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“Can we touch it, mister?” another boy asked.
Jax nodded and watched as they all gathered around to trace their hands over the car’s lines, admiring with more than their eyes the beauty of the vehicle. He understood their awe and their enjoyment of the car. It was exactly how he had felt the first time his father had brought it home when he was a small boy. After the accident, the car had played a big part in his recovery from the shock of his father’s untimely death, and he had channeled his rage and fear into learning everything he could about it—how to repair it, how to maintain it, how todrive it.
Eventually, the boys had to go home, and Jax took his two sidekicks in with him to dinner. Afterwards, he shooed Annie away when she went to clear the table.
“The boys and I have this, don’t we, boys?” he told her. “Go put your feet up.” He turned to Jim and added, “I’ll bet she could use afoot rub.”
Once the dishes were done, Jim called the boys to shower and Jax went to the guest room. Annie was asleep, and he didn’t expect Jim to be available again for a while, so he checked his emails, and once that was done, he found himself logging in to Facebook and searching for Noah’s page. There hadn’t been any activity for a while, but he noticed a new posting. It was two months old. Apparently, Noah had been in an accident and was on leave from the string quartet. Jax read the comments on the post, the latest written a week ago, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
Robin Xavier said, “Noah, I’ve only just heard what’s happened. I’m so sorry, sweetie? Where are you? Please be safe, and call me when you can. <3”
There was no response to any of the comments. What exactly had happened to Noah? Where was he? And who was Robin Xavier? Jax knew that Noah was from somewhere in upstate New York, but he couldn’t remember where. He shut down the laptop and picked up his cellphone, lying back on his bed and scrolling between the two pictures he had kept there. Both were of Noah, and he let himself remember how he came to have each photograph…
It was Thanksgiving Eve, and the college campus was quiet. No one was there, aside from diehards like Jax, who would leave later for his family’s home. He’d get there by early morning and spend only a couple of days with his mother and any of his siblings who were able to make it back. In the meantime, he had one last piece of data he needed to verify so that he could finish the article he was revising to submit to his editor for publication at the beginning of the new year. He sighed, wishing he could find a way to simplify his life. He had his fingers in too many pies these days and he was worn thin. Still, if he wanted tenure, he’d have to toethe line.
He’d finished earlier than he had expected and was exiting the library when he bumped into Noah coming in. They’d only just begun to explore the connection between them, but Jax hadn’t asked about his Thanksgiving plans. He’d just assumed that Noah, like every other student, was heading home.
“Oh, sorry!”Noah apologized without looking up. “I wasn’t looking where…” And then he saw Jax and got tongue-tied.
Jax smiled, his skin warming where they had touched. “No problem.”He steered Noah back out into the crisp autumn afternoon, and led him around to the side, away from the sharp breeze and any prying eyes that might still be around. “Why aren’t you on yourway home?”
Noah blushed. “I spent the airfare on a concert, so I’m stuck here.”
Jax frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have…”
“No,” Noah interrupted him. “It’s fine. My pops says he’ll come up tomorrow, and we’ll go out for dinner hereinstead.”
Noah’s mother had died when he was a very little boy, and he’d been raised by his father, who’d spent his life as a conductor for Amtrak. Now retired, he lived for his son’s concerts and for the golf games he could finally afford to play at the club in the community he had retired to.
“I thought you were going to your family,” Noah added. “How comeyou’restill here?”
“Finishing an edit for an article. It’ll be one less thing to do when I get back,” Jax told him, suddenly wishing they could spend even a little time together before he left. “Are you very busy right now, or can you stop by my place fora drink?”
Noah finally held his gaze, his eyes bright with feelings Jax could understand. The last time they’d managed to spend some time together, they’d made out like teenagers, with Jax having to struggle to hold himself in check even as Noah kept pushing him to lose control. The look in Noah’s eyes said he recalled it all too well … and maybe wantedit again.
“You know you don’t need to ask, right, Prof?” A teasing smile accompanied the question, and the little dimples in his cheeks made Jax harden in his jeans.
“You like to tease, don’t you?” he accused Noah, restraining himself from reaching over to kiss those dimples. “But can you pay the piper?” he wondered, returning the smile in what he knew was a far more predatory way.
Noah chuckled. “Somewhere in there is a joke about mebeingthe piper!”
Jax laughed, his hot breath escaping in puffs of mist on the air. “Cocky bastard!” he said, making Noah laughwith him.
“And you’re not?”
The question hung in the air, even as Noah’s eyes slid down Jax’s front to his tightening jeans. Jax felt the look like a caress, and he watched as Noah reached down as though to touch him. He wanted it more than he wanted his next breath, but he knew, in the part of his brain not overcome by lust, that they were out in the open, that anyone could come around the corner and see them, and that he owed it to Noah to protect him. He stepped away, inhaling deeply and shaking his head gently when Noah stepped closer.
“Not here. Come see me when you’re done inside. I’ll have dinner waiting for you. We can spend some time together beforeI leave.”
“Deal.”
Noah turned, and Jax watched him walk away, waiting until he could move without discomfort before heading out to his favorite Italian restaurant. He knew Noah liked comfort food, and because he also knew Noah’s financial situation, Jax always tried to feed him well when they atetogether.
Having food delivered on Thanksgiving Eve from a popular restaurant was an exercise in patience, so Jax called in his order ahead.
“Whatever you all have for today’s special, for two,” he told them, and then went back to his townhouse to set things to rights.
He put a bottle of wine to chill, tidied the magazine rack and cleared the coffee table. Then he set the dinner table … Noah was worth special treatment, even if hewasgoing to see his dad the next day. Jax thanked his mother silently for making him learn how to set a table, among other things, and as he placed the unlit candles in the center, his cellphone rang. The food was ready for delivery. They checked to make sure they had his address correct, and he wondered when Noah would arrive.
