by Cara Dee
I stood up straighter.
The next footage started, and it took me aback a bit. The flowers were gone, as was Dominic. Now we were in a trendy office, and it was Ellis in front of the camera. He’d opted to film with his webcam, I assumed.
“You should probably join me, sweetheart.” He spoke to someone in the background.
“I’m afraid I’m gonna blab.” The confession belonged to Casey. “My plan for later is to keep all focus on Thea.”
Ellis chuckled, and he didn’t give up. He coaxed Casey closer until the latter was next to him, squatting down by the desk. Casey smiled stiffly.
“I’m gonna use very few words,” he whispered. “But I couldn’t be happier for you, and I can’t wait to—”
“Okay, your concern was valid,” Ellis interrupted. “I’ll take it from here.” He faced the camera with a polite smile. “Dominic, I hope you like your new business cards. Adrian, I hope you’ll enjoy them too.”
Casey held up one of the cards. I’d seen them earlier. They were currently in my messenger bag.
Yes, very nice, Dominic’s contact information and the odd design of—my stomach dropped. “Be.” Will you be. It didn’t escape my notice that the whole Quad had gone silent, and what followed on the screen was a rush of pictures. A slideshow of my relationship with Dominic. From silly selfies on the playground to a couple of the nicer ones my mother had taken at Christmas. Thea was in several of them.
The slideshow stopped abruptly on a photo of a chocolate cupcake. In white frosting, “my” was written across the top.
Will you be my.
There wasn’t a fucking chance. It was too soon for him. And entirely unlike him.
Next to me, Dominic opened the cardboard box to reveal that very cupcake.
“Husband,” he finished quietly.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and discovered what anxiety felt like. There was pressure on my chest, my brain was maddeningly slow to connect the last dots because the crippling fear… Fuck, the fear of this not being true would wreck me. Fear and hope raged together within me, and it messed me up.
I couldn’t face him. I couldn’t even look at him.
The slideshow started back up again, on the same fast loop, though, this time, it ended with five images. The whiteboard in my classroom, the note on the flowers, the business card, the cupcake, and a new picture. I had no idea what the canvas was, but the missing word was right there in colorful graffiti.
Will you be my husband.
“Are you serious?” I asked under my breath, my heart suddenly pounding. We were surrounded by expectant teenagers, and they sure as hell weren’t watching the screen anymore. They knew. All of this—God, they’d known…for how long? How had Dominic pulled all this together? I couldn’t imagine.
“Deadass,” Dominic whispered back.
I swallowed again and somehow managed to set down the paper plate. Then I straightened and scrubbed a hand over my jaw, finally facing him, finally seeing the war going on inside him too. His vulnerability that he often tried so hard to hide shone in his gorgeous eyes. He was tense, uncertain, hopeful, and waiting for me to get my damn shit together.
“I don’t want you to feel pressured, baby.” I kept my voice low, for fear it’d break and that others would hear me. “It’s only been a year, and I would understand if—”
“Why you doin’ this?” He smiled nervously and stepped closer to me. He flicked his gaze to the side only for a beat, as someone offered to take the cake box for now. Then his hands were in mine, and he coaxed me down to press my forehead to his. “I’ve been sure since we saw Billy, Adrian. You think I’m young—that I might change my mind because you’re my first relationship. Well, maybe you should consider that by some measures, I’m fucking ancient. I’m not clinging to you ’cause you’re the first good thing that’s come along. I’m here, tellin’ you I think we should get hitched, so that you can’t get away from me as easily. I’m here ’cause I fucking love you and ’cause I wanna be the man you see when you look at me. He’s a cool guy.”
I cursed under my breath and cupped his jaw, my eyes closing. The relief nearly did me in. “Dominic, I’d marry you last week if I could.”
“Is that a yes? You’ll marry me? I’ve been half convinced you was gonna say no for a week now.”
“It’s a fuck yes,” I chuckled thickly and covered his mouth with mine. “I can’t believe you did this.” It was going to be a while before this sank in. Jesus Christ.
