Page 73 of Poles Apart
“Since when did you take psychology, Jordan? You think you know me.” Dom was feeling called out. How could his brother know all this? He thought he’d hidden it so well from him, and did he really talk about Jacob all the time?
That aside, he knew his brother had hit the nail on the head, and as much as he didn’t want to admit it to him, he had to say something.
“I don’t know when it happened. I want to say last night, but I think it was before then. Maybe I never stopped, Jordan. Maybe I’ve always loved him but put it to the back of my mind. But how do I tell him? How do I know he feels the same way about me?”
“Seriously, Dom? You must be fucking blind if you can’t see it. Mm, maybe you are, or maybe you spend too much time looking at his arse. But it’s there. I can see it, even though I only saw him for a minute. He’s as crazy about you as you are about him, and the sooner you do something about it, the better. You should tell him. I think you’d be surprised at what he has to say.”
Dom hummed in response. Maybe his brother had a point.
“We’ll see. I need to think some more about it. But now, I feel like we need to catch up.”
The rest of the afternoon, he relaxed with his brother. They chatted about how he was doing. Jordan had an upcoming appointment with the physio, and his progress since the last incident had been impressive. He hoped to be signed off to go back to work part-time, and they were both happy with that.
He’d promised Seb he’d go around a little later to see how he’d gone on at Joe’s place. He needed to know if he was kicking some arse, but as it turned out, Seb was as happy as Larry. Joe had confessed he was bisexual. He was calling off the wedding because he wanted to be with Seb.
Dom knew it. That night at the club, Dom had seen the way he looked at Seb even though Joe had tried to hide his true feelings. Dom had watched, and Dom had seen.
He was so happy for his friend, and they agreed to go out for something to eat, but as usual, his stalker had to rock the boat again and ruin the good thing that Seb had going on.
He spent another night consoling his friend with the help of Nat and Louis, but this time, Seb finally saw sense and agreed to go away for a while. A trip to his parents was arranged, but he wanted to tell Joe in person and explain why he was going away.
Dom agreed to stay the night again and texted his brother, letting him know how things were going and that he’d be staying at Seb’s. As Dom sat there with Seb in his arms, he could have cried, seeing how this was affecting his friend. His annoyance and anger at the police only grew when they had nothing and made no headway at all with who was doing this or why.
As Seb slept, Dom had time to reflect on his conversation with his brother. Was it too soon to tell Jacob how he felt? Technically, they’d only been with each other for a few weeks. They had only met again at the end of April, but it wasn’t like it was a new relationship. They’d been here before, and last time, it had ended badly.
He looked at his sleeping friend and realised that with the time they’d wasted, the time it had taken Joe to finally admit his feelings for Seb, it could have all been too late.
And Dom didn’t want it to be too late. If he hadn’t promised to stay with his friend for the night, he might have got in his car and driven to Jacob’s house and declared his undying love. OK, maybe that was a bit dramatic, but he would have told him that he loved him, that he probably always had and always would.
As the thought settled in his mind—the acceptance that this was what he wanted—the tightness he hadn’t realised was in his chest loosened, and he breathed easier. He smiled to himself, nodding. Yeah, that was what he needed to do.
Chapter Forty
Jacob
He decided not to call Jodie on Monday morning and just go for the meeting as they’d agreed. He sat in her office, his knee bouncing as he waited for Jodie to sit too. He felt on edge. His palms were sweating, and his hands and fingers tingled. She came over with a cup of tea and placed it in front of him.
“Don’t be nervous. I think you’ll like what I have to say today.” Instead of sitting behind her desk as she’d done before, she sat beside him on the edge of the chair, her ankles crossed neatly, hands clasped in her lap.
“So, how was your week off, Jacob? Did you manage to get anything done?”
“Er, it was fine, thank you. Did a few chores I’d been putting off.” Even though her previous words were interesting, to say the least, he was still nervous. He’d been unable to eat much that morning. His insides had churned from the moment he got out of bed, and all he’d managed was a quick glass of juice and a piece of toast. That had been a mistake, though, as it now sat like a lump of lead in his stomach. Nausea threatened.
“Well, I’ll not keep you waiting, but I have to say, there was a strange turn of events early yesterday.” She paused and gave him a look.
“Okay...”
“So, Mr Wilkins contacted me by email to withdraw his complaint. He said he’d realised that his response had been one of worry, seeing his son sitting there looking so ill. He asked me to apologise to you and to thank you for looking after him.”
Jacob almost snorted. The only reason he was retracting the statement was because he and Dom had seen him on his knees at the weekend. What other reason could there be? Jacob hadn’t blackmailed him exactly, but he had told him that his behaviour wouldn’t be tolerated.
“Ok, thank you.” He wasn’t sure what else he was expected to say.
“Before you go, I have some more news. The thing is, this complaint brought you to the attention of the board, and they’d started to ask me a little more about you.”
Jacob wasn’t sure he liked where this was going, and his nerves started again.
“You have nothing to worry about, Jacob. When I told them what Mr Wilkins had said and done to you and your friend, they were about to throw the complaint out anyway. It would have never stood up. The good news, though, is that they have been looking at your record and are impressed with what you’ve done. I haven’t heard them gush about anyone quite like they did about you. Seems you have made quite the impression. Anyway, I’ll get to the point. I’m aware that classes will be starting soon.”
