Chapter 28
For once, Jamie wasn’t completely focused on the board game in front of him. He was half paying attention to the number of victory points Sally and Ang had—which was too many for his comfort—while keeping an eye on Caleb playing in the other room with Freya.
It had been a tough week for Caleb, to say the least, and Jamie was a little worried about his mental state.
They had been together long enough now for Jamie to know that he was trying hard to seem fine when he wasn’t.
The bullshit with Halcombe was weighing on him heavily, even if he didn’t talk about it much, and the pressure to go back to Youngstown soon was rising. It seemed that his dad was really ill.
Even from here, he could tell Caleb was moving slowly. A lot more sluggish than usual, and he had large circles under his eyes. Jamie just wanted to tuck him into bed and feed him soup…
“Ha! You’re distracted.” Sally grinned manically, rubbing her hands together. “Perfect. I’ll win for once.”
Ang snorted. “Very nice, Sal.”
“What? I never win.”
“That’s because J’s better than you. What? You feeling lucky today?”
Flicking her auburn ponytail over her shoulder, Sally replied, “Yes, actually! I have a second date with Ellie’s friend. The universe is on my side, and I’m going to kick Jamie’s arse at Catan.”
“Let’s not be dramatic,” Jamie replied dryly, one eye on the board, the other on the living room. Freya watched Caleb spread some markers out on the floor, correcting the way he was organizing them.
“Do you not know the rainbow?” she asked Caleb seriously. “Because you’re from the States?”
An amused snort came from Caleb, alongside a, “I know the rainbow just fine, little lady…”
Angie called to the living room, “Freya, be polite!”
“I’m just telling him the order they go in!”
Ang rolled her eyes. “A handful, my daughter. Caleb is a saint for letting her come.”
Jamie shifted in his chair. “Ang, she’s always welcome. It’s not a chore to have Freya around, I hope you know that.”
Her eyes softened at his words, and Sally smiled, eyes fixed on the board. Try all she might, she still had no chance of winning.
“We missed you,” Ang said softly, putting a hand on top of Jamie’s.
“It’s so nice to see you… here.” Her eyes flitted around the flat as if to say home.
The space was quite messy, his stuff thrown all over the place despite Caleb’s best effort to keep it organized, and music played softly over the Bluetooth.
His heart did a little jig in his chest. He finally understood what they all meant when they said they missed him.
He’d missed them, too. In a way.
“No, dumb dumb!” Freya shrieked.
Ang let her head thunk against the counter before standing and putting on her mum voice. “Freya Elizabeth, we do not talk to our friends like that…” She rushed into the living room, leaving Jamie and Sally alone.
Sally finally averted her gaze from the board. “Doing alright, Jamie? I heard you were cleared to bike.”
“Yeah, I was.” He smiled down at his cards. “Can’t wait to ride to work tomorrow. I hate the Tube.”
“Weirdo.” She dropped her voice lower. “And things are going well with Caleb?”
His eyes shot up. “Yeah, they are. Why?”
Sally shrugged. “Just checking. You know I’m here if you need anything. Hell, I was the one who helped Caleb propose the first time.”
Jamie set down his cards. “You did?”
A bright smile spread on her face. “Hell yeah. Who do you think helped him with all those bloody candles—”
“Oh!” Jamie stood abruptly, causing the table to wobble. “I don’t—please stop. I don’t need the details.”
Her eyes stared up at him, wide and guilty. “Oh, sorry. Are you upset?”
“No, no. I just don’t want to hear about…” He wrung his hands in front of him. “The engagement.”
Her eyebrows pulled together. “You don’t?” She glanced toward the living room. “Do you not think you want to marry him, J? Cause if not, I think he needs to know that—”
“What?” Jamie accidentally yelled the word, drawing the eyes of Caleb and Ang. Lowering his voice, he leaned toward Sally. “No, that’s not it at all. It’s just that…”
His heart rate sped up. Apparently, he was saying this out loud for the first time.
To Sally. In a whisper-shout. “I want to propose to him. And, I dunno, I just don’t want to hear about the last time and have it influence how I do this.
