47. Chapter 47
Chapter forty-seven
Quinn
Quinn and Jake were running on a few hours of sleep and several lattes apiece as he took the exit to head off to Three Rivers. But it wasn’t the coffee or the exhaustion that had Quinn’s stomach rolling. They were close, now, and it was easy enough to pretend that things would work out, locked in the house, tasting each other, cuddled up in the bed talking until way too early in the morning. Another thing entirely to believe it would work out when Quinn was about to drop him off in another state, then drive back alone.
Jake reached over and cupped his hand over Quinn’s on the wheel. “I don’t want to push, but you’re so nervous right now. You don’t think you’re getting rid of me that easily, right?”
Quinn offered a smile. “Old nerves popping up. Have to work through it.” He brought his other hand across and placed it on top of Jake’s, sandwiching them together on the steering wheel. “I’ll be good. Just…call me?”
“Every night. I can’t promise I’ll be wearing clothes, but I’ll call.”
And in spite of himself, Quinn chuckled at Jake’s stupid, sexy joke. “You really know how to break apart my nonsense.”
“Carpentry and nonsense breaking. It’s really all I’m good at.”
Quinn shook his head. “You’re pretty good at fucking, too.”
Jake pulled his hand out of Quinn’s grip and pressed it to his chest. “Sir. That’s sailor talk.”
“Ahoy.”
Before long, Quinn pulled into the parking lot of the small hotel there in Three Rivers, Michigan. His stomach lurched when he pulled up underneath the large portico at the front doors, but he did his best to smile and act like everything was good. “Well, door-to-door service.”
Jake tilted his head to the side. “You’re not coming up? I kind of figured you’d chill in the hotel room for a while. We shouldn’t need to start any work until tomorrow…and I didn’t explain any of that, did I? Crap. Sorry.”
“That’s the last thing you should apologize for.” Yes, Jake was leaving. But he took it for granted that Quinn would be with him as long as possible. He would call. He could have tossed Quinn aside a dozen times, but he hadn’t. He wasn’t.
Quinn leaned across and threw his arms around Jake. “Thank you.” The seat belt bit into his neck, but he didn’t care.
“You can stay up there as long as you need, but I’m going to be bone-tired most days.”
“Epsom salt bath tired?”
Jake chuckled low, a rumble through his chest that vibrated into Quinn. Then he angled his face and pecked Quinn on the cheek. “Probably at least once or twice.”
Quinn toyed with the idea. He could work from home. Which meant he could work from a hotel room in some town in Michigan he’d never heard of. The house was in good shape, after they all finished up with it. He would be fine to leave it, since it wasn’t nearly as much of a hazard as it had been with his grandpa’s hoard inside.
“I have to go back. But I’ll stay for a while.” Finally, he released Jake and undid his seatbelt. “Come on. Let’s get your stuff out of the car, then I guess I need to hunt down a valet.”
Jake ruffled his hair, then undid his own seat belt. “You don’t get out to smaller towns very often, do you? I bet twenty bucks, the most you’ll get is a note to stick on your dash to prove you’re allowed to park here.”
“I’m aware of self-parking.” He pointed to the small white sign next to the front sliding doors. “But that says there’s a valet. And since I just drove for five hours, I’d like to get out from behind the wheel.”
They both climbed out of the car, piling Jake’s luggage out onto the pavement, and headed in. When they reached the front desk, they got the valet all squared away and Jake got two room keys—they had to do a little dance with front desk attendant to get him to understand a single bed was fine, which ended with him red-faced and averting his gaze from the pair of them—and they headed up.
When Jake slid his card into the lock on room 317, a low whistle sounded behind them. Quinn whipped his head around to see Ozzy strolling over, hands in his pockets. “Damn. I didn’t expect something quite so domestic.”
“Long drive,” said Jake, shouldering the door open and tossing his bags inside before turning to face Ozzy. But he was smiling, which seemed like an improvement over how the two of them had been acting around each other. “He’s just going to catch some Zs while we handle all the stupid work stuff.”
“And then you’re going to boink. Again.”
Jake said nothing, but Quinn felt him tense, heat up.
Quinn nodded animatedly. “Probably at least twice.” Everyone knew, and while it hadn’t been the best way for them to all find out—and no one seemed to have handled it the best—he’d survived. They’d survived. Plus, playing bashful was probably exactly what Ozzy wanted. “You can take pictures, but it’s two-hundred for admission.”
Ozzy snorted and rolled his eyes, smiling the entire time, then reached over and tousled Jake’s hair. “I like this one. Try not to fuck it up.”
“Don’t want your work to go to waste?” Jake smiled and crossed his arms. “Quinn told me your part in the whole phone thing. I’ll get you back for that.”
“For setting you up with some twink you’re clearly crazy about? Sure, I’ll tell you where to send the check.” He turned around and headed back for what must have been his hotel room. “Still got about an hour before the meeting. Probably want to hop in the shower. They’re cramped and have shitty water pressure, but you’re pretty ripe. And you smell like jizz.”
He returned to his room and Quinn took a deep sniff. “He’s crazy. I’m not getting a whiff of jizz.”
“Well, probably talking about you.” Jake held the door open for Quinn. “I got it all over you last night. Probably missed some.”
Quinn stepped in, set the bags down, then cornered Jake as the door closed them into the hotel room. “Is that your roundabout way of asking if I’ll take a shower with you?”
“No. That’s my roundabout way of poking fun at you. But I’ll take you up on the shower, if you’re offering.”
And cut! I hope you enjoyed Hammering Hearts! While Jake and Quinn's story is wrapped up here, keep your eyes peeled through the rest of the books. There's a whole season of great television to go.
Ozzy and Evander aren't the best of friends, and if you want to find out exactly why, you can grab Book 2, Designing Hearts, HERE.