by E. D. Parr
Dane pulled a chair alongside Paul. “How did it happen? Can you tell me?” he asked softly because it occurred to him that Paul might not want to talk about it.
“He worked on the estate. A group of young men rented the cottage late in the season. They rigged up a tire swing on the banks of the river. Zachary asked them not to use it, because the tree was one of the oldest and the estate management wanted to keep the tree from possible harm. What followed is unclear, but hijinks no doubt, because Zachary ended up in the river. There’s a particular stretch with dangerous reeds. A person could be tangled up in no time at all, especially since the current is strong and that place is deeper. It’s one of the oldest areas of the river and estate. You know how rivers change course over centuries, well that stretch never did. They say it was a sacred site in ancient times, but who knows.”
Paul stopped talking and sighed. He ran a hand over his forehead. “Well, with Zachary in the river, some of the group ran back to Jackson Montgomery’s place and raised the alarm. Meanwhile, the other young men had worked together and fished Zachary out, but he’d been sucked down and tossed back up by the current, and although Jackson got him breathing he never woke up.”
The depth of Dane’s sorrow for Paul and Zachary brought fresh tears to his eyes. He hung his head. “I’m so sorry.” He couldn’t find any other words. In an effort to gain control of his weeping, he shifted in his seat, and the plastic bag containing Zachary’s sweater crackled.
Dane pulled the sweater from the bag. “I brought this. Zachary was wearing it when we first met. He’d brought logs for the fireplace.”
Paul Yarrow visibly paled. “What?” he whispered.
Shocked, Dane murmured what he’d just said again, but added, “I thought if I let Zachary feel the sweater as I talked to him, just put his hand on it, it might help in some way.”
Paul Yarrow snatched the sweater from Dane’s hand and inspected it.
“This was lost, lost in the river as the guys pulled Zachary out.” His voice held astonishment and his hands shook. “Zachary’s been wearing it?”
Dane nodded, aware that this was tangible proof Zachary spent time with him. “Yes.”
Paul Yarrow shot Dane a look full of suspicion. “You didn’t find it along the riverbank and bring it here?” He stopped talking and bowed his head.
A frown creased Dane’s head and hurt between his eyes. “Certainly not. Look at it. How could it have survived in the river for five years and be in such good condition?”
Paul Yarrow stood. He gave Dane the sweater and dropped the magazine on the chair he’d vacated. “Sorry, I didn’t mean … I’ll go for a walk, leave you to talk to Zachary. This is my day off so I spend it with him, but I won’t be in tomorrow at all. Will you visit?” His voice held pain.
“I’ll come every day. I’m still going to buy a place here. I made an offer on a house today. I can’t leave Zachary.”
Paul brought a card from his wallet. “Here are my numbers in case anything happens.”
Dane took the business card and watched Paul Yarrow walk to the door, give him a low wave, and leave. Dane turned to Zachary.
“Hi, babe, I brought your sweater.” He put the soft wool under Zachary’s hand.
“Let’s see what Paul was reading to you.” He picked up the magazine that lay open on the seat beside him. “Topiary, of course, and weren’t you supposed to be thinning back that box hedge tonight?”
Dane read some of the article aloud to Zachary. He stroked Zachary’s hair back from his forehead and kissed him softly. “I love you. Wake up. Wake up. I’m making steak sandwiches tonight. I went to see the house we saw on the internet. It’s great. You’ll love it. I’m buying it. I won’t go back to California. My brother will wind things up for me and there are loads of things I can do via email and the phone. I’ll get the place ready for you. The garden there needs your care. You can landscape it for us. Please, Zachary, wake up. I need you.”
Paul Yarrow never came back to the room and after three hours, Dane left in despair.
He walked to the main street even though it was a long way. At the far end of the street, a car rental company boasted on their billboards about the company’s deals. Dane went into the office and rented a car. He drove to the cottage in the snow white Patriot he’d leased for the next two weeks. If he wanted to visit Zachary every day, he needed it. Tonight I’ll ask Emmet to get my Wrangler trucked over here.