“I’ve been proposing all day…” he laughed and nuzzled his way to my neck. We were met by whistles and catcalls from those around us, and I buried my grin in Dominic’s hair, squeezing him tightly to me. “I could sleep for a week.”
Again, I couldn’t imagine. What I could feel, however, was the tension leaving him. I hugged him harder and breathed him in, my mind spinning. The efforts, the secrecy—everything to make this perfect, all while worrying I might say no…? It was unfathomable.
Dominic had done this for me. He could’ve asked me a hundred different ways, all of which would’ve resulted in me throwing myself at him. On some level, he had to have known that. But he made a thing of it. He put sentiment and meaning into everything.
“I love you with everything I am,” I whispered into his hair.
He looked up at me with a sleepy, perfectly satisfied smirk. “I had a lotta help.”
I shook my head and stroked his cheek. “Doesn’t matter. That you went through all this for me…? This isn’t your kind of thing, sweetheart.”
“At the risk of sounding cheesy as fuck, putting that smile on your face is my thing.”
I grinned, and my vision became blurry. At a loss for words, I kissed him instead. I kissed him and thought back on everything that’d happened today. Blaming Willie for doodling on the whiteboard…? We’d get a laugh at that soon. Amber texting before class started. The flowers arriving, Casey and Thea showing up outside of work, coming here, seeing Dominic dressed up.
His stomach growling ended our kiss, causing amusement and my protective instincts to spark in a bizarre combination.
“When was the last time you ate and slept?” I murmured.
“Uh…” He squinted. “I napped an hour in my office earlier, and I think four Red Bulls count as breakfast and lunch. I was too nervous to eat anything solid.”
I shook my head. “I’m taking care of you as soon as we get home.” I was suddenly itching to get him alone. There was a couch with our names on it, food to be made, and then a bed to possibly break.
“We’re not done yet, though the rest does take place at home.” He sniffled and cleared his throat, growing increasingly aware of the others. The good thing about teenagers was how quickly they lost interest. Only a dozen or so was still watching us, and Amber looked like she wanted to hug Dominic. “Everyone, listen up,” he said. “Mark, Duane, thanks for covering for us. Adrian and I are gonna head home, but I wanna thank you all for helping out. And mostly for keeping your mouths shut.”
So that was why Mark and Duane were here. We weren’t going to finish our shifts. Oh, thank goodness.
“I’m so happy for you!” Amber couldn’t stay still anymore, and she darted over to hug Dominic. It set off the others too, and we were lost in a sea of congrats for a few minutes. Amber hugged me as well, and I thanked her for helping Dominic make this day unforgettable for me.
“It was so fun when you thought Willie wrote on the board,” she laughed.
I chuckled and winced. “I’ll have to apologize to him next class.”
“Meh.” She waved that off, still in stitches. “The important thing is you show up with a ring.” She finished in a singsong voice as she skipped off to get more pizza. “Looking forward to seeing it, Mr. D.”
My ring. I flexed my fingers automatically. It hadn’t occurred to me yet. To be honest, it wasn’t a priority either. We would probably get the rings together when we got married. Perhaps engagement rings were more for women…? Al
though, I knew Casey and Ellis wore theirs.
I shook it off for now. Getting Dominic home was at the top of my list. Getting my hands on him, getting inside of him… Goddammit.
Chapter 5
Dominic Cleary
“Baby, we’re home.”
I jolted awake. “What—I’m up, I’m up.” I rubbed at my eyes and yawned.
Thank fuck it was Friday tomorrow. I didn’t start work until nine, and then it was the weekend.
Teach chuckled at my disoriented state, and I stumbled out of the car.
“Come here. You take this, and I’ll lead you up.” He handed me the flowers I’d gotten him, and I took his word literally. I couldn’t even keep my eyes open. Leaning heavily on the man I’d tricked into saying yes, I let him guide me inside the building and into the elevator. “You must be exhausted.”
I yawned again and pressed my nose to his neck. “Yeah, but the relief, man. Can’t believe you said yes. Sucker.”
His shoulders shook with his chuckles. “Dominic, you’re the love of my life. Why on earth would I say no?”
I shrugged and forced my eyes to open when the elevator stopped. “You was dropped as a baby, right?”
