by JD Chambers
Dad enters the kitchen while straightening his tie. “Going somewhere?”
There’s a meanness in his voice left over from our argument on Friday. After my visit with Dr. Mirza, I talked to Dad about hiring someone more qualified to deal with Mom’s disease, rather than me looking after her. He accused me of not wanting to help out, and tried to guilt trip me.
“After all the years she looked after you, loved you, you can’t be bothered to do the same for her?”
I honestly can’t tell if he really means it or if he’s just in denial about how bad her condition is. I would think for someone you loved, you’d want the best possible care, not a twenty-seven-year-old engineer who can’t even get his own life together.
“Do you remember my friend Mal?” I ask both of them, but looking at Mom because I’m afraid of what I’ll see on Dad’s face at the mention of Mal.
“Is he the one we talked about the other day?” Mom asks. I’m not sure which conversation she’s referring to, but chances are, if I was talking about a friend, it was about Mal.
“Yes.” She nods solemnly in response. “They’re in the hospital. I need to be there for them.”
Dad makes a choked sound that draws my eyes to his clenching jaw.
“There’s the man I raised.” Mom tweaks my chin and kisses my cheek. “Go get him. And give me a call and let me know how he’s doing, okay?”
There’s the Mom that should be here right now. The one that you talk to and would never imagine that her brain is slowly deteriorating. Well, except for the fact that she just encouraged me to go win back my person-who-is-not-female. Not in a million years would I have thought that was normal Mom.
“Thanks, Mom.” I can barely get the words out over the tightening of my throat. I kiss her back, squeezing her into a hug like it’s going to be the last one she remembers.
When I finally release her, I turn for my bag and start to leave, but Dad calls after me.
“When will you be back?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll at least be a few days,” I say without turning around.
“What about your job interview next week?”
“This is more important. I have to go, Dad. It’s a twelve-hour drive.”
I walk out the front door without another word.
I’m sitting in my car in the Glenwood Springs hospital parking lot. I drove straight here, stopping only for fast food, gas, and to pee. When I arrived, I went to the admissions desk to ask for Mal’s room, only to be informed that they were released last night. I really should have tried calling Mal before now. I’ve rung them twice, both times with no answer.
Parker: Hi Mal, it’s Parker. Where are you?
If they don’t answer my texts, I don’t know what I’ll do. Go find a hotel, maybe, and call Zach to see if Craig has heard from them.
Mal: Hey Parker. It’s Mal. I’m hanging out with Craig and Zach. Where are you?
They’re in Fort Collins?
Parker: Pick up the damn phone when I call this time.
I switch to the dial pad and press “Send” again.
“What’s going on?” Mal answers.
“What the fuck? Zach told me you were in the hospital in Glenwood Springs.”
Mal laughs. “Oh yeah, that. Don’t worry. They released me last night. I stayed with my mom to make sure I didn’t have a concussion, but I’m fine. I came on home this morning. Apparently I texted some pretty funny stuff to Craig. Got them all in a tizzy over nothing.”
“Fuck.”
“It’s okay. I’m okay.”
“No, it’s just, I’m in Glenwood Springs.”
You could park the Grand Canyon in the space that lingers after that statement.
“You came for me?” Mal finally says, in a voice so soft I almost don’t hear them.
“Of course I came for you,” I say, smacking the steering wheel with a frustrated hand.
“Did you drive all day? I bet you’re exhausted. Listen, don’t go anywhere. I’m going to call my mom and tell her that she’s going to have a guest for tonight.” I try to interrupt at various places during Mal’s rambling string of words, but they never let me get a syllable in edgewise. “I’ll come back in the morning, and we can talk about it. But right now, let’s get you someplace you can crash. I’ll call you back in two minutes.” I don’t have a chance to protest before they’ve hung up.
I stare at the phone until it goes dark in sleep mode. What the fuck was I thinking, rushing here? I’m such an idiot. I just couldn’t stand the thought of Mal hurting and not being there to help.