Dane parked the rental car in the wide driveway and locked it. He went into the cottage with a heavy heart and threw his jacket and the car keys onto the kitchen table. As the kettle boiled for coffee, Dane paced the big, friendly room. He stopped for a few moments at the far end and stared out at the gathering dusk. Then he went to his laptop. He didn’t know if anyone else had booked the cottage and his lease ended Friday of the following week. Dane checked vacation lets in the area, before he decided to call Jackson Montgomery and ask if the cottage was free for another few weeks. To Dane’s relief the cottage was available for the next six weeks. He went on the booking site and paid with his credit card.
Dane hadn’t made coffee. He watched the sky grow dark, and as it did, his eyelids drooped, and he slumped in the chair asleep.
Zachary called his name. “Dane, where are you? I need you. I can’t find you. Dane…”
Dane jumped up and ran outside.
Zachary stood on the crazy-paved path with his arms outstretched. Dane ran to him and crushed him to his chest in a hug. “Zachary, I’ve missed you so much. Come inside.” He held Zachary’s hands and pulled him toward the back door of the cottage.
Zachary stopped him. He held Dane’s face and kissed him. “Please bring me home, Dane.”
Dane fell forward and woke with a cry. His elbow hit the big wooden table and he shook his head. “A dream.” He said the words aloud, rubbing his arm. Weighed down by disappointment, Dane made coffee and drank it as he looked unseeing out of the window at the night. He kept going over what Zachary had said in his dream. I can’t find you. Bring me home. Dane tossed his coffee into the sink and dropped the cup onto the dishwasher wire shelf. He grabbed his jacket and the rental car keys, heading for the hospital and Zachary.
Chapter Eleven
Dane hurried past reception. He knew where he was going now. He forced down the urge to run to Zachary’s room, but striding along he still attracted curious glances from people as he passed them. At Zachary’s door, he stopped and took a deep breath, steeling himself for disappointment. Then he opened the door and went in.
Zachary lay still in bed. Someone among the medical staff had raised his pillows a little. The sweater Dane brought earlier sat folded on the unit beside the bed. Dane’s heart pounded, his hope Zachary was awake, vanished. Zachary’s eyes remained closed.
Dane went to him and gathered Zachary in his arms. He kissed him gently. “I thought you wanted me to bring you home, babe. Open your eyes. I’m desperate to hear your voice.” He held Zachary close. Amid the sound of a medical machine monitoring Zachary’s vital signs Dane caught the smallest hoarse whisper.
“Dane, you came for me.”
Dane’s surprise and elation brought tears from his eyes. “Zachary?”
Zachary’s eyes were open. He gazed at Dane. He tried to smile.
Dane rained soft kisses and his tears over Zachary’s face. “Zachary, I can’t believe it. You’re awake. Do you need anything? A drink of water? Can you speak?”
Zachary tried to move. Only his fingers worked. He whispered, “Nothing works. It’s so good to see you.”
Dane looked around. He knew he had to alert the docs to Zachary waking up, but he couldn’t bear to share his loved one right away. He lifted Zachary’s hand and traced his fingertips over Zachary’s palm. “It’ll be okay. You’ve been asleep for a long time. You’ll need to take it slow. I’m here and I’ll help. Don’t try to talk too much. It might hurt your vocal chords or something. This is so great. Zachary.” He looked around. There was
a water jug and wrapped glasses. Dane guessed they were probably for visitors because Zachary appeared to be hydrated via a drip. He took the wrapper from a glass and poured a little water. With his arm around Zachary’s shoulders, he gave Zachary a sip. “I need to let your docs know you’re awake. I need to tell Paul.” He kissed Zachary’s forehead. “I so love you. You remember that house we looked at on the internet? I saw it. I put in an offer.”
He let Zachary sip more water.
“Don’t leave me tonight,” Zachary murmured.
Dane put the glass on the bedside unit. “I’m never leaving you.” His eyes alighted on a red button on the wall just above the bedhead. That has to be a ‘come running’ button. He pressed it.
****
Six weeks later, Dane hummed as he carried the tray of coffee and croissants to the room where he’d left Zachary in bed reading a seed catalogue. He put the tray on the table he’d set up in the room, sat on the side of the bed, and leaned to kiss Zachary.
