Page 93 of Your Pace or Mine
“I’ll get someone on it,” his father answered, nodding and clapping a firm hand on Darius’s shoulder as he pulled out his mobile and moved away. Off to prepare his press team, no doubt.
Jackson swung an arm over Darius’s shoulder. “Have you told Twinkle Toes about the launch next weekend?”
“Haven’t had a chance,” Darius replied. That was something he wanted to share with Jamie in private.
“You’ve been in here alone for ages, what could you possibly have been…” Jackson was interrupted by Selena hitting him gently on the back of the head.
“Oooh, I see.” He winked. “Very nice, Darius. That’s my kind of grand gesture. Was it as hot as I’m imagining? Can’t say I haven’t had fantasies of my own about this space.”
“Oh fuck off, Jennings. Not in front of my baby sister,” Darius replied with a laugh, which earned him a glare from Selena and an exasperated, “I’m nearly eighteen!”
Chapter 25
Jamie
Post-London Marathon
The tube was crowded. Jamie stood near the door, still feeling the aftershocks of the marathon. His body ached, but the exhaustion was mixed with a sense of satisfaction. His knee protested as the tube lurched. He’d been distracted in the aftermath, in the best possible way, but now that he had a moment alone, or as alone as anyone can be crammed into an overcrowded tube carriage, he realised that he was proud of himself. He’d accomplished something no one thought he’d be able to do. Something he, himself, hadn’t thought he’d be able to do, and sure, he had been slow as fuck and almost given up a hundred times, but he had still finished. As the train rumbled beneath him, his thoughts kept drifting back to the race. To Darius.
The way Darius had looked at him. How easily they seemed to fit together.
He held his phone in his hand, wondering if they could actually make this work, for real.
A notification popped up. A text from Reggie. Jamie hesitated for only a second before opening it.
Reggie
How did the marathon go? You survive?
Jamie grinned. The Jamie who had started running in Greenwich felt like a completely different person from the one he was now. It had been just over six hours since he stood at the starting line, but it felt as if the world had shifted beneath his feet.
Jamie
Yeah, I finished! Pretty drained though, but I did it!
He paused again, waiting for Reggie to reply.
Reggie
You know only 0.01% of people ever run a marathon. Gotta commemorate that.
Reggie’s response caught Jamie completely off-guard, and he laughed despite himself.
Jamie
So you’ve said.
Reggie
I’ve booked you in with Elle tomorrow.
Elle was Jamie’s favourite tattoo artist, but she was always booked up months in advance. It made a little bubble of happiness grow in Jamie to know that Reggie had enough faith in him finishing the marathon to have already booked him an appointment.
The train started to slow as it approached his stop, but Jamie’s mind was still racing, trying to figure out what to make of theDarius of it all. They’d both made mistakes, but it felt right to be with him, and he believed they would do better now.
Jamie
I got back together with Darius.
