Beautiful Days (Jason Of The Valley Book 5)

by Jason K. Melby

  "'You have a winning personality.' Geez. I know these things are just for fun, but I prefer getting the ones that say I'm going to be rich."

  "Well, you can have mine in that case." David said as he offered his fortune to Jason.

  "No thanks." Jason said. David looked at him thoughtfully and then reached over and placed his on Jason's shoulder.

  "How about some dessert then?"

  "We just had the cookies." David then slid his hand down to Jason's lap and began massaging his crotch. Their eyes met and Jason gave David a nod of realization.

  "I think you need something better than a cookie." David said.

  Jason and David rushed into the bedroom and were on top of each other almost instantly. They were hungrily exploring each other with their hands and tongues. Jason noticed that David was being a bit more aggressive than normal and suddenly, he made a big move which resulted with Jason on his stomach. David laid on top of him and maneuvered his mouth up to his ear

  "You want this? You want what I have?" He growled. His tone was hard and unexpected. Jason turned his head and despite his savage tone, David's eyes were warm and loving as always. Jason nodded and soon could feel the sensation of David's tongue running down the length of his torso until it found his most private spot and drove Jason into fits of ecstasy. Jason's body squirmed in response to David's probing and then it stopped. Jason tried to crane his neck around to see what he was doing, but when he felt David's rigid manhood push against his body, the intent was clear.

  "We haven't done this yet." Jason gasped in a tone made in equal parts of fear and excitement.

  "Relax. You're going to love this." David purred and then entered Jason. David was correct. The torrent of pleasure rocked through Jason and it was a moment he had never though he would ever enjoy. David's steady thrusting matched Jason's undulations. Their bodies were moving together as if they had melded into one. With almost no effort at all, David flipped Jason onto his back and their eyes met as his forceful pounding continued. There was a wild mania in David's eyes as he looked down onto Jason. It scared and thrilled Jason at the same time. David's thrusting began gaining speed and the sweat started to drip from his forehead.

  "I'm gonna come!" He growled.

  "In me." Jason begged.

  "In you? Yeah? You want that?"

  "Yes!" Jason barked. David squeezed his eyes shut and stabbed into Jason with one final push and then he went limp and fell on top of Jason. "Wow."

  "I know, right?"

  "You just fucked me."

  "Uh-huh." David said breathlessly.

  "I mean, you did it. I know we talked about it, but you just did it."

  "Didn't like it?"

  "No. Loved it. It was just so unexpected."

  "I just thought you could use it." David said as he rolled off of Jason. He looked down and saw the condom hanging from his cock filled with his fluid. He pulled it off and tossed it aside.

  "I did need it. I didn't know I needed it, but now that I've had it, I now know I did need it."

  "Sweety, I'm kind of blissing out here. Your words aren't making it all the way to me."

  "Don't worry. I'm kind of blissing too." Jason said. David threw his arm across Jason and snuggled into his form. Everything was still and soon only the sound of them breathing could be heard.

  "What if it doesn't happen?" Jason asked. David looked up to him.

  "What if what doesn't happen?"

  "My writing. I mean, you know what hell it was to get what I did manage to get done, done, and it wasn't all that great. Years of effort for almost nothing. What if this time around is no different? Or what if it's worse? I might never make it. This could all be a giant waste of time. All this work and all this time spent. Is this how I'm going to spend the rest of my life? I mean, I'm not going to be young forever and I don't see this getting easier when I'm older."

  "Stop." David said as he gently placed his finger on Jason's lips. "It's going to happen."

  "But what if it doesn't?"

  "It will."

  "David. What if it doesn't?" Jason asked again. David could hear the slight break in Jason's voice as he spoke and knew what he meant. They locked eyes. "What if it doesn't?"

  "If it doesn't, then I will still love you. I will still think you're a sweet, lovable guy who makes me happier than I've been in a long time. As for you, you will be fine. You will continue to write your stories and dream up your worlds because you're not doing this for the money. You never were. You do this because it's something you love to do and something you will never give up on, because that's one of the many wonderful things that makes you, you." David said. He could see the glint of light coming from a small tear tracing down Jason's cheek.

  "Thank you." Jason whispered and he tightened his hold on David.

  In the morning, David woke up to see Jason still deep in his rest. He looked over and saw it was earlier than he thought it was. He quietly slipped out of bed and dressed. He looked back down at Jason in the bed and smiled. He leaned down and kissed Jason's forehead.

  "Going?" Jason rumbled.

  "Don't wake up."

  "What time is it?"

  "You have a good two hours before you have to be up. Just keep sleeping."

  "The book."

  "I remember. I'll grab it on my way out. Why don't you come over to my place tonight for dinner?"

  "Mmm, okay."

  "Bring Greek. You know what I like."

  "Mmmmhmm." Jason hummed. David smiled and went out to the living room and picked up the manuscript off the table and left.

  The day went along for Jason with little incident. Work was boring, as usual, and not much happened. The only thing that kept him humming along was the thought of dinner with David.

  Jason didn't normally like driving over the hill to Venice in the middle of the week, but it was the only drawback to dating David and it was a price he was more than willing to pay.