“If your therapist gives the go ahead I’ll take you for a short walk in the garden today. It’ll make you cringe. I was lucky to get seven-day settlement on the place, so I could get it ready for us while I stayed in the cottage. I couldn’t do anything about the grounds, but I wanted to save them for you anyway.”
Zachary slipped his hands around Dane’s face and tilted his head to take another kiss.
“Thank you. I’m stir crazy. I love this house, but only taking little walks around it is wearing thin. Dane, can I try the stairs? The therapist makes me do exercises with my legs that mirror climbing stairs. I’m sure I can do it.”
Dane grinned at his love. “When you’re given the all clear we’ll choose a bedroom upstairs. Babe, you were immobile for a long time. Everyone wants you to take it slow.”
Zachary took Dane’s hand with a smile. “Except the therapist who rides my ass. You’ve brought breakfast, thank you, but sit with me, I want to talk about some things.”
Dane sat alongside Zachary and held his hand.
“We haven’t talked about my nightly gardening. I remember everything as if I was there—and my body wasn’t lying in a hospital bed. How it happened I don’t know, but I think as I slept my soul went looking for life and answers. I remember earlier, before I met you. I used to scare people. They didn’t all see me, but they would hear me. I had no idea at the time that I wasn’t real. I loved the estate gardens. I don’t know why I went out there only in the night, but it meant I met you, so maybe it was destined. You made me real. I feel sure of it. You’re no longer nocturnal, huh?” He squeezed Dane’s hand.
Dane leaned over him and kissed his mouth. “Your waking cured me of it. Actually, falling asleep at night after I’d visited you earlier in the day, and dreaming about you, was the start. Hell, Zachary, I am so glad you woke up. I was terrified you wouldn’t.”
Zachary held his jaw and kissed him again. “I heard you during the day when you visited the hospital, as I slept, but I couldn’t wake up. I needed it to be night. You’ve not spoken about my ghostly visits, but I want you to know. Everything I said was true. I felt everything, every kiss. It was as if I was real and in your arms.”
Tenderness crept through Dane and he pulled Zachary close in a lopsided hug. “You were real. You were a little more muscled, but you were real. You ate, we made love, you pruned the garden shrubs and roses … will you ever go back to the estate, Zachary?”
“I don’t think so. Paul thought I might need to go and see the place where I fell into the river, for closure, but I don’t need it. My closure is being here with you.”
Dane planted a kiss on his nose. “I love you.”
Zachary leaned away to gaze tenderly at Dane. “I love you.” He nestled back into Dane’s arms. “I remember not having enough clothes and you helped me out with that. You were so kind, so loving, still are, but then it was magical to be with you, to be seen and loved. I’m sure there was magic happening somehow.”
Dane’s throat constricted as emotion overwhelmed him. He kissed Zachary’s head. “So do I.”
Zachary’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I guess when we met I looked how I was when the accident happened. I want to get back in shape. I’m weedy now.”
Amusement chased Dane’s imminent tears away. “You are gorgeous. Same guy I fell in love with and still love—always will love. Soon, you’ll be able to work out and build muscle again if that’s what you want.”
Zachary tilted his face to Dane’s. He whispered, “What I want is to make love with you.”
Dane kissed him, lingering against Zachary’s lips with kiss after kiss, until his cock stirred. He pushed away his desire. “I do, too, but we’ll take that easy.”
Zachary groaned a little. “Hell, I have a hard-on right now. I hope that shrinks before the doc rocks up.”
Dane smiled at him. It had been hard to stick to kisses and cuddles.
“Your physical therapist will be here at eleven and the doc at twelve. If he says you’re fit to wander around at will, I could be tempted to suck that hard-on tonight. Right now, I’ll get the coffee.” He brought the tray over. “I bet its cold.”
Zachary took the cup from Dane. “I’ll keep you to that promise.”
Chapter Twelve
Six months later
Zachary looked up from the row of shrubs he tidied as Dane brought him a beer.
“Those are pretty.” Dane nodded at the tiny pink flower clusters.
Zachary put down the shears and took the beer. He kissed Dane quickly.
“Thanks, Dane. I don’t think they’ll last much longer now. Autumn is definitely here. Look at the leaves over there.”
