Chapter 25 #2
“No.” Jasper hums, dipping his head to nuzzle along my throat. “Not planning, baby boy. Making a wish list.”
“A wish list?” I whisper, my blood thrumming at his proximity.
“Mhmm.” He drags his nose up my throat before dropping a kiss to my pulse point and sitting back.
“My wish list. Having you come in, stripping off your clothes like you used to. Only this time.” He leans closer, teasing my bottom lip with his tongue.
I inhale sharply, chasing his mouth when he pulls back.
“You won’t be rushing off before the cum dries, ’cause you’ll already be home. ”
I blink at him. “Real kink for domestic shit you’ve got there.”
He shrugs. “What can I say? I love that you’re mine.”
My stomach flips wildly. “I love that I’m yours too,” I whisper.
Jasper grins at me, his entire face lighting up with his happiness.
There’s a knock at the door, and before I can even get up to open it, Luca is pushing it open. “Hope I’m not interrupting.”
I shake my head, turning away from Jasper. “No. Sure aren’t. We’re just talking.”
Luca blinks at us for a second, his eyes darting back and forth, then Austin pushes in behind him.
“Still so weird to see you two together like that. Still can’t believe I was right from the very start.” Luca holds two boxes in the air. “I brought games.”
“You and those board games,” Jasper says, glaring at Monopoly.
“I thought you liked Monopoly now?” Austin says, catching Jasper’s expression.
“I did. When I was on my winning streak. Now I’m always going bankrupt.”
Luca shrugs. “Skill issue, I’m afraid.” Glancing around, he bounces on his toes. “Where are they? I want to meet them.”
“In their rooms.” I push up off the couch, untangling myself from Jasper. “I’ll go get them.”
Knocking on Salem’s door, I wait for him to call out to me before I open it.
He’s lying on his bed, watching a video on his phone. “Hey, Luca and Austin are here. They brought some games. You wanna come play?”
“Yeah, is Nora coming too?”
I nod. “I’m gonna grab her now.”
“Okay.” Salem jumps down off his bed. “What are we gonna play?”
I shrug. “Not sure. Luca has Monopoly for sure, but I didn’t pay attention to the other game.”
Salem eyes me warily. “Monopoly might be hard for Nora to understand.”
Ah, now there’s the protective big brother I was expecting. “I know. If that’s what we end up playing, she can just play with me. We can be a team or whatever.”
We walk out of his room together, and I knock on Nora’s door. Unlike Salem, she opens it, then grins when she sees that it’s me. “Hi.”
“Hi. Do you wanna come meet Luca and Austin and play some games?”
She nods excitedly. “Yes. What are we gonna play?”
“Not sure yet.”
Raising her shoulder in a shrug, she steps into the hallway. “Okay. Are Luca and Austin nice?”
“Super nice. You’ll really like them.”
She sighs. “I hope I can make friends at my new school like you have.”
Before I even have a chance to say anything, Salem grabs her arm. I’m expecting a confrontation, given how at each other’s throats they were earlier, but Salem just kneels on the ground in front of her. “You’ll make tons of friends, Nora bug. I promise.”
My heart thumps, and my throat tightens.
I wish I had known that my leaving would put Salem in the same position I was in all those years. He’s had to be the protector. The grown-up. The defender. And that’s on me.
“He’s right, you know? You’ll make tons of friends. Both of you will.”
We all make our way into the living room, and Luca’s eyes nearly disappear with his smile.
He’s changed so much in the year I’ve known him.
From sobbing in my arms after his abuser died to being so vibrant and full of life.
It’s been amazing to see his journey, and I’m so proud to call him my best friend.
“Kids. This is Luca.” I gesture toward him. “And Austin.”
Austin waves, a smile lighting up his face. “Nice to meet you both.”
Salem digs his toe into the floor but makes eye contact and nods. “I’m Salem.”
“And I’m Nora.” Nora bounds across the living room. “What are we gonna play?”
“Well, I brought Monopoly, but that might be hard.” He leans in closer to Nora. “Plus, Jasper is a sore loser.”
“I heard that, Luca.”
“Wasn’t trying to keep it a secret,” Luca sing-songs.
“They like to pick on each other, huh?” Salem asks, taking it in with assessing eyes.
“They do. It’s all in good fun, though, I promise. There’s no anger here, Salem. No yelling or fighting. No outbursts. And no drugs. Ever. I don’t even drink.”
He nods. “I believe you.”
Salem steps fully into the living room, keeping a close eye on Nora as she sits on the floor and talks Luca and Austin’s ears off about the trip home and her new bedroom, even going so far as to tell them that Jasper is gonna get her a new phone.
I shoot Jasper a glare. We’re really gonna have to put up a united front, or this kid is gonna get away with murder.
He’s too busy smiling at her to even notice the death glare I’m giving him, which is a real shame.
I sit down on the floor beside her. “We’ll see about the phone, okay? No promises.”
She’s gonna be getting that damn phone. I just know it already. I wonder if Jasper would compromise with an iPad. There’s no reason for her to have a phone that she can talk to everyone and their mother on. Maybe an iPad is a happy medium.
When she asks Luca what he wants to play, he holds up a box. “I got this just for this occasion.”
“What is it?” Nora asks, eyes widening.
“It’s fun,” Austin says. “We got this.” He places a bottle of spray whipped cream on the coffee table.
“And basically, you put it on this little hand, and then each person gets a chance to spin. You put your face in the straps, and you click this here,” he says, pointing to the lever on the side of the game.
“And you hope that your click isn’t the click that gets you a face full of whipped cream. ”
“How do you win?” she asks.
Luca shrugs. “I guess the last person who doesn’t get whipped cream on their face is the winner.”
She claps, eyes darting around. “Can we play?”
“Definitely,” Jasper says. “Do you wanna play too, Salem?”
Salem shrugs. “Sure. Sounds fun. As long as Arlo plays too.”
“We’ll all play.”
Clapping again, Nora giggles. “This is the best day ever.”
My heart swells. I hope she keeps feeling that way. I hope she and Salem both enjoy being here. I hope they feel at home and that they can heal and grow here.
Two hours later, everyone but Nora has been covered in whipped cream at least once, to her absolute delight.
Jasper got hit the hardest. Also to Nora’s absolute delight. And Luca’s too, honestly.
Our living room is full of the sounds of laughter and joy, and for a second I let myself take it all in.
I never thought my life would turn out quite like this.
Sitting in Jasper’s living room—my living room too, I guess—with almost all of my favorite people around me feels like a dream I don’t have to wake up from.
And for once in my fucked-up life, I feel like maybe I don’t have to. Maybe everything will work out. Maybe the hard part is behind us, and now it’s just… this. Game nights and the kids laughing and Jasper smiling at me every so often, like my very existence has filled a hole in his life.
I sure fucking hope so. The kids deserve that. And damn, I think maybe I do too.