Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
“We did it, Momma.”
“What?”
“We put an offer in on a house.” Jason listened to Bax in the shower, his lover singing like a grasshopper-y bullmoose. “I’ll send you a picture in a bit.”
“Son, how many houses did you see today?”
“This one.” This was the one they wanted. “We found the right one first.”
“Well…” She paused, and he knew ‘Momma voice’ was coming. “Are you sure you shouldn’t look at a few more? Just so you’re not disappointed?”
“I’m sure. It’s perfect, Momma. Perfect and right. You’re going to love it.” He proceeded to tell her all about it—the mother-in-law’s suite with its own kitchen, the sunroom that wrapped around the whole house—and the ocean, right there.
“That sounds real nice. I could make my own coffee,” she teased. “I’ll get Jack when we’re done, and we’ll look at the link.”
“Good deal. I’ll know more tomorrow.” They’d made a cash offer at considerably lower than asking price. They knew they wouldn’t get it. They just wanted to start out low and give themselves some wiggle room.
“Well, good luck, baby boy. I’m proud of y’all. Both of you.”
“Yeah? Thanks, Momma.” He wanted her to be. He wanted her to know how hard and scary all this shit was.
“Do you need anything?”
“No, ma’am. We got us a hotel and room service and we’ll walk on the beach in a bit. We’ll be back up with y’all tomorrow.”
“Okay, I love you. Send that link, now.”
“I will.”
Bax would, but whatever. Someone would teach him better how to do that.
There had to be a voice thingee, right? Some way to tell his phone or the laptop to send links and shit.
He’d bet there was. Still, right now, he’d wait on Bax. Speaking of… “You fall asleep in there, man?”
“Huh?” The door opened in a cloud of Old Spice-scented steam. “I was feeling gritty, huh? You want it next?”
“I do. I called home. Momma wants a link to go look.” He stood and started stripping down, making sure to put today’s clothes in a separate pile from tonight’s.
“Cool. I’ll send it. Man, that shoulder is all bruised up still.” Bax came to drop a kiss on his bruises.
“Is it? It don’t bother me nothing like the itch in this stupid-assed cast.” He hated them, but Doc always put the hard ones on him, saying he’d just wreck the soft ones.
“Let me bag you up. You need help washing?” Bax sounded a wee bit guilty.
“You can sit and talk to me, if’n you want.” He wasn’t going to have to do much. Momma had buzzed his hair for him yesterday.
“Cool. Let me hit send.” Bax tapped at the laptop, then came back to him to help him get undressed and to wrap his arm.
“So, when do we get to start being excited? Soon?” The house was empty, so they’d asked for closing in fourteen days, leasing for the time in between. That way they would have a house before they headed to the next event.
“Shit, babe, I already am. Monica seemed pretty happy, and they’ve been using the place as an Airbnb. Unsuccessfully, apparently. Why the hell wouldn’t they take an offer?” Bax got the shower going again for him.
“Right? I’m tickled, and I can’t wait to sleep there. Once we know, we buy a bed first, right?” He stepped into the tub, letting Bax balance him on the slick.
“We do. We’ll get it delivered and set up and all, get sheets at the same time. They’ll be more expensive there, but they’ll also make us a deal.” Bax got him steady, the steam feeling like it was melting the salt on his skin.
“Oh, this is good. You gonna have to paint the walls?” It occurred to him, all of a sudden, that he didn’t know what color the walls were, and he never would. Never again. He’d never know colors again. He didn’t know what his house looked like. He didn’t know what it looked like from the windows.
His knees tried to buckle, but he kept them firm. No. No, he was not fucking ruining this with that sort of bullshit. This was a good thing. He was going to fucking be grateful and thank God that they could buy a house, him and Bax. Together.
“You okay, Mini?” Bax couldn’t see him, but his lover always knew, didn’t he?
“I was having a mo. I’m fine.”
“Well, God forbid you have them mos,” Bax teased. “The walls are pretty good. We might need to go from fake wood to tile in some high traffic areas. Them boards is warping.”
“Works for me. I like tile. It stays cool.”
“Yeah. There’s a lot of sand out there. Like a lot, a lot. I think we should put in an outside shower, to keep you from going crazy crunching sand under your feet.”
He laughed out loud. “You saying I’m picky?”
“I’m saying you can’t sweep as well as you used to could.”
“Good point. We’ll get one of them Roomba things that does carpet and tile.” That was a compromise, right?
“Oh, I’ll put that on the list.” Bax had a list? Rock on.
“Yeah. I figure we—well, it’s on my phone, but I’ve started a list of some things I thought of. I figure we’ll hit up the Walmart for some pots and pans and dishes, just to get us started.” Man, Bax had been putting thought into this.
“Towels. Peanut butter. Forks and spatulas.”
