Page 99 of Your Pace or Mine
Darius laughed. “It’s a little cliché, but nothing about you could ever be cringe.”
Jamie grinned, kissing him deeply as he hooked his ankles around Darius’s back, pulling him in even closer to him. Just as Jamie pulled his shirt over his head, Darius’s phone started buzzing.
Darius dropped his head onto Jamie’s shoulder. “For fuck’s sake,” he murmured. He pulled it out of his pocket, an unknown number. He went to ignore it.
“Don’t ignore it!” Jamie shouted. “It could be about the Olympics.”
Darius sighed and swiped up to answer. The conversation was brief and to the point. Jamie was watching him intently as he spoke with an assistant from the Athletics Association, verbally accepting his place on the Olympic team.
Jamie must have been able to see it on his face because a small teasing smile spread over his mouth, and when Darius ended the call, he draped himself on him. “So, does this mean I can tell people I’m dating an Olympian? Because that would get me so much clout at uni.”
Darius groaned, but the corner of his mouth quirked up. “You’re ridiculous, you know that?”
“Yeah,” Jamie said, grinning. “But you love it.”
Darius shook his head, but his hand trailed over the tattoo on Jamie’s hip, lingering there as he looked deep into Jamie’s eyes. “Yeah,” Darius murmured, his voice soft. “I do.”
Jamie’s breath hitched as Darius leaned in closer, kissing the shell of his ear.
“I love you, Jamie,” Darius said softly. “I think I have ever since you nearly collapsed when you first tried to run alongside me.”
“Hey! I did alright in the end! I even finished my first marathon,” Jamie protested.
Darius smiled. “But not your last.”
“No, definitely not my last. You can bet on that,” Jamie replied. “And for the record, I love you too.”
26.2 Epilogue
3 Months Later
Jamie stretched out on the plush sofa in Darius’s—no,theirtownhouse, an envelope resting on his lap. It was still strange, thinking of this space as home, but he’d moved in for real, leaving behind the mouldy flat in Mile End. The walls were lined with photos now—some of Darius with his sister Selena, and a few Jamie had taken of them together. On the shelves, tucked between Darius’s running memorabilia and self-help books, were textbooks Sebastien had carted over to help Jamie prepare for his new career.
He looked around the room, marvelling at how much everything had changed in just a few months. Things hadn’t been perfect for them right away. They’d had a lot of distrust to work through, and the media had been relentless. But they’d dealt with it together, just like they’d promised to, and now they were more solid than Jamie could have ever thought possible.
Moving in had been daunting at first. Jamie hadn’t wanted to feel like he was intruding. The timing had been perfect, though. Jamie had finally been able to get out of the terrible lease he’d been stuck with for the past year, and Darius had insisted.
“It’s not just my space—it’s ours,” he’d said, pressing a kiss to Jamie’s temple. So just before Darius’s pre-Olympic altitude camp, Jamie had made the move.
The front door clicked open, and Jamie sat up, the envelope slipping to the floor. Darius walked in, his duffel bag slung over one shoulder, his shirt damp with sweat. His expression was tired, but the moment he saw Jamie, his face lit up.
“Hey,” Darius said, dropping his bag by the door and making his way to the couch. He leaned down, kissing Jamie’s forehead, and Jamie couldn’t help but smile.
“Hey, yourself,” Jamie replied, pulling Darius down to sit beside him.
Darius flopped onto the sofa with a groan, stretching his long legs out in front of him. “Coach is trying to kill us,” he said, running a hand over his head. “Tempo runs, hill sprints, and he’s got us doing weights tomorrow morning. I’m pretty sure I’m going to wake up sore for the next week.”
Jamie smirked, nudging him with his elbow. “That’s what you get for being an Olympian. No rest for the World’s best.”
Darius gave a half-laugh, half-grumble, tilting his head to rest against the back of the couch. “I can’t bloody wait to taper, two blissfully Anders-free weeks before the Olympics.”
Jamie’s smile widened as he leaned down to grab the envelope from the floor. He held it up between them, watching Darius’s tired eyes sharpen with curiosity.
“What’s that?” Darius asked, sitting up a little straighter.
Jamie’s heart thudded in his chest as he handed it over. “It’s from the university.”
Darius blinked, his eyebrows shooting up. “Oh! Why haven’t you opened it?”
