Chapter 24
Drew
It was easily the happiest day of his life, and he wondered if it would later be a day he looked back on as the start of his new life.
He had moved to a new city, and he would be playing for a new team, but both of those things seemed irrelevant compared to the most important truth: he was with the man he loved.
The Halloween party was fun, though Drew was certain he could’ve gone anywhere and done anything, and, as long as Gabriel was with him, he would’ve had a good time.
He wore his hockey pads and an old Minutemen jersey to the party.
He didn’t tell people he was really Drew Moreau.
Most of Gabriel’s new friends didn’t know or didn’t care about hockey, and that was fine with Drew.
He didn’t mind the anonymity. Gabriel introduced Drew as his boyfriend, and Drew wore the title with honor.
It felt right to be with him in this way.
The party went until midnight, and might’ve gone longer, but Josie got the idea for them to go out.
Plans were made to tackle the bars in Boystown.
Gabriel had hardly left Drew’s side, and he took Drew’s hand while everyone else was shouting over each other about which bars they wanted to go to or didn’t want to go to.
“I think I’ve had enough of socializing,” Gabriel said. “Do you want to stay here?”
“Or,” Drew suggested, “we could go to my new apartment?”
“I like that idea.”
Drew kissed Gabriel. “Pack a bag. I’d like you to stay the weekend. Maybe we can go shopping for some things in my new place.”
They slipped quietly out of the party. Drew called an Uber, and they navigated through the city, sitting close together in the back seat and holding hands. Chicago was a beautiful city, and it seemed even more beautiful to Drew knowing that it was the home he would make with Gabriel.
He had Estelle to thank for his move. Once Drew heard that Gabriel had moved to Chicago, he told Estelle, and she said she’d work on getting him transferred to Chicago’s NHL team.
She did it quickly and even negotiated a higher salary for him.
The Chicago Architects were a better team than the Boston Minutemen, but they needed a winger because one of their wingers was retiring.
Even though Drew, at almost thirty-two, was considered a veteran in the sport and had had an injury last season, he was a sought-after player and played like a younger man.
It had been a quick move. He wasn’t sad to leave Boston.
He had had a good time there, but his time there was done, and he was ready to start a new chapter, especially if it meant being with Gabriel.
It had been a risk moving to Chicago without telling Gabriel, and he had known that, but it had felt so right, and it had paid off.
He was glad he had done it, because now he was home.
Estelle had helped him find a real estate agent in Chicago, who had helped him purchase a large apartment in the River North neighborhood.
The apartment was more than twice the size of Gabriel’s, and Drew was paying to have it professionally furnished and decorated, though he wanted to go shopping with Gabriel so that they could personalize the décor.
He hoped that maybe one day the apartment could be theirs, not just his.
It was in a large, old building, which had been modernized beautifully and had a great view of the Chicago River.
The Uber dropped them off, and Drew’s new doorman let them in.
The apartment’s lobby was beautiful, with marble floors and papered walls.
They took a brass elevator to the fourth floor.
Drew’s apartment took up half of the floor.
It had several rooms and large windows, and was already half furnished, with most of the living room furniture and a new, large bed in the bedroom.
It was time to christen the bed with lovemaking.
Drew had been in a hurry to get to Chicago, and he no longer felt the need to rush.
He had been rushing to get to Gabriel, and the need to rush was over.
He could love Gabriel, and Gabriel could love him, and they had all the time in the world.
It was no longer summer, and there was no longer an expiration date on their love, and that made him happy.
“Would you like something to drink?” he offered Gabriel when they were in his new apartment.
“Water, please,” Gabriel said with a small laugh, and Drew filled two water glasses from a filter in his fridge.
They drank their waters and talked about the last few weeks and everything that had changed since they last saw each other.
Gabriel told Drew about the resolution at the camp, and they laughed about it not being an actual ghost, and shared their disappointment that Hank the Crank had been involved.
“It sounded like he was in a tough situation,” Gabriel said, “but that doesn’t excuse what he did. I’m glad that Evan is getting the camp. I think he’ll do well with it and honor my parents’ legacy.”
“What are they going to do, now?”
“I think they’re going to help him with the transition, and they’re looking at getting a place in Georgia or Florida for the winter. It’s warmer there, and they said they’re tired of the cold. They’re not old yet, but they want to enjoy this next part of their lives and not be cold.”
“I can’t blame them.”
Drew told Gabriel about what it had been like to come out and the response of his team.
They had been incredibly supportive of him.
He told Gabriel about Quentin and how Drew had finally agreed to talk to him.
It was time, he said, and there were loose ends there he wanted to tie up before he moved away.
Quentin had been sorry for how he ended things and admitted that it had been out of fear.
He admired what Drew did, coming out, but he also knew that he wasn’t ready to do it himself.
It was a big decision, and a personal one.
