Chapter Forty-Nine
Jamie closed the door to Joesph’s bedroom, smiling. When he turned around, he jumped, startled. Mike was standing near the door to the apartment.
“I wanted to say good night.” His voice had that low, grumbly quality that made Jamie’s insides melt.
“Oh. Right. Good night.” Jamie moved closer to him. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“We have a date, don’t we?” Mike smiled and took a step closer. “I have things at work I have to get done during the day. How about six o’clock?”
“Uh... Yeah.” Jamie stood there, feeling frozen in place as he looked into Mike’s eyes.
Mike took another step. “There isn’t much going on here tomorrow that Joesph can’t handle. Just the flooring guys.”
“I... suppose.” He couldn’t stop staring into those beautiful and very sexy eyes.
“I mean, I guess I could come earlier than that. But only if you need me.” Mike was now standing very close to Jamie. “Do you think you’ll need me?”
“Oh yes.” Jamie had to blink. “I mean, no. Of course not. No sense in your coming early. Especially if you have things to do,” Jamie stammered.
“If you do need me, I’m only a phone call away.”
Jamie nodded, still looking up into Mike’s face.
Mike slowly bowed his head, his lips barely brushing Jamie’s. “I’d be here in a jiffy.”
Again, Jamie only nodded, leaning closer to Mike.
Mike kissed him ever so gently. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“Uh... okay.” Jamie felt as if someone had nailed his feet to the floor. He couldn’t move.
Mike smiled, turned, and left.
Jamie didn’t know how long he stood there. It had to have been a long while. Eventually, his body relaxed, well, most of his body. He looked down and felt his restrained and very hard dick in his underwear. “I need a cold shower,” he whispered to himself. “Maybe a long, long shower.”
* * * * *
When Jamie woke up, the sun was shining through his bedroom window. He could smell coffee, which meant that Joesph had already gotten up. He yawned and stretched before standing up.
“Morning,” Jamie croaked, his voice still seeming to be asleep.
Joesph looked up at Jamie, his eyes having diverted from his computer. “Good morning, sunshine.” He went back to working on his computer. “I made coffee.”
“Thank you.” Jamie poured himself a cup and sat down opposite Joesph. “Whatcha working on?”
“Just stuff,” Joesph’s hand fluttered. “Nothing for you to worry about.”
“I have a question for you.” Jamie waited until Joesph looked up. “Do you always cover your car up?”
Joesph blinked a few times as if he were trying to understand the question. “Of course I do. Belinda is a treasure, and I don’t want all this dust and dirt to get on her.” His hand went to his chest. “Belinda is... part of my family, and it is my duty to protect her.”
“Even in the garage at your apartment?”
“Of course!” Joesph looked at Jamie like he’d lost his mind.
“What about your other car?”
Joesph rolled his eyes and went back to his computer. “That... thing is not a real car, not an automobile. It is a pregnant roller skate that gets me from point A to point B. It is a utilitarian necessity.”
“You know, you roll your eyes so much I’m surprised that they don’t just roll out of your head.”
“If you didn’t say such ridiculous things, then I wouldn’t have to roll my eyes.”
Jamie laughed and took a long sip of his coffee. “Thanks again for setting up the coffee maker and making actual coffee.”
“You’re welcome.” Joesph never looked up from his computer, while he moved and clicked. He had a cordless mouse next to him that he was moving about.
“What’s on for today?” Jamie asked, still watching Joesph, who seemed very intent on what he was doing.
Joesph was concentrating on whatever he was working on, then took a deep breath.
“There.” He looked up at Jamie as he closed his computer.
“The flooring people are coming. I will put Salzy in charge of them. You are going to do something with all this... mess,” He said, waving towards all the clothes and boxes that were taking up most of the living area of the apartment.
“And I am going shopping. There. That is the day planned.”
“Oookay,” Jamie said.
“First, I am going to have a nice long shower.” Joesph stood up and washed out his coffee cup, setting it on the drain board.
“I’m going out to dinner with Mike tonight.”
That stopped Joesph in his tracks. “To where?”
“The same place he took you. He wants to show me... the competition, he said.”
Joesph stood there a moment looking at Jamie. “I hope you give that man a chance, Jamie. He really is into you.”
