Catalyst (Connectivity Book 2)

by Whitney Cannon

  “What? I wanted to see you,” Jersey said in a sweet tone.

  Travis drew his boyfriend in and hugged him, then placed a soft kiss on his lips. “I wanted to see you too.” He grabbed Jersey’s hand and they headed toward the back of the house. His parents tried to spend as much time outside on the weekends as possible since both their jobs kept them indoors most of the time. If the weather was good, his parents were probably sipping coffee and reading on their patio.

  Travis pointed out the few rooms they passed, and as they neared the back door, he could hear laughter coming from the yard.

  Olivia and his dad were using sidewalk chalk to draw various pictures on the concrete when he opened the door. Edgar sat reading a comic on a lounge chair, and he was the only one who didn’t stop what he’d been doing since he couldn’t hear the door open.

  Olivia squealed, and Travis squeezed Jersey’s hand, as all eyes turned their way.

  “Hey, everyone,” he called in greeting, waving with his free hand as Olivia came over and attached herself to his side in a hug. His mother set down her coffee and book and tapped the lounger, drawing Edgar’s attention.

  “Hi,” Travis signed to Edgar. His brother smiled and lifted his chin in acknowledgment. Squeezing Jersey’s hand once more, he let go, so both hands were free and he started the introductions, signing as he went to include Edgar in the conversation.

  “So, this is Jersey.” He finger-spelled the name.

  Jersey waved. “Hey.”

  “Jersey, that’s my mom, Beverley. My dad, Mark, my brother, Edgar, and this little lady is Olivia.” She giggled.

  “Is he your boyfriend?” Olivia asked, using her childish tone to teasingly sing out the question.

  “He sure is. You wanna give him a hug?” he asked his sister. She was always so loving to everyone and incredibly happy. Travis suspected she was about bursting to maul the man. She nodded with a giggle, and with a quick glance at Jersey to check for approval, she moved over and latched herself to his side.

  His father took over signing for Edgar as Jersey greeted his sister.

  “Hello, Olivia. It’s nice to meet you. Your brother has told me a lot about you. I hear you like to swim?” They’d talked a little bit about each of his siblings, but Travis was grateful Jersey was bringing up one of the things Olivia loved most. Regular exercise was important for his sister’s health, and his parents used swimming as a tool for Olivia’s mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing.

  “I love swimming. It’s the best. I’m going to be in a meet next month. Will you come watch me win a ribbon?” Olivia looked at Jersey with hearts in her eyes, seemingly finding a kindred spirit in Jersey at the mere mention of swimming.

  “I’d love to. Did you know I have a pool at my house? And if it’s alright with your parents and Travis, you could come over sometime and we could spend an afternoon swimming. What do you think? Sound like fun?” Jersey asked.

  Olivia clapped and wriggled, disengaging from Jersey and all but mauling their parents in her plea for approval.

  His parents and Edgar had all gotten up and were standing just aside to let Olivia have her moment in the greetings, and they smiled at her and her exuberance.

  “We’ll discuss that later, okay, Livi? We haven’t even had a chance to meet this young man yet, so how about we practice our proper introductions and once we’re all settled in and we’ve gotten to know Travis’s new friend a little better, we can talk about swimming some more, alright?” His father was always so patient with his explanations and making sure Olivia understood what needed to happen. She nodded along but seemed rather put off and his parents came over to shake Jersey’s hand.

  “Hello, Jersey. It’s great to meet you,” his dad said and signed, then shook Jersey’s hand.

  “You too, um. Sorry. I don’t even know your last name.” Jersey blushed and looked at Travis. His dad chuckled.

  “It’s Williams, but if you call me Mr. Williams, Michael, I won’t answer,” he winked and Jersey laughed. “Mark is fine.”

  His mother moved in next and hugged Jersey. Both his parents were tall, with his dad being six-two and his mother being five-nine. Jersey was still the shortest one among them, aside from Olivia.

  “I’m so pleased to meet you, Jersey. We’re all looking forward to getting to know you better and thank you for the offer to take Olivia swimming. We’ll talk about it and let you know.”

  His mother stood back and Edgar waved again.

