Chapter 45
Elliot realized he had completely forgotten to tell Mick about what had happened today.
“You could find a school nearby where you can torture the poor kids with Shakespeare. Or, considering your plan, you could start your own anti-bullying organization.”
“Mick!” Elliot let go of his hands and turned around, facing his lover. “What. Are. You. Talking. About?”
“I want the job, Elliot.” Mick cradled his face and looked him straight into the eyes. “I want to take the job and live with you here.”
“Here? In this house? But how?”
“It’s one of the benefits of the job.”
Elliot’s eyes widened. “No?”
“Yes.” Mick leaned in and kissed a stunned Elliot. “It took some negotiating, but, as you know, I excel at that.” He winked at Elliot before continuing. “This town has less than four thousand inhabitants. It should be few enough to satisfy even your hermit tendencies.”
“But you love the city.”
“I love you. And I loved the days we spent together in the woods. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the peace and quiet. I felt…calm.”
“But…what about middle-of-the-night Chinese food?” Elliot had no idea why he kept protesting, but he didn’t want Mick to do something that would make him unhappy.
Mick chuckled. “Well, you’ve amazed me with your cooking skills since you’ve gotten back. I’ll buy you a book with Chinese recipes, and you can make me General Tso’s chicken.”
“I could.”
“Besides, the city is less than two hours away. I can still take you to all the boring Shakespeare plays you want.”
Elliot didn’t know what to say. He could hardly believe it.
Mick let go of his face, grabbed his hand, pulled him along, and didn’t stop until they were up on the porch.
“I know it’s not the mountains, and it’s far from home. But it’s like…five minutes to the beach and maybe th—”
Elliot shut him up the only way he could, by kissing him, pressing his lips hard against his lover’s. Then he eased away and leaned his forehead against Mick’s. “Yes.”
“Yes?” Mick’s voice trembled, full of hope.
“Of course. This is…everything I ever wanted.”
Mick’s answering smile was blinding, bringing out the question mark in full force. “We’d better take a look inside then,” he said. “You might hate it.”
They turned their heads at the same time, looking in through one of the large windows, at a cozy kitchen with cabinets made of reddish brown wood. There even was a woodstove. It could have been taken directly from Elliot’s dream home.
“I’m pretty sure that’s not going to happen,” Elliot said.
“Me, too.”
Mick turned to open the door, but Elliot stopped him.
“For the record?”
“Yes?” Mick quirked an eyebrow.
“This is romantic.”
Mick burst out laughing as he opened the door and held it open for Elliot. Holding hands, they crossed the threshold.
Walking together into their future.
THE ENDNobody Else’s
1: Beckett
“Hi, Becks. What’s so funny?”
I looked up from my phone and was met by my best friend’s smiling face. “Matt. You’re late.” I gave him a mock frown to remind him about my opinion on people not being on time, but my smile lingered and negated my actions.
“I know. Sorry. But I had to rescue him—” Matt pointed his thumb over his shoulder, “from the Hell Sisters, and it took a while.”
I glanced over his shoulder to see who he was referring to just as the ‘he’ in question scowled and lightly punched Matt’s upper arm.
“Sorry, bro.” Matt threw himself down on the chair across from me. To me, he said, “I’m not allowed to call them Hell Sisters even though they’d make Lucifer seem well behaved.”
Matt’s company joined us at the table and I swallowed. Hard.
Levi Byrne. Matt’s little brother. Or one of them at least; the Byrne family consisted of eleven kids, Matt being the eldest.
And Levi…Levi was three years younger than us and the spitting image of Matt. Except that Levi was cute. Heartstoppingly cute. His nose was maybe a little too long for his face and his hairline showed signs of receding at the tender age of twenty-three. But none of that mattered. When I looked into his eyes, every blemish disappeared and all I could see was kindness. He had the gentlest eyes I’d ever seen, in a deep caramel brown as if made from dark muscovado sugar. Sometimes I thought I could detect a twinkle of mischief in them, but it could be my imagination. Levi was the quiet sibling. When all the other Byrne-kids spoke louder to make themselves heard in a sea of voices, Levi did the complete opposite. He grew silent.