Jamie nodded slowly.
“And you are very, very much into him.”
When Jamie didn’t say anything, Joesph went into the bedroom.
“Hello, anyone alive up there?” Salzy hollered from the bottom of the stairs.
“Yeah. Come on up.” Jamie poured himself another cup of coffee. “Joesph made coffee.”
The screen door squeaked as Salzy opened it. “Thank the lord. I was afraid I was going to have to go down to that convenience store for coffee,” he said, his face pinched.
“That bad?” Jamie laughed as he sat down at the small round table.
“Yeah, but it’s better than nothing.” Salzy doctored his coffee. “Where’s Joesph?”
“He’s about to jump into the shower.”
“What’s happening today?”
Jamie told him what Joesph had said about the things that were to happen that day. Salzy nodded along as he sipped his coffee.
“And I have a date tonight,” Jamie blurted out after a few moments of silence.
“Oh, thank God,” Salzy breathed out. “I hope you get laid. Watching the two of you is downright painful.”
“Who said it was with Mike?”
“Yeah, right.” Salzy looked at Jamie, hard. “You’re not fooling anyone but yourself.”
Jamie sighed. “Okay, it is with Mike.”
Salzy leaned in, propping his elbows on the table, his coffee cradled in his hands. “He’s a decent guy, from the short amount of time I’ve known him. I can... like read people. I’d trust him.”
Jamie concentrated on his own coffee.
“Give him a chance, Jamie. What have you got to lose?”
Jamie looked at Salzy. He felt as if he couldn’t take a deep breath. “My heart.”
* * * * *
“Why do I have so many clothes?” Jamie said to himself as he crammed the hanging clothes into the closet.
“I’m home,” Joesph called out as he entered the apartment.
“I’m in here,” Jamie called out. “I’m almost done.”
Joesph appeared in the doorway to the bedroom. He looked around. “Uh, Jamie... what’s with all the boxes stacked in the corner?”
“There wasn’t any other place for them.” Jamie turned and closed the closet door.
“What’s in them?”
“Mostly kitchen stuff. Odds and ends.”
Joesph sat on the bed and patted a place next to him.
Jamie sat down, pushing the sweat-soaked hair off his forehead.
“Jamie, darling, that kitchen in there is yours now. There is a place for your stuff.” Joesph put a hand on his friend’s back. “At some point, you will have to let go and... live your life.”
The tears seemed to just appear and rolled down Jamie’s face. “Why is this so hard?”
Joesph pulled Jamie close. “It’s hard losing those closest to you. Nothing in life is easy. You will get through it. Do it at your own pace. But... remember, you have a long life ahead of you and you deserve to be happy. They would want you to be happy.”
Jamie wiped his face with both hands. “Thank you.” He let his hands drop into his lap. “I know you’re right. In my head, I know you’re right, but” —he pounded his chest with a fist—“in here... in my heart... it feels broken.”
“And that is completely normal, Jamie.” Joesph rubbed small circles on Jamie’s back.
They both sat there in silence; the only sound was the oscillating fan moving warm air about.
“What time is your date?” Joesph asked.
“Oh.” Jamie stiffened. “I shouldn’t have agreed to go to dinner with Mike. I’m not ready.”
“Yes, you are, and yes you will.” Joesph stood up and pulled Jamie up by the back of his shirt. “What are you planning on wearing?”
“No.” Jamie shook himself. “I’m going to call Mike and cancel.”
“You’ll do no such thing.” Joesph stood in front of Jamie and shook him, his hands on Jamie’s shoulders.
“You need this, Jamie Throneaux. You need this more than you think.” He looked into Jamie’s eyes.
“You need to get away from all this for a while. You’ve hardly left this place since your grandmother died, and then it was mostly to deal with. .. all the stuff you’ve had to do.”
Jamie took a deep breath. “I don’t know that I can.”
Joesph slapped Jamie across the face. Not a hard slap, but hard enough to stun Jamie.
“What the hell,” Jamie yelled, his own hand covering the spot where he’d just been hit.
“Time for you to wake up and smell the coffee, Jamie. Wake the hell up!” Joesph had his hands on his hips. Jamie knew that pose. Joesph was ready for a war. “You are going, and that’s final. Now, what are you wearing?”