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Jakob might've gone and gotten lost before, all those years ago. Messed things up between them in pretty spectacular fashion. But by some miracle, Jakob seemed to have been granted a second chance here. He wasn't about to make the same mistake twice.
He just needed a chance, needed to show Ethan that things could — that theywouldbe different this time around.
It would take time, he knew that. Knew too he would do whatever was needed to reassure Ethan, to make him believe Jakob was here for as long as he was allowed. That he was in it for the long haul, if Ethan would let him.
Jakob could hear the squeal of the screen door opening, the faint murmur of greetings as Cassie's friends arrived. Further outside, he could hear Nash calling to one of the stable hands, the rumble of the old tractor's engine starting up.
All the sounds that meant it was time for Jakob to be getting on with the day; no matter how much he might wish he could spend the entirety of it here in his bed, wrapped around Ethan.
But early morning was hardly a time for serious conversations, really. Not with a whole day's work stretching out before him. And so many years’ worth of hurts couldn't be healed in one go.
Tonight. There would be time enough tonight.
They could spend the entire evening reconnecting, reassuring each and every manner they could both contrive. And again the next morning, over and over, for as long as it took; a penance Jakob was only too happy to pay.
But until then…
"Can't promise you I don't snore," Jakob offered almost casually, turning to find a pair of clean jeans. "But I know your back will thank you. Not as young as we used to be, you know."
As if this was just a comfortable, easy conversation; as if no momentous decisions rested on his words. As if his heart wasn't beating so loudly in his throat, it rivaled the tractor's sputtery old engine for noise.
"I — yeah," Ethan replied as the tenseness left his frame. He settled back against the pillows, his expression relaxing back into the broad smile he had worn earlier. "Might just take you up on that after all."
Jakob couldn't help the grin that swept across his face at the sight of Ethan now sprawled comfortably on his back in Jakob's bed, like everything out of his fantasies come true. Lying there with those powerful arms folded under his head. Wearing nothing but a huge grin on his ruggedly handsome face.
He looked like the cat who had eaten the entire flock of damn canaries,andthe cream besides.
He looked good there.
As the warm spray of the shower hit his skin, Jakob let himself hope that maybe… maybe it would become a regular sight.
Chapter 32
Damp, dressed, and mostly decent once more, Jakob leaned down to scoop up Ethan's pants, throwing them in the direction of the bed as he left.
He grinned at the surprised yelp that sounded behind him over the thump of his footsteps and cane on the wooden floorboards that followed him down the hall.
"Jakob!"
"Mr. Stone! Ah,sir— "
— came the startled twin greetings from Liam and Alex as he stepped into the living room, suspicious in their forced cheerfulness and effusiveness.
Suspicious too in how close the boys had been sitting on the couch, their cheeks now flushing a furious red as they looked everywhere but at him — or at each other.
Jakob smirked.
"The girls setting up the game while you boys are… making sure my couch doesn't grow wings and fly away?" he asked in the gruffest Responsible Parenting voice as he could muster.
"Umm… no. We're — we'll just, uh… go," Liam hastily replied, already jumping up and tugging on Alex’s shirt sleeve to get him to follow.
But Alex…
Alex was still sitting with his head bent; seemingly frozen in place as he stared down at his clenched fists resting on his knees.
It was hard to read his expression from here, his dark curls falling into his face and obscuring his eyes. But it wasn't quite able to obscure the black eye he had arrived with, now fully bloomed a lurid purple.
Ah, hell.Somehow, despite everything going on, Jakob had let himself forget a few key facts leading up to Alex's stay with them.