  When Jason arrived, he found that David had his place ready for a romantic evening. There were candles strewn around the room giving off a sepia colored light. There was light, instrumental music playing gently in the background and the scent of incense was on the air.

  "Wow. I'm really going to have to work to match this." Jason said as he set down the bags with the food.

  "It's not a competition, but if it were, I would be way ahead." David said with a laugh as he pulled Jason into a tight hug.

  "So, why did you want me over tonight? We usually sleep over here on the weekend."

  "I know, but I was thinking about it last night and I wanted to do something special."

  "Hold on. Did you read my book already? There's no way you could have read it that fast."

  "You're right. I didn't read it."

  "Oh." Jason said with some disappointment. There was a knock at the door and David rushed to answer it. Jason turned and saw a woman walk in. She was an older looking woman dressed in a flowing gown that was stitched with oriental decoration and she wore a black turban on her head. Her skin was pale and fair, which caused the small bit of make up on her face to be more prominent. David took her hands and kissed her lightly on her cheeks.

  "Margo. So glad you could make it," David said and then he turned to Jason. "She read it. Jason? This is my friend Margo Wilcox."

  "Pleasure to meet you, Margo." Jason said as he offered his hand. She clasped her fingers around it. Jason noted right away her hands were ice cold.

  "Always a thrill to meet a friend of David's, although he tells me you’re much more than friends."

  "I guess we are." Jason said.

  "That's good. Every time two people find love in the universe, a new star is born."

  "That's a nice thought."

  "I always thought so."

  "Margo here was one of my English professors when I went to college. She holds doctorates in both English and psychiatry. She teaches workshops all over the country about journalism and creative writing. To put it simply, she's the pe
rson most publishers seek out to ask what they should publish."

  "And she read my book? You gave it to her?"

  "I thought you really needed an outside perspective."

  "I thought that was what I was going to get when you read it."

  "Margo? Could you tell Jason what you thought of his book?" David asked. Margo smiled and sat down on the sofa. Her movements were slight and deliberate. She looked up at Jason and with barely a breath began to speak.

  "There were a number of spelling errors and a great many grammatical ones. Some of your spacing was off and the formatting was a bit amateurish," She said. Jason felt all the warmth in his body grow cold in an instant. His arms felt heavy and he started to look around for a place to sit before his heart fell out. "However," Margo said with definite punctuation. "The writing itself was deeply immersed. The story was brisk and well-paced as well. Your characters were vibrant and well formed. For lack of better terminology, I loved it." She said brightly.

  "What? You loved it?" Jason asked in disbelief. She merely nodded. Jason then looked to David.

  "Don't give me that look. This woman speaks her mind. Trust me. If she hated it, she would just tell you."

  "It's true. I told this one that very thing when he first offered up his writing in my class. I have no reason to lie to you, Jason. Aside from a few style issues, you've put together one hell of a book."

  "And you think I could get it published?"

  "I didn't say that."

  "Oh."

  "A good book and a publishable book are not exactly the same thing, but if you want to achieve that goal, this book would be worth the work and if it got in front of the right eyes, I would not be surprised that it could be done." Margo said. Jason looked at her for a moment and allowed her words to soak into his brain. He then looked over at David.

  "Could you excuse us?" Jason said as he snagged David's arm and pulled him into the kitchen.

  "Well?" David asked.

  "Is she for real?"

  "Totally. You can check her out online. If anyone in the world can tell you whether a book is good or not, it's Margo."

  "You had no idea if she would like it. This could have totally blown up in your face."

  "It could have, but I knew it wouldn't. I knew she would love it."

  "You felt like you knew, but you had no real way of knowing, did you?"

  "Honestly? No. I just knew she could read the whole book before tonight." David said. Jason tried to speak but there were no words available to express what he was feeling. He simply threw his arms around David and hugged him tightly.

  "Well, boys!" Margo said as she walked up behind them. They looked back at her and saw her poking around the bags of food. "When do we eat?"

  Chapter 6

  Meet The Family

  As the sun set on Saturday evening, Jason's stomach was feeling uneasy. David was excited about joining him at Coconutz to meet his friends at last, but Jason was more anxious than anything. He felt like he was sweating, but every time he reached up to his forehead, it was dry.

  Jason was about to start getting ready to go when his phone rang. He picked it up and saw that it was David calling.

  "Please be cancelling. Please be cancelling." Jason whispered to himself as he held his phone close to his chest. "Hello?" He said brightly as he answered.

  "Hey, babe." David said. His tone was difficult to read. He didn't sound happy, but he didn't sound like he was about to disappoint either.

  "Hi. What's going on?"

  "We're still on for tonight, right?"

  "Yes. I told everyone we'd be there by ten. I thought you'd be over by now."

  "I was planning to be, but my car ran out of gas. I'm going to be a little late. How about I just meet you at the bar?" David asked. Jason felt a cold shiver run up his spine. The one saving grace of the evening was that he was going to arrive with David. He felt more secure knowing others would see them arrive together and leave together.

  "You could come over here later if you need to. It's fine."

  "That's sweet but the way things are going I'm not going to make it over there until eleven or so. I don't want to make you wait so long."

