Chapter 24
“Are you sure you want to do that, Mom?” Jensen asked.
“It’s already been done. There’s no turning back now.”
Jensen let out a loud breath that contained half a chuckle and shifted on his feet.
He refused to sit on Daniel’s bed in the clothes he’d been wearing—even the thought of it made his skin crawl with a desperate urge to wash the sheets—so he was standing in the middle of Daniel’s bedroom.
Honestly, Jensen was just grateful to be in clothes that fit him and not Brody’s hand-me-downs.
Daniel’s roommate had been incredibly generous over the past couple of days, allowing Jensen to wear his surprisingly soft clothes without a single complaint.
But Jensen had quickly gotten tired of all the skin he was showing and didn’t love the comparison of how he looked in the borrowed clothes versus how Brody looked in them.
He wasn’t exactly self-conscious about his lack of muscles; rather, he considered himself a realist and knew he couldn’t compare to the apparent ancient Roman Olympian Daniel lived with.
But he still didn’t like being faced with those facts.
“Your father and I are excited to see Daniel again, and we’ll need to start getting familiar with the city for when we move there,” his mother continued.
“I feel like you’re jumping the gun,” Jensen said, then snapped his mouth shut. God, he was a hypocrite, wasn’t he? Here he was, telling his mom not to come out to visit for the weekend when he’d rushed out of San Francisco without socks, underwear, or a job.
This whole trip had been appallingly spontaneous, and normally that would send him into a debilitating spiral of nerves and indigestion.
As it was, he was surviving with a low thrum of anxiety that was easy enough to ignore.
He wasn’t sure if his nervous system was in shock from being overloaded with so many new and worrisome developments, or if he’d somehow shelved it for the time being.
Maybe his brain—which had never fully gotten on board with being a functional human—realized Daniel’s very real struggles were more important than the irrational fears that made Jensen break out in hives too often.
He was almost certain everything would come back with a vengeance eventually, but for now he was just glad he could focus on Daniel and his needs.
And speaking of Daniel’s needs.
“I just don’t know how much time we’ll be able to spend with you. I don’t know what our plans are yet,” he said.
“Sweetheart, you are aware your father and I can entertain ourselves, right?” She huffed like she was lifting something heavy, then continued, “I plan on catching up with an old friend from college while I’m there.
She ended up as a hospital administrator in Sevier, can you believe that?
We used to share cigarettes at parties, and now we both work in health care. ”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and tried pushing down the smile threatening his lips.
Of course his mom would know someone that could get her a job in Sevier.
They’d be employed, moved in, and setting down roots well before Jensen could replace his phone charger.
“Any chance you know someone who owns a company that does historic restorations?”
“If I did, I would have already found a way to get you a job with them.”
“I know,” he said with a sigh.
Moving the phone to his other hand, he walked to the side of the room and leaned against the bare wall.
It didn’t seem like Daniel had moved in years ago, with the complete lack of personalization.
The scuffed and slightly leaning dresser and bed that hurt Jensen’s back to sleep on could have belonged to anyone.
No pictures were hung up or left out to show off memories or reveal tastes.
The only clutter was a couple of folded receipts and a blue foil wrapper that had been kicked under the bed and forgotten.
All the linen was generic, from the sheets to the thin curtains, which hung limply on a rod that threatened to come off the wall with one harsh tug.
The room was worlds away from Jensen’s home and even the rest of the house Daniel shared with his friends.
Granted, objects and material possessions weren’t the most important things, but Daniel deserved better than white walls and a plug-and-play home that meant nothing to him.
He deserved knickknacks that reminded him of good times and art that evoked feeling.
He should have a place that felt like home, that brought him peace and was fitted to his exact measurements.
And luckily, Jensen had a degree in that.
“Would you help me look at lots for sale while you’re here?” he asked, shoving off the wall, his mind already whirring with possibilities.
“Are you planning on building a house, then?”
“I think so. I want a place that works for Daniel and me.” Jensen’s gaze darted around the transient bedroom, and he silently promised himself he would create a place worthy of Daniel.
A place they could grow into and find themselves in.
He wasn’t sure where he’d get the money for all that yet, since he had exactly zero leads and a negative employee reference from his old job working against him.
But he did have hope that things would work out in their favor.
Hope and determination to get everything he and Daniel wanted in life.
“That’s a lovely idea. I’ll start looking at listings at the airport.”
“Thanks, Mom. Have a safe flight, okay?”
“See you in a few hours, sweetheart.”
Jensen tucked the phone in his back pocket and placed his glasses on the dust-coated dresser so he could rub his tired eyes.