Dane followed Zachary’s nod with his eyes to the glorious golds and reds of the leaves on the trees bordering their garden.
“They’re beautiful.” He turned his gaze on Zachary. And so are you. They often worked out together and Zachary was back to his muscular self. He had a light tan from being in the garden that summer and looked delicious. Dane cradled his beer. “I finished the design I was working on and emailed it to Emmet.”
Zachary gave him a smile. “That’s great. I like that design a lot. Do you want to sit for a while?” He took Dane’s hand.
Dane walked alongside Zachary to the table and chairs set up on the wide patio. Zachary had affixed a shade-sail to the house and nearby boundary wall. The wall being six feet tall and covered in climbing roses made a lovely enclosure for the spot where they’d often sat to eat and talk that summer.
Dane sat and Zachary pulled a chair along to sit close.
“I never thought when I decided to take a vacation that I’d find the love of my life. I thought I’d revive my writing, but what I got is so much better than that.”
Zachary reached out a hand to Dane and stroked a fingertip down his cheek.
“Do you think you’ll ever write again?” Zachary’s tone held concern.
Dane smiled and captured Zachary’s fingers to kiss them. “Honestly, no. I don’t miss it. I think that part of my life is over. You were my last mystery, and I love that.”
Zachary’s eyes glistened. “I’m so glad you took the vacation. You saved my life.”
Dane put his beer on the table. “You did it all. I fell in love with you.” He leaned over Zachary and kissed him.
Zachary slipped his hand around Dane’s head and returned the kiss.
“You’re special, Dane. I can’t imagine life without you.”
The sweet sex in the kiss ignited Dane’s desire. He broke away and knelt in front of Zachary. “I feel like showing you how much I love you, right now.” He trailed his fingers up and down the front of Zachary’s chinos.
Zachary bent forward and kissed Dane’s lips. “Out here?” He gave a gentle smile.
“Why not, babe? No one can see us.” He opened Zachary’s zip. Zachary’s gasp of pleasure as Dane traced the outline of his growing erection made Dane smile. He took hold of Zachary’s chinos and boxers. “Lift up a little.”
Zachary obeyed.
Dane pulled the clothes down to Zachary’s knees and kissed up his muscled thighs to his balls.
Zachary’s cock hardened under Dane’s lips as he kissed along the shaft and licked at the velvet head. Dane held the shaft and circled Zachary’s cock with his tongue. He licked the slit as he trailed his fingers up and down the hard column. Pre-cum met the tip of his tongue and a surge of pleasure shot through his own cock. Dane held Zachary’s leaking cock and brought it fully into his mouth. He feathered his fingertips along Zachary’s thighs and balls as he sucked and then with his lips in a tight wet O, he pulled up and down on Zachary’s cock.
Zachary groaned and sighed as he held Dane’s head in a gentle grasp. “That feels so good…”
Dane’s stomach tightened. His ass clenched. Blanketed in the musky, masculine scent of Zachary’s body, he closed his eyes as his balls lifted.
Zachary thrust his hips and gasped out a long moan. His cum filled Dane’s mouth and Dane held his thighs, waiting for Zachary’s orgasm to finish.
He slowly inched Zachary’s cock from his mouth and swallowed the salty sweet cum. Dane’s cock strained against his pants and he rested his head on Zachary’s stomach.
“I’ll never get tired of sucking your cock. I bet you have no idea how gorgeous you are.”
Zachary ran his fingers into Dane’s hair, and whispered, “Come here and be kissed. Then drop your pants. I want your cock in my hands.”
Dane was close to coming. His cock ached and his balls were so high he moaned as he stood to take Zachary’s kiss. Zachary opened the fastening of his jeans, and Dane groaned as Zachary slowly pulled them down to his knees. He held onto the arm of the chair as Zachary’s hands traveled all over his cock and balls, making him gasp out soft little sounds.
“You’re leaking. You’re so sexy.” Zachary kissed Dane’s open mouth.
Dane thrust into Zachary’s fist as Zachary jerked him off. Waves of intense pleasure flowed over him. His cum spurted high over Zachary’s knuckles and he fought for breath. He jerked his hips as his cock throbbed with aftershocks of orgasm. “Fucking hell … it always feels amazing…”