by Joe Lechene
He stared at me across the table with that smug look on his face. I kept trying to remember what I saw in him, to begin with. Granted, David was a pretty good-looking guy and he had a nice body. I found him charming and quite the gentleman at first. However, his inner douche bag eventually came out and turned me away from him. Needless to say, he didn’t take our breakup well at first. He called me multiple times a day, which I usually ignored, for the first few weeks after. Eventually, I finally answered one of the calls and we talked through our differences. We never got back together, but still remained somewhat decent friends after. There was always something about him though. Something that I could never really put my finger on. That weird feeling was started washing over me again and I could feel the goosebumps on the back of my neck.
“Thank you for the offer, David. I’ll keep you in mind.’
Just then, the waiter appeared with a basket of bread and our salads. He placed the basket in the middle of the table and our salads in front of us. Before leaving, he said, “Gentleman, your meals will be out shortly.”
We both thanked him, and he walked away from us again. I placed my napkin on my lap and David did the same before starting on his salad. Still not really hungry, I picked at mine enough to make it at least look like I was eating it. The smug bastard finished his and started buttering a roll before I took ten bites.
David asked, “Something wrong with your salad?”
“It’s good, just not feeling greens tonight.”
He replied, “Understandable, hopefully, your dinner will be better.”
Under the circumstances, I doubt that would be the case. However, I was going to have to make a decent attempt in order to keep this charade up. Thank God the waiter came back out with our meals before I had to make any more small talk with him. He placed the respective plates in front of us and asked us to check our steaks. Mine was cooked just about to where I liked it and I nodded back at him. David did the same and the waiter left us alone in the room again.
After cutting off a piece of the steak, I chewed it and tried to swallow it. My throat was still tight and I was having trouble getting it down. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep this up and decided that it was time to turn up the heat.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do if he doesn’t wake up.”
David said, “Well, at some point you’ll have to decide if you’re going to wait for him or move on. Either way, it’s a shitty decision and there is no right answer. Of course, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.”
That mother-fucker just said the same thing that was in the letter. Come to think of it, he told me the same thing the night that we broke up.
“It’s funny that you say that.”
He questioned, “Say what?”
“The grass thing. Before I left our apartment tonight, I checked my mail quick. There was a package from my publisher with my fan mail for the past month. I just glanced through the envelopes until one stuck out from the others. Actually, I read it on my way over here. There was a line towards the end that said the same thing.”
David sat his knife and fork down on the plate in front of him. “Well, isn’t that some coincidence. What else did it say?”
“It said that it was sent from a ghost from my past. The strange thing is, there is only one ghost from my past. And he’s sitting across the table from me.”
He stated, “I don’t understand.”
“Of course, you don’t… David. You never did, and you never will. It all makes perfect sense now. You were the one that told him to leave early. You… sent the prey to the wolves. Sent my dear Tristan out that door to an attack that you personally orchestrated. Just like you did to his departed boyfriend.”
David replied, “Ian, the stress must be getting to you. Why would I do something like that.”
“Because you indirectly found a way back into my life. A way to get close to me and eliminate them.”
He exasperated, “This is absurd.”
“Is it really? Let’s face the music, you’re still in love with me. You’ve never been able to truly let me go.”
David sat back in his chair and glared at me. It wasn’t his usual smug look. Instead, it was more like the look that he gave me before I fucked him. He didn’t respond to me and kept glaring at me instead.
“Let’s face the sad facts here. Tristan probably isn’t waking anytime soon, if not ever. Maybe I do just need to move on. To go back to someone that once held me in his arms and comforted me when my writing career was off to a rough start. To go back to you. Although, I could never forgive that person unless I knew the truth.”
He said, “Ian, I would never have done such a thing.”
I took a copy of the letter and laid it down on the table beside me. “Let’s try this again.”
David’s eyes shot to the letter and his face instantly turned beet red. He swallowed what little was left of his wine and sat the empty glass back down on the table. “I could never understand what you saw in those boys. Especially, Erik, he was so… defiant. There was no way that the two of them could fill your life as I would have. You never should have left me, Ian. I could have made you happy in ways that both of them combined never would have been able to.”
My fists gripped the tablecloth under the edge of the table. He was so confident in the bullshit that was coming out of his mouth. The bullshit that ended my friend’s life and almost killed his boyfriend. The bullshit that put my lover into a coma for two weeks. Two weeks wondering if he would ever wake up. If he would remember how much I loved him when he did.
That smug son-of-a-bitch took the napkin off his lap and wiped his mouth. Probably thinking that it would wipe away his wrongdoings in the process.
