Page 117 of The Way Home
“What’s wrong?” An exhausted huff crackled through the line, causing his heart to race. “Ang—?”
“Today was really bad.”
Caleb frowned. “What happened?”
“Sally and Coach got into it.Reallyinto it.” Angie sighed. “Apparently, he made some comment about her talking about her dating life. At practice.”
Caleb felt his jaw tighten. “Jesus.”
“It’s getting bad,” Angie said quietly. “Have you noticed she’s not on the coaching roster for summer camp?”
“What?” Caleb frowned. “I thought the schedule hadn’t come out yet.”
“Check your email.” A heavy feeling settled in his stomach as he pulled the laptop back onto his knees and opened his inbox. Sure enough, there was a message from the club titledSummer Youth Development Staff Finalized List.
He clicked it open and slowly scanned the names. There were staff, training coordinators, and volunteer coaches. He recognized familiar names from last year, as well as most of the girls on the team who lived in London through the summer.
Notably, there was no Sally. Selfishly, he searched for his own name and found it. Caleb Reed - Youth Athletic Trainer.
Relief moved through his chest, and the feeling was immediately followed by a sharp stab of guilt. He scrolled through the list again.
“Yeah,” Caleb said quietly into the phone. “I see it.”
Angie let out a long breath on the other end of the line. “Yeah.” Caleb’s eyes drifted toward the balcony again. Jamie was still crouched over the herbs, carefully pinching a dead leaf off one of the stems. Angie muttered a quickgotta goand ended their call.
“Jesus,” he muttered, slouching back onto the stool.
It felt like he was drowning lately. Some days, having Jamie back was the only thing in his life that seemed to be going right. It wasn’t fair to Jamie. It wasn’t fair that Caleb’s happiness was hanging by a thread and that thread was a man standing on their balcony, talking to a bunch of herbs.
Everything felt like too much all at once. He needed Jamie in his arms right now before his brain spiraled any further. Leaving his phone and laptop behind, Caleb pushed himself off the couch and rounded the counter toward the balcony.
Time to offer up that blowjob.
Chapter 31
“That was brilliant,”Jamie slurred, turning around and wrapping his arms around Caleb’s waist. A few seconds later, he slung his right leg over Caleb’s hip and buried his nose into Caleb’s collarbone. A soft sigh tickled Caleb’s skin, and he felt the last of the tension in his chest finally seep away.
They were still naked, and, if Caleb had to guess, it was late as hell. He’d followed through on his promise to give Jamie a blowjob, which had quickly turned into a few rounds of edging.
Jamie had been eager tonight, making it the perfect opportunity to reintroduce the toys they hadn’t touched since before the accident. Perfect for Caleb, too, since he’d been determined to stretch the moment out for as long as possible so he didn’t have to be alone with his thoughts.
Caleb knew he shouldn’t numb his feelings by getting physical with Jamie. It wasn’t healthy or fair. But after that call from Angie, he needed to feel good for a little while. Was it so terrible to distract himself by figuring out how to get Jamie to come twice?
“Mmmm,” Jamie purred into Caleb’s neck as he wiggled closer. Caleb hadn’t even realized he’d been running his palms slowly up and down Jamie’s back.
“I love you,” J said sleepily. Caleb smiled and buried his nose in Jamie’s curls.
He loved when Jamie got like this—almost drunk with exhaustionand post-orgasm haze, completely wrung out. “I know I say it too much, but I do. Love ya.”
A laugh bubbled out of Caleb’s throat. Jamie was so cute when he was sleepy like this.
“Sweetheart, I can never hear those words enough.” Caleb squeezed him tighter and kissed the top of his head. “I love you, too.”
A pleased rumble came from Jamie as he hooked his toes behind Caleb’s knee and pulled himself even closer.
“Hey, Caleb? You didn’t think…” He paused for a moment to think, and that little ball of anxiety blipped in Caleb’s chest.
“What is it, J?”
