Page 52 of The Try Line

Holy fuck.

CHAPTER 23

JASON

“What time is your flight?” Mik asks me, his head on my chest, finger lazily tracing the infinity symbol on my ribcage. The tattoo I got to memorialize the feel of him tracing that same pattern into my skin so long ago. To remember what we had, and what I lost. To remind myself not to give my forever away again, the way I did that night, when I cautiously thought we had a lifetime ahead of us.

Yet here I am, doing the exact same thing. What’s it going to look like? How is it going to work? I want to dive in to all the logistics, to get a verbal confirmation, or maybe a written contract, that tells me we’re on the same page. I don’t want to push, so I stay quiet.

I trust that Mik wants this, too. I’ve even come to terms with the revelation that he thinks he would have stayed with me, chosen me, all those years ago. What I don’t trust is circumstance.

Circumstance tore us apart before. Circumstance could come between us again.

“I have to be at the airport at four,” I answer. Mik lifts his head to eye the digital clock on the nightstand. It’s just past tenat night.

We spent the day enjoying each other’s company in the mostly empty hotel spa, talking about all the things we missed in each other’s lives. Whenever the conversation got too deep or heavy, we resorted to kissing, touching, and fondling each other when there wasn’t anyone else around. Alone in the sauna, we watched each other masturbate, until Mik got thirsty and dropped to his knees to suck my orgasm from me like he was drinking a thick milkshake through a thin straw.

After dinner, we tumbled into the room in a tangle of limbs, stripping each other down before we so much as hit the bed. I took Mik the way I did last night, slow and gentle but firm, wanting him to feel every bit of me, physically and emotionally. There are words we haven’t said yet that I’ve been trying to convey with the way I’ve taken his body. I don’t know if it was becoming too much, or if Mik is just an impatient bottom, but he ended up rolling me over and climbing on top of me. He rode me like a jockey, pinning his knees tightly to my sides and using his strong thighs to fuck himself hard and fast.

We dozed off for a bit, but I woke up with a start, having a moment of panic that he’d left. He was only in the bathroom, but when he stepped out, it felt like he knew what I’d been thinking when I woke up without him. He stalked back to the bed, climbing over me and kissing me deeply before tucking himself against my side.

“We need to talk about it,” he says quietly.

“I know,” I say with a sigh.

Neither of us speaks for several long moments, both of us unsure how to start. Finally, I get the courage to just say whatever is on my mind.Take the chance, Jason. Be brave this time.

“Come with me.”

“To London?”

“Yeah, why not? Come watch me be sexy,” I joke, waggling my eyebrows.

“I’d like to watch you be sexy anywhere. But I can’t leave right now.”

My heart sinks into my stomach like a stone. It’s not that I assumed he’d come with me. I know he has work and an entire life here, but I thought he’d at least give it some thought. His answer came way too quickly.

“I want to,” he clarifies. “But I owe it to Janel to talk this out. She deserves an explanation, and we have a lot to work through.”

“I understand,” I say, pulling him in to kiss his forehead so he can’t see my inner turmoil. I do understand, really. But I’m afraid. What if he changes his mind? What if she changes her mind and finds a way to make him stay?

“Give me a couple days, and I’ll meet you there.”

“Wait. What?”

“I need to talk this out with Janel. I owe her that. And I can’t stay gone too long, because Jase is leaving for college soon and I don’t have a lot of PTO. But I can come visit you for a few days. Then you can come back here for the next break you have. And we can talk and video chat every day in between.”

The stone sinks lower, realizing how many obstacles we have just to be together. Our lives are nearly four thousand miles apart.

“Long distance will be rough, but we can make it work. And it’s just until I can settle things here. I need to give notice–”

“You mean… You’d move to Wales with me?”

“Well, yeah. If you want. It might take me a while to find a job, but I can pay you rentwith my ass.”

I bark out a laugh at that. Truth is, I make enough money that he wouldn’t have to work at all if he doesn’t want to.

“I love the idea of having you come to Wales, but your whole life is here. I can’t expect you to drop everything and move across the world for me.”

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