“Just say it, David.”
He questioned, “Say what?”
“You know what I’m asking.”
He replied, “I’m afraid not.”
I shot up from my chair and placed my hands on the table top. My body leaned over the small table until our faces were merely inches apart. “I said, fucking say it.”
He backed away from me and replied, “They were merely acquaintances of mine that agreed to help me out. Nothing more and nothing less.”
That was it, all that I needed to hear. My right hand lurched at him and grabbed a hold of his collar. The look of shock didn’t faze me as I considered finishing this myself. I balled my other hand into a fist and brought it up beside my head. Only the thoughts of my baby kept me from punching this fucker in the face. My dear Tristan who was waiting at home for me to return.
Right at that moment, the men and woman in blue rushed into the room. I released my hold on David as they surrounded us and pointed their guns at him. One of them said, “David Walters, you are under arrest for complicity to murder.”
He exasperated, “I’m what?”
The officers pulled him up from his chair and cuffed his wrists behind his back. They read David his rights, as if he deserved them. I sat back and watched as the scene unfolded in front of me. There was a twinge of guilty pleasure watching him being arrested for the crimes that he orchestrated. The crimes that I could only hope that he would serve time for.
As the officers were going through the legal stuff, Lori’s friend came over to me. She asked if I was all right and all that I could do was a nod in return. She unbuttoned my shirt, something that no woman has done to me, and pulled the tape off my skin. The tape that kept the wire and microphone held against my chest in place. The mic that the cops were listening to in the van parked in the same alley that Erik and Tristan were beaten in. The level of poetic justice present here tonight didn’t equal to anything near what the boys endured.
…
‘I laid on the bed, face first into a pillow as he took his frustration out on my ass. His thick cock was pounding my hole with no end in sight. He finally did it tonight, though. He broke up with his girlfriend and asked me to be his man. Now, he was fucking his boyfriend for
the first time on our bed. Even if I couldn’t look him in the eyes, I was still moaning with every thrust. Feeling his chest against my back and his legs brush against mine. At least now, we didn’t have to hide what we had together anymore. We could live out our lives being with each other.’
XXI
Tristan sat at the desk beside me wearing only a pair of basketball shorts. The desk was new to my office and so was the laptop sitting on top of it. He sat Indian style on the chair as he stared at the screen in front of him. The casts that once covered is limbs were gone and his bare leg and arm were once again fully visible. The last couple of months had been a long journey for us, but we made it through them. Now, with the approval from my publisher, Tristan was editing my books for me. It turned out that he was pretty good at fixing my mistakes.
As my husband-to-be edited the work before him, I watched as the sweat ran down his skinny torso. Even though we already made love this morning, I found myself yearning to touch him more. There was nothing holding us back now. The edits were popping up on my screen as I put my bare arms behind my head and watched. Tristan saved the file and it went back to the beginning. A tear ran down my cheek after the screen changed in front of me. Despite all the time that had passed, nothing had prepared me for this moment.
Written Into Love
By
Ian McClellan
Edited by:
Tristan Beckman
Eternally dedicated to:
Erik McAleer
(We’re still here with you buddy.)
Epilogue
Three months later…
The day that I had been looking forward to for the past three months was finally here. I had never planned on getting married, but I couldn’t be without him. Taking vows to be his was the last hurdle left between us. A hurdle that we were about to jump over together.
Now, the two of us stood in the little room at the marriage office. Lori was standing beside me and Tristan’s mother, Lily, beside him. A short, stout man stood between my fiancé and I as he read from his little book. I listened to the words that he spoke as I stared at the handsome man across from me. His dark blonde laid just over his eyelashes as his eyes stayed locked on mine. Tristan’s mother started to weep as he took my hand placed the ring over my finger.
Tristan repeated the vows that he was instructed to repeat. “I Tristan, take you, Ian, to be my husband, my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our union and love you more each day than I did the day before. I will trust you and respect you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving you faithfully through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles we may face together. I give you my hand, my heart, and my love, from this day forward for as long as we both shall live.”
Tristan smiled at me and I felt a tear escape my eye, running down my cheek. After wiping it away, I pulled an identical blue-titanium ring out of my pocket and placed it on his finger. I repeated the words that the little man instructed me to.
“Tristan, I love you. You are my best friend. Today I give myself to you in marriage. I promise to encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you, and to comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle. I promise to love you in good times and in bad, when life seems easy and when it seems hard, when our love is simple, and when it is an effort. I promise to cherish you and to always hold you in the highest regard. These things I give to you today, and all the days of our life.”
