Chapter Twenty-Nine A Couple Big Surprises
Around ten o’clock the next morning while I was at work, I got a text from him: Want me to bring lunch to your office?
I texted him, Hell yes.
It was a long way to come to see me for lunch since I was going to see him after work anyway. I wondered what the occasion was. He hadn’t come to my work for lunch since that day after I’d started therapy when I’d been a total mess.
I kept checking my phone every five minutes till he texted me to say he was at my building and coming upstairs. I went to the office and ditched my lab coat as he knocked on the door. I put my winter coat on and opened the door.
“Hey,” he said.
I kissed him. “Come on. I know where we can go. It’s cold, but it’s private.”
“Isn’t this your office?”
“I share it with other people in the lab. Anyone could theoretically come in.”
I took his hand and led him to the north stairwell. The walls were made entirely of glass, and because it was a sunny day, the stairwell was flooded with light. We went to the ground floor, which had concrete walls. There was a bench where we could sit without being seen.
“Almost no one uses this stairwell,” I said.
We sat on the bench beside each other, just touching.
“What’s the occasion?” I said.
He shrugged a shoulder. “Just wanted to see you.”
He handed me a paper bag from my favorite sandwich shop. A ham and cheese panini and a carton of milk.
“Thanks.” I unwrapped the sandwich. “What have you been up to today?”
“I made an appointment to get new headshots. The ones I have now are a couple years old.”
“I need to get photos of me dancing before I start looking to join a company.”
“I’ll talk to them, see if they can fit you in for a shoot right after me. We can go together. I’ll coach you. I’m used to having a camera in my face.”
“Thanks. I’ll feel more relaxed with you there. I hate having my picture taken.”
We ate without talking, just sitting in comfortable silence, but I sensed there was something he wasn’t telling me. I didn’t want to push him, because it might spoil the mood. I looked at him in the sunlight, chewing his sandwich, the light catching the gold in his hair.
I smiled and kissed his cheek, then had to wipe off the mustard with a napkin. I laughed and put my arm around him, pulling him closer. “I’m gonna come out to my parents tonight.”
“Good luck,” he said. He looked serious. Maybe he was thinking about his own parents.
“Can you stay in the apartment when I do it? I’ll FaceTime them, but I’d like you to be in the other room. If it goes okay, I’ll introduce you. If not, I want you there too.”
“You think it won’t go okay?”
“I don’t know.” I ran my hand through his hair, stroking it back from his face. “It means a lot to me that they accept you because of how much you mean to me.”
“You want a hug?” he said.
We hugged each other. And it hit me hard and sudden. “Eddie, I want you. Right now.”
He laughed. “You’re serious?”
“You bring any condoms?”
“I don’t generally carry them around with me.”
“Too bad.” I shifted closer, put my hand under his coat and hoodie and stroked the small of his back. “You want a quick blow?”
He looked at me, glanced up the stairwell. “Nobody comes here?”
“Hardly anybody.” I leaned in closer, hand still stirring his T-shirt. “Shouldn’t be a problem if we don’t take long.”
“It won’t take long.”
That made me smile. I put my other hand inside his coat between his legs. “Jesus, you’re not kidding.” I unzipped his jeans. “You gonna be quiet?”
“I’ll try.”
“That’s my honey kid.”
I couldn’t believe I was doing this. Part of me was listening for the click of the stairwell door, but most of me was focused on him. I slid my hand inside his jeans and took hold of him. He clenched his teeth and made a soft sound.
“You’re so hard,” I said, fondling him. “Don’t shoot before you’re in my mouth.”
He breathed out, eyes slowly shutting. I had to unbutton his jeans to get his dick out. I slid off the bench and went down between his knees and took him in my mouth, pressing my forehead into his soft coat.
He shot, just like that, and he wasn’t quiet, making pleading, shuddering moans and holding my shoulders tight the whole time as I swallowed the last of him and pulled off.
“Jesus, Craig.”
I carefully tucked him away, zipped his jeans, and clambered back onto the bench. Then I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands. “Wow.”
“Fuck, tapper, that was a dynamite blow.” He slumped against me and cleared his throat.
I put my arm around him and squeezed. “You’re so fucking hot when you come right off the blocks like that.”
He laughed. “I don’t think I can stand up right now.”
“Glad you liked it, future hubs.” I finished the last of my milk. “You felt good in my mouth.” I kissed the side of his head, kept my mouth where it was.
He turned his head and found my mouth, and I kissed him back slowly, taking my time, and while I did, he put his hand inside my coat and stroked the front of my jeans with the back of his hand. I jumped.
He held onto me. “Want me to blow you?”
“You want to?”
“I really want to.”
“Then yeah, I’d love it if you did that.”
He kissed me again, then said quietly, “Here’s what we’re gonna do. I’m gonna get you as close as I can, doing this.” He squeezed me once and held onto me, which was good because I nearly jumped off the bench again. “Then when you’re almost there, I’ll go down on you like you did for me. Okay?”
I nodded.
“And if anyone comes in, we stop, and you close your coat.”
“I’m close right now, actually.”
“You ready to go?”
“Almost.”
“Tell me when you’re about to.”
“Okay.”
He squeezed me slowly.
“Jesus,” I said.
I would have liked to be the guy who played it cool when he was about to get blown in public. But I was not that guy.
He pulled my zipper down and put his hand inside.
Then he started stroking me. I stared at the top of the stairwell and tried to breathe normally, which wasn’t happening.
He stood up and faced me, still stroking me, and he put his other hand on my shoulder and whispered, “Don’t go off on me yet, tapper. ”
He dropped to his knees, smooth, and guided my dick into his mouth.