I’ll let him tell me after he…” He wiped his palms on his trousers.
Suddenly, it felt like his heart was beating out of his chest. “Oh God, Sally, is this a terrible idea?”
Sally’s look of shock morphed into one of annoyance. Rolling her eyes, she cursed under her breath.
“Bloody hell, J. That man wanted to marry you the moment he saw you.” She snatched her cards back up. “Sit, you wanker. I’m going to beat you at this game if it’s the last thing I do.”
Having Jamie in his arms was slowly unraveling the knot of anxiety in Caleb’s chest. Plus the luxurious blowjob he’d just received.
“Mmm,” Jamie hummed against his skin as he kissed his way up his stomach, along his ribs, and finally nuzzled his head into Caleb’s neck. Gentle fingertips explored the ridges of Caleb’s abs as Jamie slung a leg over his hip.
He was in full koala mode now.
When he lifted his head to meet Caleb’s gaze, Jamie’s curls were disheveled from where Caleb’s fingers had been stroking, and his cheeks were flushed a gorgeous pink. Unable to stop himself, Caleb kissed his forehead, his temple, then his cheek—anywhere he could reach.
The moment he had gotten off the phone with his sister, discussing their father’s declining health, Jamie was quick to get him naked. The man was insatiable and seemed to know that this would be a very welcome distraction to Caleb.
Brushing his thumb lazily along Jamie’s smooth cheek, he asked, “What do you want, sweetheart?” His head felt dizzy as he came down from his orgasm. He could feel Jamie’s hardness against his leg.
Jamie looked just as sex-drunk, even though he hadn’t come yet. Dark lashes fluttered over spring-green eyes as he smiled.
“I want you,” he breathed, shamelessly grinding his cock against Caleb’s leg. “I want to come with you inside me.”
“Fuck.” Caleb let his head fall back into his pillow. “You can’t say shit like that to me, Jamie.”
A soft kiss to Caleb’s collarbone. “Mmmm, why not?”
A slow smile spread on Caleb’s face, probably the first time he’d smiled all week. “I need time to get hard again.” Leaning down until his lips brushed the shell of Jamie’s ear, he whispered, “Then I’ll break the bed with you, okay?”
A surprised gasp squeaked its way out of Jamie’s lungs. Unraveling himself from Caleb’s arms, Jamie shimmied over to the nightstand to grab the bottle of lube. His bare ass and legs on display like this was an effective method for getting Caleb hard again.
As Jamie opened the drawer, he frowned.
“What is it?”
“Did you get rid of our… uh, rings?”
A sharp pain shot through Caleb’s chest on the word rings. Jamie had been pretty adamant about not wanting to discuss the engagement the few times people brought it up around them.
“Of course not.” Caleb folded his arms behind his head. Jamie’s eyes flicked to his biceps and lingered before, apparently remembering his own question, shaking his head and returning to the nightstand.
“Where are they then?”
Caleb frowned. “Um, I just moved them somewhere else. We’ve been getting a lot of use out of this drawer,” he snarked, nodding to the lube. “So I thought putting them in a more secure place would be safe. Until…” The words caught in his throat. “Well, until we need them again. If we do.”
Jamie kept his head ducked, but Caleb saw a flush creep up the side of his neck. Did he think Caleb should get rid of them?
“So… where are they?”
“In the closet.” Caleb nodded toward the door. “Code to the safe is 5524.” The date he proposed.
Jamie returned to the bed, but his focus had shifted. The energy in the room felt different now.
Caleb forced himself not to spiral about these questions from Jamie. They were together—engaged or not. Caleb had made his peace with the fact that their future may not look the way he’d previously planned. With the possibility that marriage might not be on Jamie’s mind for a long, long time.
So he did the only thing he knew would bring Jamie back to him. Reaching forward, Caleb pulled him into his lap. Jamie let out a surprised gasp before melting into a soft, slow kiss, until thoughts of safes, codes, and futures dissolved from the room.
As Jamie squirmed in his lap and whimpered against his lips, Caleb reached around and wrapped a palm around his cock. “Mmmm, where were we?”