The phone screen pops back up, momentarily blinding me as I still sit in the dark parking lot, but it’s a number that my phone doesn’t recognize.
“Hello?”
“Hello,” a female voice says back. “Is this Parker?”
“Yes.”
“Parker, I’m Felicity, Mal’s mom. I understand you need directions to my house.”
I put the phone on speaker, and let her talk me through it rather than try to use my phone’s GPS. She says it’s only a few blocks away anyway, and a couple of turns later, I’m pulling up to Mal’s childhood home. A woman waves from the porch.
She’s tiny, but mighty, and yanks me down for a hug when I reach her.
“Parker, it’s wonderful to finally meet you. Where’s your bag? Have you eaten?”
I left my bag in the car because I didn’t want to presume, and when I say as much, Felicity gives me an eye roll that very much reminds me of her child.
She leads me to the kitchen and makes me take a seat. “I’ll reheat my stir-fry leftovers. If you’d gotten here only an hour earlier, you could have eaten it with me. Of course, if I’d known you were coming …”
“I’m so sorry. I just dropped everything and ran when I heard.”
She hums as she empties chicken and broccoli from a plastic container into a bowl and pops it into the microwave.
“You must really like my Mal to do that.”
“They mean the world to me.” I just drove twelve hours in a panic at the hint they might be hurt. It’s a little late to pretend otherwise.
“I think you and I are going to get along just fine.”
I wake to something tickling my nose. I bat it away, but it returns seconds later. My brain usually takes a minute to wake up, but a soft giggle has me alert and eyes open in seconds. Mal looms over me with a strand of hair in hand, poised over my nose.
“Morning, sleepyhead,” they say with a grin.
I’ve never seen a sight more beautiful.
Their grin widens. “Aw, thanks. I’d say right back atcha, but you still look exhausted.”
“I didn’t mean to say that out loud.” My brain must not be fully engaged yet.
“You really do act a little drunk when you’re tired, huh?” Mal folds their legs onto the bed. “I was going to wake you with a blow job, but I wasn’t sure how it would be received, given where we are.”
I huff out a brief laugh. “Yeah, not sure I’d be okay with fooling around in your mom’s house.”
Mal smacks a palm onto my chest. “Oh, that! I’m totally fine with oral in my childhood room. You’re good at keeping quiet. No, I meant, I wasn’t sure about where we are … relationship-wise.”
Given how confidently they spoke the rest of that – let’s just say bizarre sentence, the final word shouldn’t have been a question. But it definitely was.
I grab their hand and tug until they lay down beside me. I wrap my arms around their shoulders and tighten my grip until they have no choice but to snuggle into my chest. It isn’t until I feel Mal’s steady heartbeat against my own that I can relax for the first time since that damn phone call.
25
Mal
“Lock up when you leave,” Mom says on her way out the door. She works the hospital admissions desk Sunday through Thursday, so she has to go into work. “It was nice meeting you, Parker.”
“You too, Felicity.” He stands awkwardly in th
e living room, still dripping and freshly shaven from the shower he insisted on taking after our brief snuggle this morning. I told him he was going to miss her, so he threw on jeans but didn’t have time to finish buttoning his shirt.
It’s taking a lot of effort to focus past his beautiful chest, but before I jump his bones, we need to talk. The man dropped everything and drove twelve hours when he thought I was in the hospital. That means something.
Parker can’t say he’s making a similar effort to stay away from me. He runs his hands along my arms and cups my stubbly jaw, paying special attention to the bruises covering my cheeks and the scrapes over my right eyebrow.
“Are they certain you’re okay?”
I take his hands in mine and bring them to my lips. “Yes. They checked me for concussion, and Mom followed their instructions and watched me all Saturday night to make sure. I’m fine. Just a little banged up.”
“What were you even doing?”