I hunched over him and hung on. I didn’t want to admit how fast it happened, but I did not last long.
He pulled off me and grabbed a handful of napkins when a little spilled out of his mouth, but he mopped it up before it got on my clothes.
He zipped me back into my jeans, then he sat on the bench, drank the rest of his pop, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, giving me this meaningful look.
“Okay?” he said, all casual.
When I got my breath back, I said, “Uh, yeah. That was intense.”
He clapped me on the shoulder. “You did great.”
I blinked. “We did it in a stairwell, Eddie.”
“I noticed.”
“I’ve never had sex in public before. Apart from that time in the car with you.”
“I like being your first time,” he said.
“What time is it?”
He checked his phone. “One.”
I sighed. “I gotta get back to work.”
“I’ll walk you to your office.”
We took our time walking upstairs. I put my arm around his shoulders, and he put his around my waist. The office was still empty when we got back. I pulled him inside, shut the door, and pressed him against it. Then I held him there with my body. I nudged his nose with mine.
“I adore you, honey kid,” I whispered.
“Back at you, tapper,” he said, just as quiet.
I pulled him away from the door and slid my arms around him. “I don’t wanna let go of you.”
Then he was holding me too. “That was a good fuck.”
“Yeah. I’m gonna be dreaming about that for a long time. We wanted each other so bad we did it in a stairwell.”
We were breathing, quiet but super intense. I felt myself getting excited again.
“Honey kid?”
“Yeah?”
“Would you stay for the afternoon? Watch me work?”
“Can’t. I gotta be somewhere.”
“Where?”
“Can’t tell you,” he said.
“You’re keeping secrets from me?”
“Only one. And it’s a good one. I promise. I’ll tell you tonight.”
He let go of me, but I held him tighter. “Not yet. I don’t want you to go yet.”
“I know.”
“Stay for a few more minutes, huh? I just need to feel you.”
I didn’t know what I was thinking. That I’d push my luck and get off again at work? I was so tempted.
“Sure,” he said. “Another kiss?”
So I kissed him and did that thing with my tongue that sent him through the roof.
“Jesus, Craig!” He pulled away. “You keep kissing me like that, I’ll go off again.”
I laughed. “Well, I wouldn’t want to send you home on the subway in that state.” I let him go. “Come on. I’ll walk you out.”
I let him out of the office. We went down the stairwell again, and I held his hand. I glanced at the bench where we’d done it. When we got to the exit, I pulled him into one last kiss and whispered in his ear, “See ya, honey kid.”
“What time are you getting home?” he said.
“Six. Like usual. Why?”
“You’ll see.” He had this secretive smile on his face as he went out.
The door shut behind him, and I pressed my forehead against it. I was grinning like an idiot and tingling everywhere.
It was hard to focus on work for the rest of the day.
I kept thinking about what we’d done. I left work early, but the subway got delayed, so I got home on time after all.
I opened the apartment door, and I could smell food.
Good food, which was weird because he didn’t cook so much as he burned stuff.
I hung up my coat and went to the kitchen.
He was waiting for me. He’d set the table, and there was takeout from my favorite burger place all laid out.
“I ordered in,” he said.
“Huh.” I sat down.
“Got you some cherry Coke.” He took a can from the fridge and set it on the table.
“What’s the occasion?” I said. There had to be a catch.
And he went down on one knee.
“You—you’re serious?” I said.
“Just listen. I wrote a speech.”
He was really going to—
“It’s not as fancy as yours,” he said. “I just want the world to know I love you, but I especially want you to know I love you, tapper, because you’re the best person I’ve ever known, and you were worth every day I waited for you.”
He took a ring box out of his pocket and opened it.
“I had it commissioned,” he said.
I stared at it. He took the ring out of the box and put it in my hands, heavy and gold.
Everything went shimmery, and all I could think about was how I’d told him how I felt about him in the kitchen at his and Trish’s place, asking him to be with me, and now he was in our kitchen asking me to be with him.
He put his hand on my shoulder. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
I realized I was hurting his feelings. I slid off the chair onto my knees and grabbed him in a bearhug. “You lil shit.” I started crying, which made it worse.
He held onto me. “It’s supposed to feel good. You got your fancy proposal. That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it? I’m making an honest man of you. You let me be your first time. It’s the least I could do.”
Which was making me lose it even more. I thwapped him on the back. “Stop.”
“Told you it was a good secret.”
I held him until my knees started to hurt from the hard kitchen floor. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand and pulled back.
“You wanna try it on?” he said.
I sat at the kitchen table and looked at the ring. “It’s got a bee on it.”
“Yeah, ’cause it’s from me. It’s onyx and gold—’cause gold’s your favorite color.”
The engraving on the inside read “honey kid & tapper.”
“It’s a thumb ring,” he said. He guided it onto my thumb. It fit perfectly.
“I measured you while you were asleep. Figured you wouldn’t mind. You gonna stop crying now? The food’s getting cold.”
That ring must have cost him everything he had. He would never have bought something so expensive for himself, but he’d done it for me. “I don’t fucking deserve this.”
“Craig, knock it off. I never bought anybody a ring before. I never wanted to marry anyone else. I’m the one who lucked out. Let’s eat. Then we can watch TV and fool around. How’s that sound?”
“I would love that, actually.” I started eating, but I kept stopping to stare at the ring because I couldn’t believe it was there. Then I’d look at him eating his burger because I couldn’t believe he was there either. The band of the ring around my thumb felt like his arms, hugging me.