“Bread to go with the peanut butter. I figure your momma can help with that list too.” Bax cackled. “Look at us, setting up house.”
“Lord, I bet Momma comes with a truckload. She set up the travel trailer, didn’t she?” She was good to him.
“She did. That woman has more shit in her storage room than I’ve ever owned in my whole life.” Bax’s chuckle was warm and fond. Yeah, he was family.
He soaped up his short hair, just using the Ivory soap bar. “Was there a security system deal?”
They weren’t going to be home all the time.
“There was one of them doorbell cameras, and one at the gate, but nothing in the house.” Bax hmmed. “I’ll add that, too. Expensive man,” Bax teased.
“Yeah, but we ain’t home for a while sometimes.” Gramps had folks to watch his place when he was gone.
“True. And we ain’t gonna have anyone real close.” Bax paused. “You know I was just teasin’, right?”
“Well, shit yeah. We got this. I’m nervous, though. I want to know it’s ours.” He didn’t want it up in the air and all. He was ready to put down roots.
“The waiting sucks.” When he turned the water off, Bax was right there to help him dry off. That broken wrist was shit for anything but, well…anything.
“You know what you want to eat tonight?” Jason asked, turning in the towel. “You want to order room service then go walk?”
“Sure. I’m down. Unless you want to get finger food at some shop. Then we all look like fools and make a mess.”
“Maybe as a snack.” He would rather have something at the room, and the hotel was nice enough.
“Cool. I’ll read you the menu.”
“I want cow and potatoes.” He was going to learn how to eat a steak, dammit, without someone having to cut it up for him.
“Well, they just happen to have a sirloin or a ribeye.”
“Sirloin.” That way he didn’t have to do the minefield of fat. There was no good thing about crunching down on a boingy bit of gristle.
“Baked potato? Salad?”
“Baked. Do they have coleslaw?”
“They do.” The phone clacked as Bax picked it up and punched up room service. Lord, the hotels they stayed in these days were a far cry from the roadside motels they’d stayed in at the start of their careers.
And they were fixin’ to buy themselves a goddamn beach house. Wild.
He grinned, just feeling good in his bones. Even the broken ones. Jason knew he had to focus on the now, get the riding done. But he was so ready to be on to the next stage of life.
Was that fucking weird or what? Was this just being grown up? Or was this being in love and making a home?
Maybe it was both. There was no going back now. Him and Bax, they were an ‘us’.
“Dinner is on order, babe.” Bax sat next to him, kissing just below his ear, which made him shiver. “There’s smoke coming out of your ears. Whatcha pondering?”
“I just—” It felt silly to say it out loud. “I’m ready for this, and I never thought I would be—and that’s weird.”
“Yeah.” Bax took his hand, playing with his fingers. “You know, we think we’re invincible. Then we find out we ain’t. It’s tough.”
“Yeah. I— You stuck around. You didn’t have to, and you did.” And Jason wasn’t sure what he’d done to deserve it.
“We’re a team. I pull your rope and always have.” Bax leaned on him. “Is it weird that I got a burger and a salad and carrot cake?”
“You and your cream cheese icing.” Nah, it wasn’t weird. It was Bax, so it was okay.
“Yeah. I need it. Doesn’t mean I won’t get ice cream later.” Bax maintained that ice cream was a thing at the beach, just like corn dogs were at the fair.
“I like that. Ice cream, I mean.” He chuckled softly. “It’s going to take a little while to figure out all the different stairs in the new house.”
“I know. I figure we’ll get us a system. Something on the railings where you know which set goes where.” Bax was always thinking. Dillon had taught him a lot about that in the last year or so, to think outside the box.
“Maybe a couple baby gates for the beginning. We’ll need them for dogs, too, right?”
“We will. They’ll need training.” Bax leaned on him, just humming a tuneless little ditty.
“Yeah. Yeah. I hope they take the offer.” Excitement and nerves warred with each other, making him a little queasy.
“Me too. Let’s distract ourselves.” Bax kissed him then—nothing hard or urgent, just, “let’s make out until the food comes.”
Normal shit.
Easy shit.
Everyday—
Bax’s phone rang.
It clattered to the floor. “Shit!” Bax scrambled. “Hello? Sure. Is it okay if I put you on speaker?”
“…just wanted to let you know that I have an answer from the sellers.”
They both held their breath, which whooshed out of Bax when he had to answer. Jason tried not to laugh hysterically at Bax’s voice breaking.
“Okay?”
“They accepted. We can sign the papers as soon as you’d like.”
“Holy—” Bax cut himself off. “We can sign tomorrow if we can get one more walk-through in the morning. And we’ll need to go to the bank.”
Bax would want to look at the plumbing and electrical, he’d bet.
“I’ll meet you in the morning. Say nine a.m.?” And just like that, they had a house.