He’d spent long enough on the call that his shoulders had gotten tense from holding his phone up to his ear, and he was in desperate need of a hot coffee and a good nap.
Eyeing the fuzzy shape of the bed, he debated if it was worth it to buy Daniel a brand-new mattress.
Before he could decide if that would be horrendously rude or not, the door flew open, startling him.
“Jensen,” Daniel said, his voice frantic as he bolted through the threshold.
Jensen scrambled for his glasses and shoved them on, nearly poking himself in the eye with one dusty end. Daniel threw his arms around Jensen’s shoulders, head tipped back with a wide grin splitting his face and a brightness in his eyes Jensen had never seen there before.
“I got the job!” he exclaimed.
Squeezing Daniel to his chest, Jensen sucked in a breath.
His heart galloped, seemingly racing toward their future.
A matching grin overtook his face, and unexpectedly, the backs of his eyes prickled with emotion.
“Of course you did,” he breathed out against Daniel’s forehead.
“Of course you did, baby. They’re lucky to have you. ”
“I can’t believe this is happening.” Daniel’s body vibrated, his weight shifting from one foot to the other, then back again like he couldn’t quite keep still with the emotions coursing through him.
“I’m so happy for you,” Jensen said, meaning it completely. He was nearly overwhelmed with emotion at seeing Daniel finally catch a break. In his opinion, the entire world should bend over backward to give Daniel anything and everything he wanted, but the job was a good start.
“This is crazy.” Daniel stepped back and, in a much less excited tone, said, “This is crazy. What am I thinking? I can’t fucking do this.”
Jensen watched as Daniel fell onto the bed and started pulling at his hair with a crestfallen look replacing the grin. Repressing a grimace, Jensen sat next to Daniel and wrapped an arm around him. “You can do this, I know you can.”
“Oh God, what if I get there and they realize I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing? What if they fire me on the first day and I have to go beg for my job back?” He groaned loudly. “Lucinda is going to kill me.”
“Lucinda?” Jensen asked, his heart in his throat.
“My boss,” Daniel explained. “I’ve been dodging her calls the past few days, and I need to go in and tell her I’m quitting. But is it even worth it when I’m probably going to get sacked immediately anyways?”
Shoulders relaxing with the knowledge that Daniel didn’t have some murderous woman after him, Jensen tugged Daniel closer. “You’re not going to get fired.”
“How do you know?” Anxiety and the bald need for encouragement mixed in Daniel’s muttered question, causing Jensen to squeeze him a bit tighter.
“Because you’re smart and good with people,” he said. “You work hard and put your all into everything you do. And”—Jensen smoothed back Daniel’s hair—“I’m not going to let you fail.”
A breathy, muted chuckle escaped him. “How are you going to do that?”
“Do you trust me?”
Daniel looked up at him, emotion swirling in his eyes and a slight frown on his lips. “You know I do.”
“Then trust my faith in you. I know you’re going to do well and everything’s going to be all right.”
Blowing out a breath, Daniel tucked his face into Jensen’s neck. “I don’t know if I can believe that. Nothing has ever gone right for me, not permanently.”
“Okay, what if you did have to find a different job?” Jensen smoothed down his hair. “You already know you can get one with your résumé, and we’ve refinanced your debt so you’re paying less interest. And we can drive my car over here so you can sell yours.”
He huffed. “I’ll probably only get a couple hundred for scrap.”
“We can find an apartment near your work, and I’ll cover rent,” Jensen continued on, ignoring the comment and, for once, focusing on the good rather than all the things that could go wrong.
“You mean you don’t want to live with three roommates?” Daniel said, the smile on his lips apparent.
“I’m not an easy person to live with,” he admitted. “And Casey has a tendency to leave candles lit around the house that I’m trying very hard not to say something about.”
That earned a small laugh from Daniel. “Just wait until Brody edits one of his videos using the living room TV so Casey can critique it.”
Jensen scrunched his nose. “I don’t really want to see any of your roommates naked.”
Daniel pulled back, their legs still pressed against each other from knee to waist, his foot moving to hook around Jensen’s lower leg. With an unsure look in his eyes, he took Jensen’s hand. “So, we’re doing this, then? You still want to be with me even though my life is a mess?”
Jensen lifted his free hand and stroked the sharp edge of his jaw. “Yes,” he said simply, resolutely, and with perfect confidence.
“Yes,” Daniel repeated, the word no more than a whisper leaving his petal-soft lips, but forceful enough to level mountainous burdens and loud enough to echo in Jensen’s heart. A grin tugging at his mouth, Daniel leaned forward.
Jensen met him halfway.