Chapter 106
NOVA play: Truly Madly Deeply – Yoke Lore
(Five Years Later)
“I’m late!” I screeched, leaping up from my desk so quickly my chair went shooting back.
Oh crap, oh crap! I’d totally lost track of time!
“Relax, Milo. You know I would never let you be late for something this important. You have tons of time,” NOVA chimed as I frantically rushed around my office, trying to find my keys.
“But I’m not dressed! We need to be there in an hour!”
Two of my most brilliant MTRs—Skyler and Grayson—saw me freaking out through the glass walls of my office and poked their heads in curiously.
“Everything okay, boss?” Skyler asked, blinking at me with concern as she searched the room for anything that might give her a hint as to why I was losing my marbles.
“Yes, yes, I’m just late. NOVA forgot to give me my fifteen minutes of notice.”
NOVA scoffed, sounding offended.
“I didn’t forget. I just didn’t think you needed notice. You can just go as you are.”
“Is this for the grand opening?” Skyler asked. Grayson cocked his head to the side, leaning up against the glass door frame and frowning at me skeptically.
“What’s wrong with what you’re wearing?”
“I would also like to know the answer to that.” I froze as Jay’s smooth, warm voice rolled through the office, and I bit back a meep as I turned to find him standing between Skyler and Grayson with his hands in the pockets of his black suit pants.
He had one dark eyebrow quirked, and though his suit probably cost more than most people’s cars, it still looked like it could probably use an iron, and his hair looked like he’d stuck his finger in an electrical socket.
He was always a little rumpled when he got too into his work. When he was in the zone, he tended to forget to hang up his suit jacket and always ended up running his hands excessively through his hair whenever he was thinking too hard.
Somehow, no matter how scruffy he ended up by the end of the day, I still always thought he was the hottest man I’d ever seen in my life.
“Uhm, I just… I don’t know, I had it in my head that I was going to change before we went and—”
“Is there something wrong with the outfit I picked out for you this morning, Milo?”
I gulped, feeling heat rush down from my cheeks directly to my cock. I glanced nervously at Skyler and Greyson, who both looked thoroughly amused. I cleared my throat awkwardly.
“Not in front of the Juniors, Jay. It’s unprofessional!” I hissed, but Jay just smirked and shrugged.
Skyler giggled and exchanged a look with Grayson.
“I love when they bicker. Candice and I always take bets.”
“You take bets!?” I gasped, shooting a flabbergasted look to Jay, but he was clearly doing everything in his power to keep himself from laughing.
“Who do you put your money on?” he asked Skyler, and she blushed before tilting her head toward me.
“Milo. He’s usually a sure thing. I almost never have to pay for drinks at the Memory Tap anymore.”
Jay’s eyes were literally sparkling with mirth.
“Is that so? Hear that, baby? You have me so whipped that you’re single-handedly funding the MTR floor’s drinking habits.”
“You’re not whipped!” I protested as Jay slid forward, wrapping his hands around my waist and tugging me in for a soft kiss.
“I’m a little whipped,” he murmured against my ear, and I shivered, using every ounce of focus I had to avoid getting an inappropriate work boner.
Thankfully, Skyler and Grayson slipped away while Jay shamelessly showered me with what should probably have been considered an inappropriate amount of workplace PDA. Somehow, no one seemed to mind. Our little displays of affection were consistently celebrated and encouraged by our staff.
Apparently, they thought we were ‘cute AF,’ and one of the culture teams had even started a ‘kiss cam’ contest where the best snap of the Neurovance CEO’s kissing on campus got to take their birthday off without using a vacation day.
“Anyway, did you really want to change before we go? I can make a call and let Daniel know we’re going to be a little late.”
“No! We can’t be late. Not for this,” I cried, and Jay nodded in understanding.
“For what it’s worth, I chose this outfit with the grand opening in mind. I think you look perfect.”
“Yeah, but you always say that,” I sighed, finally finding my bag and slipping it over my shoulder. I shoved my glasses higher up my nose and moved to head out when Jay stopped me with a gentle hand on my arm.
“One sec, your laces…” He dropped to one knee and tied the leather laces of my loafers up for me.
“Ohmygosh, thanks. Jeeze, knowing me, I would have tripped right through the ribbon before we even got a chance to use the big scissors.”
