Chapter Eleven
The cold shower wall pressed against Jathan’s back, steadying him.
Nothing existed except the intense way Quince watched him.
Those steel-gray eyes penetrated Jathan’s soul as Quince rocked inside him.
Everything was on fire. He wanted so badly to grab his dick and take the relief he desperately needed.
But he clung to Quince’s shoulders and waited on the satisfaction he knew only Quince could give him.
“I love you.” Quince’s voice sounded exactly like he said the only words in his head—powerful.
“I love you too.”
Quince studied him—like working on a problem and then changed angles slightly.
Jathan thought his eyes would roll back in his head. He hadn’t thought it could get better.
“That’s it. I love watching you come. Let me see it now.”
Jathan focused harder on the way Quince felt inside him.
Every thrust was delectable. He didn’t want to stop, but he also needed to blow.
Plus, Quince’s muscles had to be screaming.
Jathan had given him one hell of a workout.
His muscles tightened. Jathan held his breath.
As badly as he wanted to close his eyes and savor every second, looking into Quince’s soul was so much better.
“Yes.”
At Quince’s whisper, Jathan exploded. Cum shot through the air, hitting his chest. Inhuman sounds fell from his lips as his body sang with pleasure.
A strangled cry tore from Quince.
Jathan still couldn’t look away. Quince was sexy as fuck when he filled Jathan with cum.
Jathan had done that. He had taken Quince to the moon.
It was empowering. The love he felt all hours of the day was amplified by a thousand.
They were connected in a way Jathan had never been with anyone else.
They were flawless. He couldn’t wait to spend the rest of his life with this heart-stopping man. Quince was so beautiful.
The way he gently held Jathan, after letting his feet hit the floor, made Jathan’s eyes sting.
He washed Jathan and cleaned every inch of him with the gentlest care—like Jathan was precious to him.
Jathan knew—of all the decisions he had made in his life—the choice to forgive Quince all those months ago was the best decision he had ever made.
If Quince had never apologized. If Jathan had been stubborn.
A million tiny things led them into the most dazzling life he could have never imagined for himself.
This kind of happiness was for other people.
Jathan had done nothing in his life to deserve this.
“You’re beautiful and I never, ever want to know what’s it like to wake up without you.”
At his words, Quince turned twice as fierce as he had been all morning. “You’ll never find out. This is until we die. You’re mine.”
Sometimes, he could be darkly intense. Jathan loved it. They took care of each other. By the time they turned off the water, they were squeaky clean. Jathan couldn’t stop smiling or let go of Quince. He held on to his arm until he had no choice but to get dressed.
“I’ll make breakfast.”
Quince was way too good to him. “I’ll help.”
A bright smile lit Quince’s face. “You absolutely will not, my beautiful disaster. Sit on the couch where your inner, feral cooking demon can’t burn our food.”
A snort burst from Jathan as they made their way down the hall. “Cooking demon? I’m not that bad.”
Quince shot him a disbelieving look. “You burnt tea. How in the fuck does that even happen?”
Jathan shrugged. “It could happen to anyone.”
“Not in under ten seconds, it doesn’t. You should be in a book of records somewhere. No way that kind of destructiveness isn’t legendary.”
Jathan couldn’t stop laughing. “I guess God had to draw the line somewhere. Otherwise, I might’ve turned out too perfect.”
The sound of shouting cut through their laughter. They exchanged glances and headed for the door. Since moving to the ranch, it was always quiet. Any shouting outside their door couldn’t be good.
Quince looked out first, keeping Jathan tucked behind him. An aggravated growl burst from him.
“For fuck’s sake.” He stepped outside like a man ready to fight.
Jathan peeked out the door behind him. Quince’s dad, Frank, alongside an older woman, had a shotgun held on them in the yard.
“What in the hell is going on out here?”
Jathan stepped outside behind Quince, more than ready to have his back.
Buck answered over his shoulder, “I found these two wandering the ranch. They claim to know you.”