I continued to hold his hand with his thin, slender fingers interwinding with mine. Both of us turned while still holding hands and faced the man. Tristan looked like he was about ready to pass out from the vows that we just exchanged. I squeezed Tristan’s hand and a smile appeared on his face. My love, my life, and my everything was mere moments away from being my husband.
As the short man said his last little piece about having a long life together, the memory of Erik flashed into my head. Although, deep down in my heart, I knew that he would have wanted this. Erik would have wanted Tristan to be happy with someone, even if he couldn’t be there for him. Even though I couldn’t say for sure that person was me, Tristan only seemed purely happy when he was with me.
After a few more sentences that I really wasn’t paying attention to, he said, “With the power vested in me, by the state of New York. I now pronounce you, husbands. You may now kiss your partner for life.”
I leaned toward my husband and he closed the gap between us as our lips met in the middle. Although I never thought that I’d see this day, I couldn’t have been happier. My hand brushed the hair away from his ear as I pulled his face into mine. The kiss was slow, passionate, and simple. Still, it seemed somewhat different now. I wasn’t kissing my boyfriend anymore. Now, I was kissing my husband’s lips. My man, my partner in life, and my one true love. I broke off our lip lock and stared into his deep blue eyes. He was smiling like a kid on Christmas morning and it was adorable. I smiled back at him before rubbing the tip of my nose against his.
Our little moment abruptly ended when Tristan’s mother’s hands appeared on his shoulders. Tristan turned away from me and faced his mother as she pulled him into a hug. She seemed like a totally different woman since she threw her husband out the week after David was arrested. It was as if the oppressed woman was suddenly free to live her life. Not to mention, to be there for her son that she was forced to shamefully neglect for years. Now, she insisted on being part of his life again and I could tell that it meant the world to my husband.
As Tristan hugged his mother, Lori turned me around and hugged me. Our friend had been there with us through the worst times and the best. Deep down in my heart, I knew that this day wouldn’t have been possible without her. There was no way that either of us could have moved on without the closure that Lori helped us achieve.
“Thank you,” I whispered in her ear.
She whispered back, “For what?”
I whispered my reply, “For everything.”
Tristan said, “We can hear you just fine.”
Tristan turned away from his mother and walked over to us. He stopped between Lori and I, before hugging both of us. “Thank you, Lori. We couldn’t have done any of this without you.”
Tristan kissed her on the cheek before continuing, “Now, can we get out of here? I’m hungry.”
“Yeah, babe. I don’t want you to waste away anymore.”
Lori and Lily both chuckled as I grabbed Tristan’s hand and led him through the door. As the ladies followed us, I couldn’t help but notice that they were walking rather close together. Maybe it was just my mind playing tricks on me. Either way though, it didn’t matter. The four of us left the marriage office and got into the limo that was parked outside. It wasn’t my idea, but my publisher insisted on renting it for us.
Tristan sat beside me on the side seat while the ladies took the back. Our next stop was a group dinner together before we left for our honeymoon. We had a week planned in California before our book tour started. Our packed bags were in the trunk, ready to drop us off at JFK after dinner. I was looking forward to a week on the west coast before starting our first ever book tour.
Tristan rested his head against my shoulder as the car navigated the busy streets. After wrapping my arm around his shoulders, I pulled him tight against my side. He laid his left hand on top of my thigh and I placed my hand on top of his. The metal rings on our fingers made a ringing sound as they touched together. Tristan turned his head and looked at me with a small smile on his face. His slender fingers pushed in between mine and wrapped under my palm. The two titanium rings were right beside each other on our ring fingers. I squeezed his hand and he sighed against my shoulder.
I tried not to dwell too much on the events of the past year. However, I was glad to still have him as part of my life. The pain and agony were something that we were still dealing with. At least now, he didn’t have to worry about the possibility of dealing with it alone. We were bonded together, with the two rings as a symbol of that union. Just like the character
s in my novel, that Tristan edited, we ourselves were written into love.
Authors Note
I would like to personally thank all of my loyal readers that have followed me as I wrote this story. The concept for this book came from a dream and developed into a novel that will forever have a special place in my heart. I would also like to thank my husband Stevie for pushing me to finish this work. Without his motivation and scrutiny, I don’t think that I would have been able to finish this. Again, thank you to everybody that loved reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
About The Author
Joe Lechene lives in Altoona, Pennsylvania with his husband Stevie and their four-legged family. Joe is an amateur author who enjoys writing gay romance in his free time. Regardless of whatever situation that his characters find themselves in, he believes that every story deserves a happy ending.