Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
JONAH
My fingers crept over the bed, meeting a rumpled pillow and cool sheets. I had no idea what time it was, only that I’d slept. And not just slept—I’d gone fully unconscious. If I had dreamed, I didn’t remember anything.
Groaning, I sat up and felt down my torso, but I caught a whiff of my woodsy lavender whatever soap that Tucker was always buying me. Had Alexio cleaned me up? And when the fuck had he left?
Reaching over, my fingertips grazed the nightstand, but my phone wasn’t on the charger where I normally left it. That was so fucking annoying. Losing shit in my apartment wasn’t a big deal, but it always took me a hundred hours to find it, especially if my phone wasn’t in speaking distance.
“Hey, Siri?”
Of course, I was met with silence.
I didn’t remember much from the night before apart from amazing food and an orgasm that had knocked me unconscious. Well, there had also been Alexio and his arms around me. I vaguely remembered him pulling me close and gently rocking our bodies until I was out.
God, that last part must have been a dream because Alexio was obviously fine with feeding and fucking me, but the snuggling after?
There was not a chance in hell the dude was a cuddler.
Stretching my arms up, I listened to the snap, crackle, pop of my back before feeling around the bedspread. The tea tray with last night’s dinner leftovers was also gone.
“Fuck, my kitchen,” I murmured aloud when I realized I hadn’t helped Alexio put everything back. That was going to be yet another nightmare I had to deal with.
Kicking my feet over the side of the bed, I swept them from left to right to make sure there were no clothes or shoes I was going to trip over, and then I stumbled into the bathroom and started the shower.
A quick shit, shave, and wash was all I needed to start the day. I had to be at the arena in—well, I actually had no idea because my phone was missing, and my watch was also who the fuck knew where. But I knew Tucker wouldn’t care once he found out I’d been—
Oh. Wait.
Actually, I couldn’t tell him what I’d been up to last night.
I still hadn’t told him I was bi, and while Killian had probably kept his mouth shut, I did need to say something soon.
I wasn’t exactly the most subtle man, and while Tucker could be kind of a dipshit, he was going to notice when I started touching other men’s butts.
It didn’t take me long to get clean. Alexio had apparently done a great job at cleaning up all the dried bits of come from my stomach and pubes, so I quickly threw on a jogger set and shuffled my way into the living room. I grazed my fingers over light switches, but they were all turned off.
Alexio must have done that too.
It was weirdly thoughtful, and I didn’t want to focus too much on it because then I’d have to address the strange feeling that had been sitting in my chest for a while now, and I didn’t have time for that. Or the space for it.
I took a breath, then punched the button on my coffee maker to start my to-go cup before turning to face the living room. “Hey, Siri?”
PING!
Success.
“Play alert.”
“Playing alert for Jonah’s iPhone.”
I fucking hated the alert ring, but it helped me find my phone, which was on the floor and partially beneath the couch. Fuck, that would have taken me a hundred years to find. I swept my hand back and forth until I touched it, and as I pulled it back, I heard something different.
It created an odd scraping sound. Shoving my phone onto the coffee table, my fingers explored the floor again until they came into contact with something else. It was…round…ish. Definitely some kind of metal with an image carved on both sides.
I would think it was a coin if it felt less like some kindergarten kid made it.
Maybe it was something from Caleb he’d dropped last time he visited. I made a mental note to tell him and dropped it on the coffee table before grabbing my phone again and checking the time. And, of course, I was late to morning practice, and there were six messages from Tucker.
I hit the Call button and listened to it ring.
“Someone better be fucking dead, dude,” Tucker said, pissed. Then he went quiet. “Oh shit. I didn’t mean that. Your dad, he’s not…”
“No, no.” I smiled in spite of myself. I still had shit to deal with when it came to my dad, but I really did love my friends and their foot-in-mouth disease. “He’s alive. I slept in.”
“I mean, I’m fucking pissed because we have a really goddamn important practice, but also you needed sleep, so thank fuck. You had an okay night?”
I knocked my temple on the couch as I sat there on my floor and grinned. “It was nice. I had a friend over.”
“You had a guest?” Tucker asked, then choked. “A sex guest?”
“Mm. I’ll tell you all about it later. But, ah…I don’t think I’m going to make practice today. I think I need to go see my dad and take care of some stuff.”
Tucker sighed. “Fiiiiine. But only because I love you, and I like playing favorites.”
“I love you too. I’ll make it up to you.”
“You can make it up to me by promising you’ll eat today,” he said. “And nap when you get a chance. Then eat more. Three meals, Jonah. And two healthy snacks.”