“Ice climbing. Hang on, you have to see the pictures I took before I fell.” Joshua sent them to me after I sent him a note apologizing for ruining the trip. And for having to put up with my mom. It was a freak ice thing, he assured me, and sent me the pictures from the helmet camera. They are freaking incredible. I drop Parker’s hands to look around for my phone. I think I stuck it in my jacket pocket, which I threw somewhere upon my arrival.
“I don’t want to see those pictures,” he says with a grumpy expression. “I don’t want to see anything that reminds me of you getting hurt.”
I take his hands back in mine and lead him over to the kitchen table. “Let me make you some coffee.”
I can feel his eyes on me as I move through the kitchen and it makes it hard to focus.
“So.” I hand him his mug and put honey in mine. “Thought a sudden vacation to Glenwood Springs sounded like a good idea?”
“That’s not why I’m here and you know it,” Parker growls into his coffee.
“I know, but I have to admit, I can’t figure out why you are here.”
Parker looks up in surprise. “Because I care about you. Has that not been obvious this whole time?”
“But you left,” I say, and rush to add, “Not that I blame you for that. Your mom needs you. But even before you left, we weren’t really a thing yet. Moving that direction, yes, but not quite there.”
“What if I want to continue moving in that direction? Or I guess the better metaphor would be, what if I wanted to arrive at that destination?”
I set my mug down hard, because now he really has thrown me off. “Are you moving back to Colorado?”
He scrubs his hands across his face, and he might be freshly showered and shaven, but it suddenly makes him look like he had a rough night. “I don’t know. Yes. I want to. But I’m not sure when or how.” His expression is one that I’ve never seen on him. My Parker usually sees the right way to do everything, but he looks like a lost little kid right now. “There’s so much that I learned while I was there. From Mom. From her doctor. I’m scared of making the wrong decision when it comes to her. But I’m even more scared of screwing things up with you.”
And in that moment, my heart is gone. I didn’t even have to give it away, it flew from my chest and into Parker’s hands all on its own.
“Oh, baby, if you want me, you’ve got me.” I stand and wrap my arms around his neck, pulling his head into my chest and bending down to bestow kisses onto his wet hair. My bare toes rest on top of his, and I wiggle them, trying to worm even closer, needing to touch him from top to bottom.
“I need you.” He breathes the words into my sweatshirt, warming the spot on my chest right over my heart.
I wasn’t going to do this. Or I was at least going to wait until we had everything figured out. But fuck, that plan’s out the window. My fingers tighten around the hair at the back of his head, forcing him to look upward so I can claim his mouth. Parker spreads his legs and I situate myself between them as I deepen the kiss. Every stroke of my tongue is followed by a possessive bite to his lips. I want them swollen and aching in punishment for leaving me. I want to lick and kiss them better for dropping everything at the first hint I might need him.
Parker’s fingers skim underneath the corduroy skirt that I threw on along with an old sweatshirt at five in the morning before heading back to Glenwood Springs. They dig into the backs of my thighs, spurring on every punishing nip and suck that I can bestow onto his lips. His fingertips edge the lace of my boyshorts that I might have selected with this potential for reconciliation in mind. I didn’t bother with my hair, twisting it into a ponytail, or shaving, as evidenced by the light scruff that scrapes against his smooth flesh, but damn if I was going to be caught in ugly underwear.
“Fuck, I really like you in lace,” Parker groans.
I take the moment apart to breathe and study Parker’s reactions. His eyes are glassy, but after a few blinks, his senses seem to return somewhat.
“I can’t do this if you aren’t sure,” he says, thumbs rubbing circles along my lace-covered hips. “And I’d understand, given that my situation is still so precarious. But I need you to know that you’re it for me.”
I might be frozen in place by his words, but the joy that is spreading rapidly through my veins warms every square inch until I feel like my chest might float away like a hot air balloon. I’ve waited my whole life to hear those words, but that doesn’t even matter, because those words coming from any other set of lips would have been worthless scraps of sentences, devoid of meaning. Those words weren’t meant for me from anyone other than this gorgeous and tragically unsure man sitting at my feet.