Drew knew that Quentin didn’t owe it to anyone to publicly disclose his sexuality, but he had told Quentin that he hoped Quentin could get to a point where he was secure enough that he didn’t feel the need to hide anymore.
“He wanted to get back together,” Drew admitted.
“He asked if I wanted to try again. I told him I didn’t want that.
I said I was thankful for our time together, and I had learned a lot, and I had fallen in love with someone else, and I was going to find him.
I hope Quentin can find something like what we have someday.
He deserves it. He’s not a bad guy, he’s just scared, and he has some growth ahead of him. ”
“Don’t we all,” Gabriel said kindly.
“I think he and I can be friends,” Drew said.
“I think that would be good for both of you. I’d like to meet him someday, if that were ever a possibility.”
“I think you’d like each other,” Drew said.
He was glad that Gabriel wasn’t jealous.
There wasn’t anything between him and Quentin anymore, and what they had shared couldn’t compare to what he and Gabriel had.
He knew that now, and he was thankful to have found what they had found.
He hoped that Quentin could find a love like that someday.
After they were done talking, Drew took their water glasses and brought them to the kitchen, and then went back to Gabriel and kissed him.
He had missed the feeling of Gabriel’s lips on his.
Their kiss was tender and communicative, a physical way of telling each other how much they loved each other.
They whispered promises with their bodies as Drew led Gabriel to his new bed and slowly removed Gabriel’s clothes.
When Gabriel was naked, Drew lay him down on his bed, and then removed his own clothes.
Gabriel was beautiful beneath him, his skin tinted silver in the moonlight, his cock long and hard, already dripping with precum.
Drew wanted to taste every part of Gabriel.
He lay on top of Gabriel and pressed their bodies together and kissed Gabriel deeply.
Their cocks rubbed together as he grinded on top of Gabriel, kissing him and holding him and whispering how much he loved him.
He kissed all over Gabriel’s body, tasting him and marking Gabriel as his own.
Gabriel was his, and he was Gabriel’s. They had found each other in the summer, had gone their separate ways, and had found each other again.
They wouldn’t leave each other. They fit together perfectly, and they made each other better.
Gabriel shivered and moaned as Drew pushed his legs back and feasted on his ass.
Gabriel had a perfect ass, muscular and round, with a pink rosebud hole that Drew was happy to claim as his.
He ate Gabriel’s rim and gripped his cheeks, leaving pink handprints on Gabriel’s skin.
He sucked Gabriel’s cock and his balls and kissed the tender skin of his taint.
Gabriel moaned, delicious and dirty, as Drew played with him and teased his hole.
He wanted to bring Gabriel as close to orgasm as he could, and then bring him back down, edging ever closer until he finally slicked his own cock with lube and pushed inside of Gabriel’s hole.
Slipping into Gabriel’s body was like coming home again.
Gabriel’s body welcomed him in, warm and tight, and Drew kissed him while he fucked him.
He was slow and gentle at first, and Gabriel begged for him to go harder, so Drew gripped Gabriel’s shoulders, and then his neck, pounding into his ass with deep, hard thrusts.
Gabriel arched beneath him, perfect and beautiful, as they fucked.
They took their time. They were in no rush.
They fucked in different positions and all through the apartment, for hours.
They took breaks for water and to talk, and to kiss and hold each other.
They didn’t cum until hours had passed, and Drew had Gabriel pressed up against the windows of the apartment.
He was fucking him from behind, holding Gabriel’s left hip in one hand and his right shoulder in another.
His body was deliciously tired, and the orgasm overcame him as he wrapped his arms around Gabriel and buried himself deeply in Gabriel’s ass.
He kissed and sucked on Gabriel’s neck from behind as he filled his ass with his cum.
Gabriel stroked himself and gasped as he came, his cum splattering onto the glass of the window, dripping slowly down the pane.
“I love you,” Drew murmured, as he turned Gabriel around and kissed him. He tasted of sweat and sex.
“I love you, too.”
They showered together and then slipped into Drew’s cool silk sheets and held each other. They didn’t fall asleep for a long time, because they were talking and whispering for hours. It was almost light when they finally fell asleep.
They slept late into the day and had a slow morning together.
They showered again and dressed in comfortable, casual clothing.
They put on coats and walked around Drew’s new neighborhood.
They found a coffee shop and ordered lattes, and then went to walk along the Riverwalk.
Chicago was their new home, and they were excited to explore it together.
Instead of going shopping that day for Drew’s apartment, they went back up to the apartment and spent the rest of the day naked together, making love and sometimes just talking.
They no longer felt the need to rush. Drew felt secure and happy when they were in each other’s arms. The security didn’t come from Gabriel or from what they had built, but from his own knowledge that he knew who he was, and he loved himself.
He was excited to build a life with Gabriel.
That life had begun, and they were no longer under a deadline.
They could love each other for as long as they wanted, and when Drew drifted off for a nap in the mid-afternoon, his head on Gabriel’s chest, he had never been happier.