“Were, and possibly.”
I grinned tiredly and threaded our fingers together. It was time to wake up properly, ’cause I was saving the best for last. Zach had thought I should go the whole distance at the Quad, but I wanted this to be private.
We entered the apartment, and the first item on his list was to find a vase.
“Mind if I change into sweats?” I asked. ’Cause if there was one thing I’d seen crystal clear, it was my man eye-fucking me at the Quad.
He’d grazed his teeth across his bottom lip and did it now too, contemplating. “My God, you are sexy. I almost swallowed my tongue earlier.”
I quirked my lips, loving this, and made a show of unbuttoning my shirt. “You wanna lick me all over, beautiful?”
“Fuck,” he whispered and set the flowers on the hallway table. “Keep going.”
He couldn’t stop me. The need I had for him was one of two things that could pierce through the exhaustion.
The shirt landed on the floor before I reached for my new belt.
“All this is gonna have your name stamped on it soon.” I unbuckled the belt, then slipped a hand down to cup my junk, adjusting it slowly.
His gaze grew even more intense, and he closed the distance. He touched me reverently with barely contained possessiveness. It was a beast I was gonna unleash later, no fucking question about it.
“What if I wanted your name?” He dipped down and started dropping a trail of soft kisses along my neck and shoulder. I shuddered, feeling his hand between my legs, cupping my balls firmly through my pants.
I swallowed dryly. “I’m a guido mick. Nothing good’s come from my family—drunks and hustlers.”
“Except the two most important people in my life,” he murmured and got down on his knees. He licked my stomach and pulled down my pants, boxer briefs too, and I was losing it. I had a fucking plan, dammit. “And not to be an ass, but Adrian Cleary sounds better than Dominic Dalton.”
I let out a choked laugh, only to have my cock swallowed whole by Adrian. “Jesus—fuck, yeah, maybe you’re right. You want my name, Teach?”
He nodded, looking up at me with sex and hunger in his eyes.
I bit down on my lip and huffed a groan, giving up on retaking the control. One blow job, and then I was doing what I was supposed to.
“So good. Fuck, amazing.” I stroked his beard and slipped one hand into his hair as I started fucking his mouth slowly. “Do that thing with your tongue.”
He didn’t wait. He closed his eyes and took me deep. And his tongue…motherfucker, how did he—oh God. He pressed the tip of his tongue on the vein along the underside of my cock and licked it hard. All while the head of my dick nudged the back of his throat.
My breathing got shallow and rapid, and I fucked him faster until I was right there. The sounds that escaped me were ridiculous. Fisting his hair, pumping deeper and groaning choppily… Everything sounded choked and stuttered, and Adrian swallowed convulsively.
“Oh fuck, baby,” I whimpered. “I’m gonna blow.”
He moaned around me and grabbed my ass hard, deep-throating the orgasm outta me. I gasped as the pleasure exploded, and ropes of come flooded his throat.
Fuck me over, how was I even gonna stand up after this?
I was left a panting mess, back against the wall, knees trembling, while he sucked me clean and tucked me back into my underwear.
“Sweet fuckin’…” I blew out a heavy breath and scrubbed at my face. “You turned me into mush.”
Adrian kissed his way up my body, the urgency written all over him. The beast had awoken. “Put on some clothes, boy,” he whispered raggedly into a wet, messy, salty kiss. “Or I’ll bend you over right here.”
I shivered like fucking mad. “I got shit to do,” I mumbled weakly. I was gonna be a romantic fucker and everything. He couldn’t tease me like that.
Then there was the other thing that could wriggle its need in my face, even if I was ten shades of dead on my feet. Hunger. I hadn’t eaten all day, and our neighbors probably heard my stomach snarling.
Adrian kissed me again, deep and sweet and smiley. “Sweat pants. I’ll make you something to eat.”
I nodded jerkily, still wishing I could get some cock. It’d been a few days. “I’ll, um…” I gestured down the hall. “Yeah.”
He chuckled. “I’ll check in on Thea too.”
Okay, cool.