  "That's all right. In fact, why don't we just blow off tonight? I'll come over to you and we can do something ourselves."

  "Jason. I get it if you're a little nervous about this, but you don't have to be. I'm with you and that's not going to change. I just want to meet your friends. I'm not going to be seduced by some trick at this bar of yours." David said.

  "How do you know what's going on in my head?"

  "I know you. Besides, how do you know I'm not a little nervous about this evening myself?"

  "You're never nervous. You're always so annoyingly upbeat." Jason sniped.

  "For your information, I am scared. What if your friends don't like me?"

  "You think I'd dump you if they didn't?"

  "No, but I know how important they are to you. I want them to accept me."

  "They'll love you."

  "Then can we both agree to not being scared about tonight?"

  "I'll try."

  "That's all I ask. I'll call you when I get there."

  "Okay."

  "And one more thing."

  "What?"

  "I love you." David said. Jason smiled as the words absorbed into his ears.

  "I love you too."

  Jason clicked off the phone and went back to his preparations. As he turned on the shower, his phone rang again. He ran to answer it without even looking at the caller I.D.

  "Hey, babe." Jason said.

  "Hi, love." Cynthia chimed back. Jason looked down at his phone and saw Cynthia's name under her number.

  "Oh. It's you."

  "I love you too."

  "I just thought you'd be someone else."

  "David maybe?"

  "I just got off the phone with him. He's excited about meeting the family tonight."

  "Oh, by the way. I won't be able to make it tonight."

  "Yeah, I figured. You're a house. Kid's sick. Blah, blah, blah."

  "Excuse me?"

  "You always come up with some excuse to get out of going out. Honestly, I really wasn't planning on you. You've met David already anyway."

  "I'm just a little self-conscious about the weight."

  "I know and I feel for you, but there is a limit. We've all puffed out once or twice. We get through it."

  "This is more than a puff out. I've damn near exploded!"

  "So, do something about it."

  "I've been doing everything I can. I've eaten so many carrots; I'm surprised I haven't turned orange yet. I'm just not ready to go out into circulation yet."

  "All right. You are absolved."

  "Thank you. What about you?"

  "What about me what?"

  "You don't sound too excited about introducing your boyfriend to everyone."

  "I'm just not thrilled with the idea of having him in the bar environment."

  "Why? Don't you trust him?"

  "Of course I do. I just don't trust those skanks at the bar. I know he's strong and totally committed to me, but what if one of those twinks shakes their round, firm ass at him and he falls for it. I mean, he's great, but he's still a guy after all."

  "You really think he'd do anything to jeopardize what you two have?"

  "No."

  "Then don't worry. He's a good guy."

  "I know. I can do this."

  "Just remember two rules. Never leave him alone."

  "And the other?"

  "Never leave him alone."

  Jason made it to Coconutz a little past ten. As he approached the door, he felt the butterflies in his stomach growing more restless. He closed his eyes, pulled the door open and did a quick assessment of the bar as he walked in. He scanned across the room and much to his relief, he didn't see David anywhere. Jason got to the bar and got his drink and rushed to the patio. He stepped out and saw Ken and Adam staking out one of the t
ables.

  "Hey guys." Jason said as he sat down at the table, being careful to sit so that he could see who came out of the bar.

  "There you are." Ken said.

  "He's not here yet?"

  "Not that we would know what he looks like. Didn't he say he'd call or something?"

  "Yes. He said he'd call when he got here."

  "Has he called?" Adam asked. Jason pulled out his phone and checked it again.

  "No. Not yet."

  "Then he's not here. I'm assuming Cynthia's a no show." Ken said.

  "You assume right. Where's Mike?"

  "He said they were having a busy night at the bistro and he'd be down as soon as he could."

  "Then I guess we wait. Pretty good crowd tonight." Jason said as he surveyed the patio.

  "Minimal sluts. I took an inventory when we got here." Ken said.

  "I wasn't worried about that." Jason said.

  "Please! We've all had to pass this trial of fire. The first time you bring the boyfriend to your bar. You should have been there when I brought Adam here for the first time. I brought a can of pepper spray."

  "But you didn't have to use it."

  "I didn't say that."

  "Is this supposed to make me feel better?"

  "Don't worry. From everything you've told me about this guy, he sounds like a real good one. I'm sure you have nothing to worry about."

  "I hope so," Jason looked over to Ken, desperate to find something else to talk about. "How's the job hunt going?"

  "Not so good. There's just nothing out there. I've been sending out resumes by the truckload on a daily basis, but I'm getting nothing in return."

  "You don't have any contacts from your old job that could help you out?"

  "Most of them are still looking for full time work."

  "Still? It's been months."

  "I know. Some of them have already run out of their unemployment benefits. I accidentally ran into one of them working at a Carl's Jr. Got my order wrong, to boot."

  Jason's mind strayed momentarily from his worries, but his phone sprung to life and his heart leapt. It was David.

  "He's here." Jason's heart was pounding in his chest and his stomach was doing back flips.

  "Well, don't just sit there. Go get him. Remember. Never take your eyes off him."