The loud sigh Quince released Jathan felt in his soul. Quince sounded tired as hell. “It’s my parents.”
At his words, Buck lowered the shotgun, and Jathan’s gaze snapped to the woman. He had always wondered why Quince’s mother was never with Quince’s dad. It was a sore subject, though. Jathan didn’t bring it up.
“My apologies.” Buck mumbled the words like he wasn’t sorry at all.
“Don’t apologize. You might still have to shoot them. What are you doing here?”
Quince’s dad said something, but his mom spoke over him, drowning him out. “I wanted to see you.”
“You’ve seen him. Now let’s go. He’s not our son anymore.”
“Shut up!” His mom’s shout caught Jathan so off guard, he jumped. “Shut up. Shut up. Shut the fuck up. I’m not missing my only child’s wedding because of you. I’ve already lost too much. If you want to stay married, then shut your fucking mouth or I can let this guy shoot you.”
Jathan bit his bottom lip to keep from laughing.
Quince’s mom focused on him. “I’m Beth. It’s really nice to meet you.”
Jathan smiled. He wanted this for Quince. Jathan had a great mom. He couldn’t imagine anyone living without theirs. “Jathan. It’s nice to meet you too.”
“Is it okay?” She motioned between Quince and herself. Her voice broke.
Jathan looked Quince’s way. His jaw was locked like Jathan had never seen it. He gave his mom a jerky nod.
She stepped around Buck and rushed up the steps to hug him.
Jathan had a hard time catching everything she babbled between sobs as she hugged Quince.
There was a lot about Quince’s dad lying to her, saying Quince hated her and didn’t want to talk to her.
There was also something about being in the dark.
She had no idea he had been shot or was engaged or anything about his life at all until she caught his dad watching a story about them on some sports channel.
He knew exactly which story she meant. It had been scheduled to be released this morning.
She had to have rushed straight here. Jathan had no idea exactly what Quince’s dad had been doing, but it was obvious his deep-seated prejudices didn’t extend to Beth.
It looked to him like she was just a mom who loved her son.
Beth swiped her cheeks and hugged Jathan before he saw it coming. “Holy hell. I thought I raised a tall son. Your dad must be a giant.”
“It’s his mom, actually.” Quince’s voice sounded dead.
Beth had the same nearly silver eyes. Jathan couldn’t look away from her. She looked so sad. Beth tried to smile, but it was obvious she had a hard time holding it. “Is she a good mom? Has she been taking care of you?”
God, she broke Jathan’s heart, and he hated Quince’s dad even more than before.
He watched Quince visibly swallow. “She’s a good person.”
Beth nodded. “Would it be okay if we spent some time together?”
Quince’s gaze moved towards his dad.
Beth’s expression hardened. She glanced over her shoulder. “You can go. I’ll call you when I’m ready to leave.”
“Beth—”
She swiped her hand through the air. “I swear to God if anything other than ‘yes, ma’am’ comes out of your mouth right now, it’ll be your last words.”
Jathan’s gaze slid between them. He didn’t look or feel triumphant.
No one won in this game. Whatever Quince’s dad had done had ruined lives.
Frank walked away. Jathan might have feared for Beth’s safety with the bastard if it wasn’t obvious the guy’s fear of losing her was bigger than his hatred for Quince.
Jathan focused on Beth. “Quince was about to make breakfast. Would you like to join us?”
Beth smiled. It was sweet and lit her perfectly round face. “I’d love that.”
Jathan opened the door and waved her inside. Before Jathan could follow, Quince grabbed his arm. His mouth covered Jathan’s and Jathan felt the way he shook. Jathan vowed, whatever happened, he would be right there with Quince. That was where he belonged.
The day had been such a mixture of wonderful and bittersweet.
Quince swore a haze coated his every thought for more hours than he liked.
Even several hours after his mom left, he kept catching himself frozen and staring into space.