  Jersey waved and surprisingly signed, “My name is J-E-R-S-E-Y. It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Aww, babe. When did you learn that?” Travis asked, pulling Jersey into a side hug. Everyone else smiled wide and Jersey blushed a little.

  “I looked up a few things after you first told me about your brother,” Jersey said with a shrug.

  Edgar signed hello in return, which his father translated, and thanked Jersey for his effort to learn something.

  Travis was touched that his boyfriend, who hadn’t even been his boyfriend yet, would go out of his way to learn some basic signs to be able to communicate with his brother. Maybe it had just been curiosity that had nudged Jersey to look up some videos, but Travis wondered if Jersey had maybe gone to the extra effort to impress him, in hopes of something happening between them. Could he really have been that interested in Travis after their first meeting, that he’d actually hoped to get to know him well enough to show off his skills if he ever had a chance to meet his brother? That thought gave Travis a warm feeling in his chest as he smiled at his guy.

  Jersey returned his smile a bit bashfully, and Travis reached out and grabbed his hand. His mother suggested they all gather around the table so they could chat for a minute and when they settled in, Travis pulled Jersey close enough that he could keep Jersey’s hand in his.

  -VIII-

  Later that morning, they found themselves in Travis’s bedroom, listening to some music as they chatted.

  “Your family is cool,” Jersey said as he flipped through one of Travis’s baseball yearbooks that had been lying on his desk. “I guess I’ll meet your sister next time, huh?”

  “Yeah. Sorry. She had some friend thing, but it’s probably good she wasn’t here. She’d be giving both of us crap for days.” He chuckled. “Everyone else is pretty fun, though. There’s always lots going on around here, between the younger kids and the daycare, there’s always something. I guess for me though, it’s kinda died off,” he mused. “I’ve never really had a time without sports, you know? I’ve always played baseball, whether in little league or through a school team, it’s just always been in my life. Now I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do. I know Cory had to give it up, but he at least had a really good reason. I’ve never had to actively go out and find a hobby or something to keep myself busy.”

  “I can understand that,” Jersey said, setting the yearbook back down. “Leaving high school, as cool and fun as that sounds, is like closing this huge chapter in your life. Without the pressure to attend classes and practices or meetings or whatever, it’s up to you to create your life. We’re going to have to figure out who we are without all that background noise. It may seem like the perfect opportunity for some people to sort of recreate themselves, but for me, I don’t know, it feels daunting.”

  “I mean, I know I always had Josh around at school,” Jersey continued. “But neither of us were what you would call popular. He was in a few clubs, but I mostly kept to myself. As you know, I never really brought anyone around. And I know I kind of have an idea of what I’d like to do with my life, career-wise, but it’s the day-to-day details that get fuzzy. I guess that’s probably what you’re feeling too. Without the team and with everyone going off to do their own thing, who are you? Who is Travis Williams? Who is Michael Fitzpatrick?”

  “Your last name is Fitzpatrick?” Travis asked as he watched his boyfriend snoop around his room from his bed. His room wasn’t large and was probably about half the size of Jersey’s, but he was doing
a valiant job of inspecting every cranny.

  Jersey turned his head with a medal in his hand. “Yeah. I guess last names hadn’t really come up in conversation, huh?” He set the medal down and came over to the bed, sitting with one leg drawn up over the covers and his other on the floor. “Who are you going to be without baseball and school, Trav?” he asked looking at Travis as if he had to have the answers already figured out.

  Travis shrugged, leaning back against the headboard. “Not really sure, I guess. Travis Robert Williams, high school graduate, part-time employee at Repurpose, and boyfriend to Michael, I don’t know your middle name, Fitzpatrick.”

  Jersey smiled. “It’s Thomas.”

  “Mmm, boyfriend to Michael Thomas Fitzpatrick. I like your name. It sounds very important, like a doctor or something. Is Thomas a family name?”

  “Mmm hmm. It’s my grandpa’s middle name. How about you? Where does Robert come from?”

  “It’s my grandpa’s middle name,” he said, smiling at Jersey.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah,” he said with a laugh. “My mom’s dad. Robert is very traditionally southern and my parents wanted to give me a regular name but something with some cultural heritage for my middle name. Is Thomas from your mom’s side or your dad’s?”

