Epilogue
The year after Alec left dragged on, every month stretching into a lifetime. But the two years after we got back together blinked by. Time flies when you’re having fun. Though, packing and shipping all my belongings wasn’t a blast.
“Where…” I muttered to myself. “Babe! Where’d you put the tape?” I yelled into my almost emptied apartment.
“I have it. You’ve packed a whopping zero percent of the bathroom,” Alec shouted back.
“I’ll take that stuff on the plane. I’m gonna need deodorant and my toothbrush when I get there.”
Alec stepped out, holding three loofas and two different body washes. “Yeah? You need all three of these right when we get back?”
I giggled as my cheeks reddened. “I, well—”
“Why do you even have three?” Alec said, starting to laugh.
“They’re… uh…”
“You just buy a new one and never throw the old ones away?”
“Yes,” I said as we both laughed.
“Fucking gross, dude. I’m tossing them.”
“Probably for the best.”
He disappeared back into the bathroom, still laughing. “You know you have a toothbrush and multiple deodorants at my place, right? And a loofa, too.”
“Yeah.”
“So I’m just gonna go ahead and pack everything in here.”
“Thanks, babe! Love you!”
“Love you, too. But I'm in charge of packing if we ever buy a house.”
“That’s a deal. Sir.”
I laughed, and so did he. We were happy. And in love. And excited. So, so fucking excited. After spending two years in a long-distance relationship, I was moving out to Denver to be with Alec. Permanently.
I say long distance, but we never went more than a week without seeing each other.
I was out there five or six times a month that first year, staying with him while we brought on CompComm.
The year after, he spent a lot of time working remotely from my bedroom and dining table.
In doing so, he landed FinCrest as a client and a few other big names in the area.
The plan was for me to be all packed up when he arrived that day.
But it didn’t happen. Once the moving crew drove off with my furniture, destined for a storage facility out there, I realized I’d be shipping way more boxes of crap than I thought.
A man gathers a lot of clutter in four years—without a spring-cleaning boyfriend like Alec to reduce it.
When he got to my place that morning, after almost popping my air mattress pounding me into it, there was more to pack.
“Look what I found,” Alec said, tossing me something I couldn’t see. “Poor fucker looks worn the fuck out.”
I snatched it from the air and smiled when I caught it. “Well, we used it a lot.”
It was the Wi-Fi-enabled butt plug he bought me the first time I flew out to Denver. He was right about it working wonders for long-distance couples. Alec controlled it over video calls, giving us intimacy over thousands of miles, and allowing us to feel less alone.
He laughed. “Yeah? How many times did we actually use it, Mason? Like twelve over two years?”
“That’s a lot!” I laughed and blushed. “I might’ve used it on my own sometimes, too.”
He laughed more. “Why didn’t you pack it?”
“I don’t know… it works really well… and you got it for me…”
He walked over and bent down to kiss me. “You’re sentimental over a butt plug?”
“I’m sentimental about you.”
He smiled, pecked my lips, then tackled me to the ground. “We won’t have to use it ever again. You’ve got the real thing on tap whenever you want it.”
I flipped us around so I was sitting on him. “Damn fucking right,” I said and leaned down to kiss him again.
It took two years for us to warm up and cool off, but really, it was work related. Alec’s company had taken off, and he was ready to offer me a position. Was it the best decision ever? Considering how well we worked together before, I’d say hell yes.
He offered me a job when CompComm finished deploying, but I didn’t take it. He made a lot, but not enough for an employee, nor was there enough for me to do. Besides, I didn’t want to leave Deven in the lurch.
I started helping more and more when he worked from my place. So much so that when we landed in Denver, I’d become the new President of Sales and Marketing. A fancy title, meaning I’d be out securing new clients for Alec to consult. I’ll stay in sales, and he could stay away from it.
I was packing the final box when Alec threw his shirt at me.
“What the fuck?” I said, removing it from my face.
He was already taking his underwear off. “Get ready, Blackwood. We’re gonna be late.”
“We still have two hours,” I said as he rolled his eyes and walked into the bathroom naked. Some things will never change.
My soon-to-be ex-colleagues were throwing me a going away party, but it was just as much for Alec. The FinCrest folks had gotten used to seeing him with me at happy hours, or random lunches.
Alec’s apprehension about telling Lisa proved to be true. The woman walloped him so hard she left a bruise. She had said, “I really, always thought we were friends, Alec. I guess not. But the worst part is, now I know my gaydar is shit.”
I remembered that as I sealed the last box. Now that I was quitting and moving, we’d have to become friends. I had no reason to come out that way, and Alec could do most of his consulting for FinCrest remotely. We’d have to make an effort.
Deven took the news I was leaving the hardest. “C’mon man, really?
Don’t go! We were the number one sales team two years in a row!
” he had said, close to tears. In my exit interview with the VP of Sales, I ensured he’d be taken care of.
Lisa might be kooky, but she’d help mentor him as he began to go it on his own.
I slipped into the shower, startling Alec as he scrubbed his armpit. He laughed and kissed me. I let his wet, soapy body slip and slide against mine until we were both hard. Then I turned around and guided him into me.
“Aren’t you sore from this morning?”
“A bit. Just be gentle. I know you want your load in me until we get there.”
“God fucking damn it, I love you so much, Blackwood,” he said, entering me fully.
The party was lovely, but much more complicated than I thought it would be. They were happy for us but sad to see us go. And when we said goodbye, I could hear the emotion in Alec’s voice. Then, feel it as he laced his fingers with mine in the back of the cab.
I felt a lot of things, too. But mostly excitement.
Even if I was settling down with Alec, I felt like I had more options than ever before.
More freedom, things to learn, people to meet, and places to go.
I didn’t know how I ever thought anything was new or exciting without him.
Because, whether we were scaling Mt. Kilimanjaro, or snuggling on the couch, my life’s greatest adventure would always be Alec.