His shock was so deep, he didn’t know where to go with it.
Quince never spoke of his mom for a reason.
Losing his dad hadn’t felt like that big of a deal.
The guy was awful. But losing his mom had cut all the way to the bone.
While he had known his mom would never leave his dad, until it happened, he had never dreamed she would cut him from her life either.
Turned out, she hadn’t. The lengths his dad had gone to make her believe Quince hated her were psychotic.
He had gone as far as to buy a prepaid phone to trick her into thinking Quince had changed his number to get away from her.
Each time she called, it went straight to a voice mailbox with a generic message.
She hadn’t known where to even start looking for him, and when she tried to hire a private investigator, he had put his foot down, refusing to let her have the money to invest in a son who didn’t want her.
Even though it had broken her heart, she had to eventually give up for the sake of her mental health.
It wasn’t until she caught Frank mumbling about how Quince was dead to him while watching that interview that she got the truth.
Nearly thirteen years lost, and he doubted their marriage would survive it.
Quince just didn’t know where to go with the overload of emotions.
He hadn’t known a father could hate their child so much.
A therapist had once told him his dad was likely jealous of his mother’s love for him.
Some people couldn’t stand to share their spouses, even with their child.
Quince hadn’t taken those words to heart at the time.
After all, he hadn’t spoken to his mother either.
But now his entire life made sense, and he was just coasting while trying to deal.
“Tell me how to help.”
Quince yanked his head from the clouds and focused on Jathan. Jathan looked sick with worry. Nothing could have broken the shock faster. “I don’t guess there’s anything anyone can do. What’s done is done.” An uncomfortable laugh escaped Quince. “So, what was it like to be raised by normal people?”
Jathan looked confused for a second. “How would I know? I don’t talk to my dad either, and you’ve met my mom.”
Quince smiled. He felt better by the second. “I have. She’s wonderful.”
“I mean, yeah, but she’s not normal. That lady is weird as hell.”
A laugh burst from Quince. Jathan was everything to him—the love of his life. His rock. Quince also hadn’t understood what that truly meant until Jathan. The guy just anchored his entire existence. Without him, Quince would still be adrift and miserable.
“Thank you.”
“For what?” Jathan looked genuinely confused.
“For loving me.” That was the foundation of it all. Quince could sit and list all the ways Jathan made everything better, but it all boiled down to love.
“I mean, I’m kind of lazy, if that tells you anything about how easy you make it.”
While wearing a huge grin, Quince shook his head. He pushed the table away from the couch with his foot and moved to the floor. He put his feet on the couch and patted the spot next to him. “Come on. I know your back hurts. You’re sitting all lean-y like you do when you’re miserable.”
With a smile, Jathan filled the spot beside him. Side by side, with their feet on the couch and holding hands, they stared at each other.
“Are you getting excited yet?”
Quince didn’t need to ask what Jathan meant. He hadn’t stopped wishing time would move its ass from the moment he asked Jathan to marry him. “Are you joking? Quince Dexter has an incredible ring to it.”
“If I wasn’t so stoked to show you off to the world by marrying you as publicly as possible, I’d beg you to elope with me right this second.”
“Realistically, we only have three more days.”
Jathan nodded. “Seventy-two hours. Honestly, less than that if we start breaking it down.”
They both nodded. Their gazes never wavered. “Then again, no one would have to know. We could just have the wedding as planned.”
Jathan’s hands rose and fell. “It could be our secret.”
“It would be less stressful that way.”
They kept staring, as if waiting to see who broke first. Fuck it. Quince had no pride when it came to Jathan. “I’ll grab our shoes.”
Jathan rolled to his knees. “I’ll grab our wallets and the marriage certificate.”
They had already applied. All they needed was one signature. When they were on their feet, they froze and held each other’s stare again. They were really doing this. Zero shame. Their love was too big to contain. It was the forever kind of love.
Keep an eye out for the next Sporting Pride, Broken Ponies.