Jay chuckled softly, and I glanced down to find him staring at me with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“What are you…”
He glanced pointedly down at my shoe, and I followed his gaze, frowning in confusion at a glint of gold that hadn’t been there before.
“Jay, what…” I squinted and adjusted my glasses, then gasped when I realized what it was.
“JAY REYNOLDS! IF THAT’S WHAT I THINK IT IS, I SWEAR TO EINSTEIN—”
“It’s exactly what you think it is.”
“Well, now we’re definitely going to be late!” I wailed, before crouching down to untangle the gold ring he’d tied up in my laces.
My eyes immediately welled with tears, and my hands shook as I examined the band. The inside had a little engraving of a chilli pepper, and the words ‘I’m not going anywhere, baby.’
“Jay…”
He reached up, still on his knees before me, as he carefully took the ring out of my trembling hands.
“Give me your hand, please,” he ordered softly, and I held out my left hand to him, shivering with anticipation as he brought my knuckles to his lips, kissing them gently.
“Milo…” He cleared his throat, looking like he might be holding back tears himself.
“Milo… there was a time when I didn’t think we would ever get here,” he whispered, his voice low and full of a deep aching pain that sometimes still cropped up on cold, quiet nights.
I sniffed and squeezed his fingers as I waited, wanting more than anything to hear what he had to say.
“You’ve seen me at my lowest, and you’ve seen me at my best… but no matter what, the thing that matters most… is you’ve always seen me.” He reached up and gently straightened my glasses on my nose. “Even when I didn’t want you to.”
My lip quivered, and that tender smile of his widened.
“When you erased me that day… I thought you were running from me. I thought you’d just had enough and realized that I wasn’t worth all the baggage I came with… but… it’s so clear to me now that you weren’t running from me. You were trying to save me…”
I nodded frantically. This was something we’d worked on extensively in therapy together—getting Jay to understand and believe that I hadn’t done what I’d done because I blamed him for bringing me to Neurovance, but because I hadn’t seen any other way to keep him from getting hurt.
I wasn’t sure he fully believed that he deserved to heal after everything that happened, especially considering the intense feelings of guilt I knew he harboured around Sebastian’s death, but his admitting this to me now was a huge step in the right direction.
“Milo… you’ve been saving me every day since I met you. Maybe before that, even. I may be a selfish bastard for bringing you here, and I know I’m not a perfect man… but I meant it when I told you I wasn’t going anywhere. So, if you’ll have me, I’d like to make it official.”
“Jay…” My cheeks were wet as he held the ring up to my finger, his copper eyes never straying from mine.
“Milo Murphy, will you be my husband?” he asked, and I was already blurting an enthusiastic yes! Before he even finished the question.
He smiled and slid the ring on my finger before getting to his feet and sweeping me up into his arms and kissing me silly.
There were cheers, whistles, and several whoot whoooots! When I pulled away from Jay’s kiss, we turned to find the entire Memory Therapy floor watching through my glass walls.
Several people had their phones out, and Skyler high-fived Grayson without even looking at him.
“I’ve got this month’s kiss cam in the bag,” she said, grinning triumphantly down at her phone. Greyson just laughed and shook his head, looking amused.
“Alright, everybody. Show’s over. Back to work,” Jay said, though his tone was light and he was smiling again.
I loved that he was finally smiling more often. It had taken a while and a boatload of therapy, but slowly, we were both healing from everything Luke had put us through.
He squeezed my hand gently, and my toes curled at the feeling of my new ring pressing between my fingers.
“Shall we, Mr. Reynolds?” he asked, and I beamed at him, my heart doing a little somersault in my chest at my new name.
“God, you have no idea how excited I am to lose the name Murphy.”
Jay chuckled softly, brushing an affectionate kiss across my forehead. “I never minded Murphy… but what’s mine is yours, baby. If you want to be a Reynolds, then a Reynolds you shall be.”
He slid my bag off my shoulder and took it from me, before gesturing for me to lead the way out of the new NeuroWell building.
“Now, let’s go tell Seb the good news.” Jay hummed, sliding the keys to his N-car out of his pocket. His chili pepper keychain glinted as he pressed the button for the elevator, and I smiled up at him, feeling like the luckiest biotech nerd on the planet.