Page 61 of Ring Rust

“Neither do I,” Ryan said.

“I’ll see you at home then? I’m not picky, get whatever you want. Hey, how’s your back?”

“Better. Not perfect, but mostly fine.”

“That’s good,” Jasper said. “So um, yeah, get whatever you want for dinner. Thank you.”

“Sounds good.”

“Okay, see you soon.”

Jasper laughed after a couple seconds of silence. “Are you gonna hang up?”

Ryan grinned to himself. “Are you?”

“Yes.”

“Wait!” Ryan said. “This is nice, huh? It’s been a while since we’ve talked on the phone.”

“Yeah?” Jasper laughed again. “It’s not that great.”

“It could be.”

“How?”

“What are you wearing?”

“Okay, that’s enough. Bye, Ryan,” Jasper said. “Nothing spicy for Nina. I’m going to get her now. And don’t forget, Winnie is a vegetarian.”

He hung up before Ryan said something stupid likelove you. And thank God for that, because he could swear it was on the tip of his tongue every time he said goodbye to Jasper—in person, on the phone, through text. Add to that the thrill coursing through his veins at the flirty comment he’d made, it was a miracle Ryan didn’t ask Jasper to renew their vows. After a stupid, thirty second phone conversation.

He knew he was pathetic, but he didn’t care. His plan was actually working. They’d been doing this babysitting thing for a week and they’d gotten along just fine. Ryan had dinner ready every evening, he and Jasper did the dishes together, and twice, Ryan had surprised Jasper with some sort of memento toremind him of their lives together. A new mosaic bowl, shipped from Mexico, had been particularly well-received.

Ryan couldn’t be sure, but he could swear the walls Jasper had put up between them were coming down.

At the very least, the walls had brand new windows.

It was a quick drive to the house, and Ryan had called in an order ahead of time, so dinner was easy. His eye was still sore, but it had mostly stopped watering and burning, and he managed to make his way through the house easily.

After dropping the food on the counter, he spotted a note Winnie had left on the counter saying she and Nina had gone for a stroll in the woods. It raised his hackles, thoughts of them getting lost or falling into the stream, which was raging this time of year. Then he saw she’d written, “Yes, we’ll stay on the trail” in small letters towards the bottom. Ryan's body relaxed, his head drooping forward. The movement dislodged more sawdust caught in his hair, sending another sprinkle into his eye. He cursed under his breath and blinked as fresh tears welled up, doing absolutely nothing to wash the grit away.

He needed eye drops.

He made his way to the main bedroom, hoping to find eye drops in the en suite bathroom. The room was a blur. Every blink dragged bits of sawdust across his cornea, sending a sharp scratch of pain through his eye and into his now throbbing skull. Stopping just inside the doorway, Ryan braced his hands against the dresser and groaned. Someone was in the shower, and it had to be Jasper. Interrupting Jasper in the shower would skip several steps in Ryan’s half-cooked plan, but the only other option was to continue sanding his eyeball.

Not even five seconds had passed before he made his decision. Jasper was just going to have to be mad.

Ryan entered the bathroom, which was hazy with steam and humidity, and kept his eyes on the task at hand. The bathroomwas a nice size—Ryan had a wall knocked down that once framed a small, useless room, making the bathroom nearly twice the size it was when they moved in. He was glad now, because it meant the shower was a fair distance away, allowing Ryan to dig for eye drops while Jasper showered unaware.

Ryan didn’t find the eye drops, but hedidrisk a glance at the shower. He couldn’t help it. What he saw was… well, it was confusing, at first, because he could only see through one eye, and the bathroom was foggy. But what he thought he saw was Jasper with his back partially turned, one arm gliding back and forth in front of his body. Ryan’s good eye squinted to see more clearly and he nearly swallowed his tongue when he made out what was happening—Jasper was stroking himself, leaning on the wall with one forearm raised, his forehead pressed against it.

It was wrong, watching him. Ryan knew that. But he was paralyzed, like an unsuspecting bug who’d wandered into Jasper’s web. Ryan held his breath so he could listen, just in time for Jasper to let out a low grunt, his hips shifting forward as he spread his hand out on the wall, fingers curling to grasp at the wet tile. His ass flexed with each stroke, water pouring down his back and between his cheeks.

He muttered something under his breath, barely audible to Ryan above the running water. His hand kept working, his pace quickening, his whole body rocking forward in small thrusts. Eventually, his back arched forward, giving Ryan full view of every twitch of Jasper’s muscles and every droplet of water rolling over his skin.

Jasper’s chest heaved. His hand against the tile turned into a fist, his other hand pumped until his ass clenched. He let out a grunt as he came, the sound nearly enough for Ryan to throw caution to the wind and reach into his pants to finish himself off.

Ryan’s immediate thought—Jasper had done this on purpose—was ridiculous. Right? But he’d known Ryan was on his wayhome, so it wasn’t outside the realm of possibilities. Maybe he wanted Ryan to hear the shower, make his way through the house, and take a peek.