  “My mom’s. Herald Thomas Gordon.”

  “That’s awesome,” Travis said, loving that they both had their maternal grandfather’s middle names. “When’s your birthday?”

  “September twenty-fourth. Yours?”

  Travis laughed out loud. “No shit? September twenty-seventh. But I’m already nineteen. Are you eighteen then?”

  Jersey smirked. “Nineteen.”

  “Oh my God. I can’t believe you’re older than me. I’m always the oldest one.” Travis scrambled over and snatched Jersey up, rolling them on the bed so Jersey was sitting on Travis’s stomach. Jersey looked surprised and a little rumpled, but he smiled down at him as he rested his palms on Travis’s chest. “I guess since you’re so old, you’ll have to teach me a thing or two, huh?”

  Jersey looked back at him with a soft smile and he pulled that sexy lower lip in between his teeth again. He tucked his hair behind his ear with his right hand and then did something Travis wouldn’t have expected; he lay down on Travis’s chest. Just folded himself right over and snuggled his arms up under Travis’s armpits and hooked his hands onto the tops of Travis’s shoulders. He pressed his face into the side of Travis’s neck and kissed him once.

  “It’s you, who is teaching me, Trav. Michael Thomas Fitzpatrick, boyfriend to Travis Robert Williams.”

  Travis’s heart melted a little bit at the sudden declaration and he wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, holding him tightly as he pressed a kiss to Jersey’s forehead.

  The music from Travis’s phone cut out and his ringtone sounded from his desk. Jersey glanced up and rolled off Travis and he quickly grabbed his phone before it went to voicemail.

  “It’s Cory,” he told Jersey before he swiped. Jersey nodded and they both sat on the edge of the bed as he answered.

  “Hey, Cory. Bored of Josh already?” he teased. Jersey smacked him on his thigh and he grinned, grabbing Jersey’s hand and kissing the back of it.

  Cory laughed through the phone. “You and I both know that will never happen, dude. We’ve been married for like ten days and only left the apartment for food. So no, definitely not bored.”

  Travis laughed. “Wow, dude, TMI. Totally. I did not need to know that.”

  Cory laughed heartily and Josh said something in the background he couldn’t quite make out, but the silence that filled the other end led him to believe the pair were otherwise engaged.

  “Cory? You called me, remember? If all you’re going to do is make out with Josh, call me back when you’re done,” he teased.

  “Hi, Travis,” Josh called from the background, apparently having been close enough to hear what Travis had said.

  After another moment, and what sounded suspiciously like wet lips smacking, Cory returned to the phone.

  “Sorry. Damn, you have no idea how hard it is to keep my hands off him,” Cory said.

  Travis smirked. “I have a pretty good idea of how hard it is,” he teased and Cory laughed again.

  “Well, duh. Anyway, I was calling because Nick called,” his voice sobered a little, and Travis sat up straighter, causing Jersey to grip his hand in question. “He wants to meet up for lunch to talk. Can you come? We’ll pay for you, but neither of us wants to meet up with him without someone else there. Josh is going to call Jersey.”

  “Of course I’ll be there. You know I’ve got your back whenever you need me. When and where?”

  “Thank you. We’re going to tell him one o’clock at The Brew House.” Travis checked his clock, quickly noting the time.

  “That’s fine. We’ll be there and you don’t need to pay for us either,” he replied, and Jersey squeezed his hand again.

  “Who’s us?” Cory asked and Travis realized what he’d done.

  “Oh, ah, Jersey’s here. You said Josh was going to call him, but he’s with me, so we’ll just come together.” Jersey raised his eyebrows in question when Travis looked at him.

  “You’re hanging out with Jersey?” Cory asked clearly curious.

  Travis moved the phone off his ear. “Can I tell him?” he asked not wanting to out them if Jersey wasn’t comfortable with it. Jersey nodded and Travis pecked him quickly.

  “Yeah. We’re seeing each other now,” he answered Cory’s question.

  “What do you mean seeing each other?” Cory asked, sounding confused.

