan already, and he caught what he was trying to say. “Is it weird I want to meet her, but at the same time, I’m just a tiny bit scared?”
Sammy chuckled. “So you should be.”
CHAPTERTWELVE
Logan
Logan had been up for a while now, but he wasn't ready to break out of the bubble the bedroom had been for the past two days. Sammy had indulged him with an extra day in bed and he loved him so much for allowing him to just hide in the bedroom with him, watching movies, cuddling Morpheus, then kicking Morpheus off the bed, fucking, making love, napping, eating, reading and occasionally answering some work emails. The latter was Sammy but watching him do his thing made Logan stupidly proud.
Logan knew today was the day, they were supposed to go to New York to pack up Sammy's place. He still had a month left on his lease, but they didn't care to wait until then. Packing and cleaning up the place would take a few days, anyway, so they might as well get a head start. There was the issue with clearing space in the house for all his stuff, and he was going to have to make some changes. He was sad but ready.
There was a spare bedroom downstairs just across from his own office. At the moment it was filled with neatly stacked boxes with more of Sophy and Jordan’s things. When he had suggested the space to Sammy, he was reluctant at first, not wanting to make Logan uncomfortable by asking him to rearrange their belongings.
It was time to make space for a new beginning, but it didn’t mean that he would toss away things he wasn’t ready to part with. In the end they moved some of the boxes upstairs into Jordan’s room and when they pulled apart the simple metal bed frame, the room was almost completely bare. They moved the rest of the stuff into the shed.
Logan knew this space was tiny – not nearly big enough for the work Sammy might need to do. A plan was already forming in his mind on how to rectify the situation. He had to bite back a grin, not to give himself away. He was still terrible at keeping secrets. Sammy simply had a way of prying everything out of him, with a pointed look and a gentle touch.
He wanted this so much. This was a new stage of their relationship, that he couldn’t wait to embark on. Even so, getting up, showering, being responsible, leaving the house, he simply wished to avoid it forpretty please,one more day.
Sammy stirred next to him, and as if sensing his reluctance, mumbled sleepily, “We need to get the fuck up.”
“Nooo!” Logan groaned and tugged Sammy closer, throwing a thigh and an arm over him, pinning him on the bed and nuzzling his face in the crook of his neck, tickling him with kisses and his week-old stubble. Sammy was giggling, but once he got himself under control, wrestled him and flipped them over. He straddled him and leaned lower to kiss him, simultaneously taking his hands and pinning them above his head. He grinned and deepened the kiss, unable to resist his lover.
Logan was making happy humming sounds and buckled beneath Sammy playfully, grinning and nipping his lips.
Sammy chuckled. “Wow, I can't believe you’re trying to sex daze me to avoid getting up and helping me pack my shit.”
Logan was laughing, as Sammy pinned his arms down with one hand and proceeded to tickle him.
“Fine, fineeee! I give up! Stop! Stooop!”
Sammy was having too much fun but decided to go through with his own plan and reluctantly freed Logan, indulging in one last slow messy kiss before getting up. Logan lay in bed for an extra thirty seconds just grinning at him, pajama pants tenting. Sammy pulled the duvet with all the strength he had rolling him off the bed. He landed on the floor with a muffled thud in a tangled mess with Morpheus who attacked him immediately with wet sloppy kisses. His pal was wiggling his butt excitedly, wagging his tail, happy to be in on the fun.