“You’re it for me too,” I whisper, because I don’t think I could say it any louder without my voice breaking down into sobs.
He stands suddenly and cups my face, bringing his lips to mine in a gentle kiss. I return each soft brush with the same gentleness. His lips are hot against mine, probably my fault for such demanding kisses earlier, so I try to soothe them with light licks.
“I want you,” he says between kisses, and I take the initiative and his hand, to lead him back to my bedroom.
We’ve just reached the hallway when he tugs me to stop. It’s dark in the hallway since there are no windows, but I can still tell that he’s struggling to say something.
“What is it?” I face him and run my hand through his hair. It’s almost dry already.
He takes several deep breaths through his nose; his lips are sealed and worried with his teeth. “Are you only comfortable with me being inside you? Or would you ever want to …”
I don’t even realize I’m pushing him against the wall. My thoughts have been hijacked by a whole new world of possibilities.
“Are you trying to tell me that you want me to fuck you?” I ask him, and my voice comes out like pulled taffy, stretched and strained to the limit. My lips hover over his ear, and I can’t smother the temptation to trace the outside with my tongue.
Parker’s breaths are shallow pants, but he finally ekes out a “yeah.”
My mouth moves to his earlobe and down his neck, sucking and biting, until I can feel his pulse against my tender skin.
It’s my instinct to throw on my “honey” persona and confidently tell him that I’m going to rock his world. But that’s not what he needs right now, and after he’s been so honest with me, it would be almost sacrilege to cover my own emotions. He needs me to ease his fear of rejection and accept him, claim him. And that means so fucking much to me, to be the one he’s leaning on right now.
“Thank you, for entrusting me with this. I want to make you so happy. I want to give you everything.”
I drop to my knees, running my hands along his chest as I go. There’s a very light dusting of curls that have grown back since he stopped waxing for Shelby. It somehow changes him from that devilish frat boy I first met into the grown-up sexy-ass man I’m claiming as my own. I claw at the curls, digging my fingers into his hair and his delicious muscles at the same time.
His length is already dripping, and I dig my tongue into his slit to get as much of his taste onto my tongue as I can.
“Hng, I want …”
I rise and capture his lips again. “I know, baby. And I’m going to give you what you need. I promise. I just wanted a little taste before the main course.”
I lead him to my bedroom, helping to steady him as he kicks off his jeans the rest of the way as we rush down the hall. When we get to my room, I have him bend over my bed with his ass out.
His crack is sprinkled with light fuzz like his chest, and I rub my cheeks along his. My stubble prickles his skin, while his soft fuzz is like velvet on mine.
My tongue darts out to lick starbursts around his pucker, and I’m rewarded with a gasp each and every time. I slow my tongue until it’s just a small pressure, nudging against his hole until it finally grants me entrance. I take my time licking around the edges before thrusting in as far as my tongue allows. Parker’s bubble butt will only let my face get so close. But that means when it comes time to fuck him, I’m going to be rewarded with a massive treat for the eyes. I can’t wait to see those cheeks bounce against my cock.
I don’t want him to be too sensitive, so once he’s at a point where he’s nothing but a panting mess, I pull away, though not before bestowing a final sloppy lick to his crack, from taint to top.
“Move up onto the bed, love,” I say, and help him until his head has found a pillow. I roll him to the side and prop up one of his legs with his knee pointed to the ceiling. I think the easiest position would be for him to ride me, but I want him relaxed and not having to do any work right now.
I reach for the box under my bed. I never had a nightstand growing up, so all of my supplies are in a shoebox under the bed. When I don’t immediately feel it, I’m seized with a panic that my mom got rid of it. Thankfully, it was just pushed back farther than normal, which I discover after dropping to my knees on the ground.