“Chipotle,” I said.
“Fuck you.” He burst into laughter, and I joined him, trailing off in a sigh. “You sound better, bud.”
“Yeah. I feel…” Not better, but something. “It’s getting easier.”
“I know. Call me when you’re done with dad stuff, okay. Maybe we can hang out.”
“Yeah, I—oh. No. I can’t.”
“More sex guest?”
That would have been nice, but… “Ah, no. Vanya’s coming over.”
“Van—oh. Ivan? Maximov?”
I laughed. “Yeah. He’s been bugging me to meet Athena, and he promised to cook me some Russian food. Which sounds maybe terrifying, but I’m curious.”
Tucker groaned. “Alright, alright. Since he’s feeding you, I’ll allow it. But he’s not your sex guest, is he?”
I almost choked on my own tongue. I liked Vanya. He was nice. And he was hot. His accent was cute, and he was sweet and a little overwhelming. But he was not for me. Maybe if I didn’t know Alexio, but I did. And I wasn’t sure anyone could compare to him, which was goddamn tragic.
“Nope. Why?”
“I think Matty has a crush on him, and he would totally not care if you and Maximov were a thing, but he’d get his little feelings hurt about it, and that would make me sad.”
I grimaced. Vanya liked most people, but I wasn’t sure he was into Matty. And as much as Vanya was kind, I wasn’t sure he was the right person for our delicate little winger. “I’m not sure Vanya likes dudes, but maybe I’ll ask. Anyway, I should run.”
“Talk later.” Before Tucker hung up, I heard him shout to the rink, “Alright, boys! One of you gets to play goalie today since Jonah’s out, and there’s not a fucking chance I’m calling Metzger to the ice!”
The line went dead, and I turned my face up toward the ceiling. I wished in that moment Alexio hadn’t cleaned me up. I wished he’d left a little something of himself behind.
I wished I had something other than the memory of him touching me, his tongue in my ass, hand on my cock. I wanted something tangible.
Fuck.
I think I just wanted him.
The afternoon crawled by, but only because we were finally making progress. Killian had gotten me an appointment with a law office to help with the power of attorney thing, and he gave me all the info about my dad’s neurologists that he could find.
He’d had a couple of appointments, according to the records, and he had been given a prescription for some medication neither Killian nor I could pronounce, but it had never been filled.
I was freshly pissed at my mom, but I swallowed it down because my dad was also having a good day, and not only did he remember who I was, but he didn’t seem annoyed that I was there.
Killian drove us to the shops so I could fill his fridge, and then we stopped by Nikos’s restaurant to go over the plan.
“I’d like you to come with me to the doctor’s office,” I told him over a tray of meat that tasted suspiciously like what Alexio had made me last night. I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t about to give him away, but it was making me feel things even more.
“Are you sure?” Nikos asked.
I nodded, swallowing down a massive mouthful of food. “Mm. I know you’re not going to be doing this forever, but you kind of know more about his daily life than I do. And I know that makes me the world’s shittiest son…”
“You’re not a shitty son,” my dad said quietly. I froze, and then my heart jumped when his dry, thin hand curled around my arm. “I was a shitty dad.” I had no fucking clue what to say to that. He let out a heavy sigh, squeezed my arm, then said, “When is your mom getting back from the store?”
I bowed my head. “Later this afternoon.”
“Okay.” He went silent again, and my chest fucking ached.
It was always going to be like this. I knew that. Except when it wasn’t like this, it was going to be worse. God, how did people go through this and survive it with their sanity intact?
“Jonah?”
I lifted my head and turned toward Nikos. “Mm?”
“Why don’t you let me take Peter home later? You can go ahead and head out now.”
“Oh, but…” I tapped my phone screen, and it read out the time. It wasn’t even three o’clock. “It’s early.”
“He likes it here,” Nikos said. “Don’t you, Peter?”
“I like it here. I didn’t know my son owned a restaurant,” my dad said. “Did you know my other sons play hockey?”
Fuck. “Yeah, Dad. They’re pretty good, eh?”
“It’s bullshit hockey. Blind hockey. They cheat.”
“They don’t cheat,” Nikos said. “I watch almost every game, and it’s such hard work.”
Dad scoffed. “Please. It’s bullshit hockey.
Bullshit. You know, this is probably my wife’s fault, right?
She wanted…she gave birth to Jonah, and he was so small.
All…purple and sick. No eyes. We didn’t even know it right away.
The nurses knew, but they were too afraid to tell us.
I told her we should put him up for adoption and try again. She wouldn’t let me.”