  Travis smiled at his boyfriend and squeezed his hand. “I mean…we’re dating. Like boyfriends who kiss and hang out and hold hands and stuff. You know, boyfriends?” he teased Cory.

  “Um, okay...” he trailed off. “I didn’t know you liked guys, I guess. Okay, um...”

  Travis chuckled and Jersey smiled at him, tucking his hair behind his ear with his free hand. “I don’t like other guys,” Travis said, squeezing Jersey’s hand and moving in closer to his personal space. “Or girls.” He released Jersey’s hand and supported himself on the bed as he crowded Jersey and slowly ran his nose along Jersey’s neck, almost scenting his boy there. “I only like Michael Thomas Fitzpatrick,” he breathed into Jersey’s ear, placing a small kiss on the shell that made Jersey shiver and suck in a breath. “We’ll be there.” He dropped the phone and Jersey was on him in a second as their mouths fused together in a desperate kiss that had them both panting in seconds. Their hands were everywhere as they scrambled for purchase, pushing and pulling and trying to get closer, as Travis laid Jersey down on the bed, bracing himself on his elbows. Jersey threw one leg up and over his hip, drawing him closer and pinning them together as he gripped Travis’s head and shoulders.

  Travis balanced on one elbow and used his other hand to hold Jersey’s jaw as he angled his head for better access. After several minutes, he moved his hand down over Jersey’s chest and ribcage, then to his side and hip. He gripped Jersey’s butt as they ground together and both of them made a groaning sound at the feeling.

  Jersey moved his right hand from Travis’s shoulder to his back and pulled the material of his shirt up, gripping Travis’s skin. Removing his mouth, Jersey shifted his attention to Travis’s jaw and neck, kissing and licking and nipping his way across his skin. The sensual way Jersey handled him, heated his blood and warmed him from the inside. Not having any prior experience to compare to, Travis wondered if necking felt that good for everyone or if it was just the insane chemistry they seemed to have that made the sensations so arousing.

  Creeping along his lower back, Jersey snuck the tips of his fingers under the waistband of Travis’s underwear and the notion gave him a little thrill; his boyfriend was attempting to feel him up.

  It was all so innocent, the way they were necking on his bed and copping little feels here and there, but it was all so new to Travis. He loved the fact that J
ersey could hardly keep his hands off him, but he loved it even more that he didn’t want to keep his hands off Jersey.

  He’d never been shy with affection, especially growing up with a family as close as his was. He was a hugger and he was used to expressing himself and his emotions, even more so when it came to something he felt strongly about. Touching and holding and being close to Jersey felt just as natural, and he let himself revel in their proximity.

  He took over Jersey’s ministrations, nosing the other man away, so he could have his turn driving Jersey wild and showing him how much he’d enjoyed the attention Jersey had paid to him. He brought his hand back up from Jersey’s butt and slid it up under the hem of his shirt, touching his bare stomach and chest for the first time. As he kissed and licked all across Jersey’s neck, he rubbed his palm up and down the center of Jersey’s stomach and chest, digging his fingers into the coarse hair he’d seen in the sexy pictures his guy had sent him that morning. But once he’d had the idea, there was no stopping himself from needing a bit more.

  He slid down Jersey’s body and slowly pushed the material of his shirt up, following it with his nose.

  Jersey moaned his approval as he gripped Travis’s head and squirmed on the bed.

  Travis took his time exploring Jersey’s abs and chest with his mouth, teeth, and tongue. He’d never been so close to another person, physically or emotionally, and he let himself enjoy the newness of those moments as he breathed in a lungful of his boyfriend's scent, savoring the taste of his skin, as he licked and kissed his way across Jersey’s happy trail.

  His boyfriend squirmed and reached for him, trying to gain contact in any way he could, gripping Travis’s neck and shoulders. The sounds he was causing to escape from Jersey’s mouth were exciting and sensual, and Travis would have loved to explore those more, but as he approached Jersey’s left nipple, he was grabbed by his hair and hauled up, ending his sexy little exploration.

  With a hand on either side of Travis’s face, Jersey’s wild eyes stared back at him. “You are testing my self-control and I don’t think I can stop from wanting more if you go any farther. So unless you want that too, we need to stick to kissing or slow things down.”