Half an hour later, I was moaning for another reason. Teach had thrown together a casserole of leftovers, from spicy chicken to chorizo, from green onions to mushrooms. And he said anything tasted good with butter and cream, but there had to be more than that. He was still a god in the kitchen with magic herb fingers.
At the bottom of my bowl, I wiped up the last of the casserole and rice with some bread.
My nerves were gone too, and it made life better. Food tasted more awesome, air was easier to breathe, and both of us in sweat pants and nothing else made us hotter.
“That’s a Dominic-ism.” He smiled curiously. “Always with the bread and the sauce. I had friends in college who were religious about it too.”
“You gotta do it.” It was the way I’d been raised. “Out here on the West Coast, you got your artisanal apple creations and your organic craft beers. Back east, we suck up the sauce with bread and tell everyone else they’re wrong.”
“I assume you wouldn’t be a fan of California pizza—”
“That’s not a thing,” I said abruptly and chuckled at the bullshit. “Don’t even mention it in Brooklyn—ay, ay-ay, and fuckin’ white sauce? Hollywood and their dumb pizazz. Zach told me to try it sometime.”
Teach found me funny and set down his bowl on the coffee table. “I can listen to you for hours. You get so animated.”
“Like you when you lecture.” I nodded.
“I don’t—oh Christ.” He gave up with a sigh and a scornful little smirk. “Do I really lecture?”
I grinned and stuck the last piece of bread into my mouth. “It’s part of your charm, though. I’d be pissed if you tried to change it.” After finishing my glass of milk, I sat back and pulled up one knee to face him better. “Is this okay? I had plans to do this at a hotel, but I had to cut some corners if we’re gonna go on a cruise.”
That was enough to bundle him up tight in some confusion. “Pardon?”
“I have some gifts and some stuff I wanna tell you,” I said. “And the original plan was for us to spend tonight at a hotel. Or bed-and-breakfast, I guess.” I reached for the plastic bag behind the couch. He hadn’t seen me stash it there earlier. “This is just something small, but—” I shrugged, hoping he’d see it as a gesture. I was doing my best to relax about money.
Adrian smiled uncertainly and accepted an envelope from me. “Sweetheart, you realize you’ve alr
eady given me the biggest gift, right?” He was wrong about that one, which he’d soon discover. And I knew gifts weren’t part of proposing, but I wanted to. “What’s this?” He frowned at the two tickets.
Plane tickets to San Diego for this summer. “It’s just the flight,” I said. “That’s where a lotta cruises leave outta, and I checked your schedule. You’re off work then. But, so, we can go on a cruise, yeah? I saw a million regular ones and a few for queers.”
His chuckle broke his smile, and he leaned in to give me a hard kiss. “Let’s do a queer one, my crass boy.”
“Hey, we’ve taken back that word,” I defended. “It’s not a slur no more.”
“I know, I’m just teasing you. Thank you for this, Dominic. And you know it’s mandatory for all gay men to wear Speedos, I take it?”
I dropped my jaw and backed off with my palms raised. “Whoa, son. I won’t fucking wear a Speedo—” His rich laugh cut me off, and I gnashed my teeth together. “You shit!” I flew at him and got on his lap, causing him to laugh harder. “You think you’re so funny.” I poked him hard in the ribs, but, sadly, he was stronger. It didn’t take him long to wrestle me into submission, though he kept me on his lap.
The laughter died down, the smile didn’t, and he brushed his nose to mine. “Hey.”
“Hey.” I nipped at his upper lip. “We’re still not done.”
“Honestly, Dominic.”
“Honestly, Teach.” I reached for the bag again and gave him a fairly big package that Casey had wrapped for me. “I haven’t seen it yet myself.”
Except for the frame and the pictures. But I hadn’t seen the finished product.
Hanging photos on the wall had become my crack. They were reminders of everything I had now, and I loved to look at them. They were proof. And they only ended up in people’s homes. You didn’t hang pictures in a hotel room or a shelter.
Adrian unwrapped the narrow picture frame, his smile softening at the sight of the photos. It was my proposal, the five photos cropped and positioned next to each other, thanks to Casey and Ellis.