Page 98 of Ring Rust

“I love you too. And I have several ideas of what you can give me. In the bedroom. Right now.”

Ryan hummed as he walked him backwards down the hallway, kissing and sucking on Jasper’s neck. “It’s quite a sacrifice, but I guess you deserve it.”

Epilogue

1 YEAR LATER

Ryan’s armswrapped around Jasper’s chest, pulling him back against his warm, hard body.

“Relax, possum,” he whispered in Jasper’s ear. “Let me do this for you.”

“I can’t—it’s too much! I’m gonna?—"

“Shh.”

Jasper wiggled out of Ryan’s arms and flattened his hands on the table in front of him. “I will destroy you!” he shouted across the event hall. “You cheating bastard!”

“Let me handle it, I said.”

Ryan left Jasper by the table holding the wrestling arena they’d entered in the annual miniature contest. It was their first foray into a display that featured a more industrial setting, and they’d learned the people who made that type of miniature were mostly men their age, not the older, gentler, in-it-for-the-fun crowd that focused on trains and mountains.

It wasn’t fair. Ryan and Jasper had painstakingly assembled thousands of individual arena seats from cardstock and foam.They’d spent hours painting the ground with spilled drinks and individual popcorn kernels made from clay. They’d braided their own rope because Ryan insisted the premade kind didn’t have the same vibe as a real wrestling ring, and Jasper agreed.

They’d taken third place, losing to a jackass who 3-D printed most of his pieces. Of course that guy’s display was larger and more detailed. He’d spent a quarter of the time on building that Jasper and Ryan had, so he’d had more time to paint and perfect things.

“Now you’ll see!” Jasper yelled again.

Ryan turned to face Jasper and glared, pressing his lips together before mouthingshut up, please.

Whatever. Jasper huffed and started packing up their display, peeking up at Ryan occasionally to see if he’d ripped that guy a new asshole yet. Unfortunately, every time he looked, the guy was smiling, laughing, or nodding excitedly, while Ryan pointed out bits of the display or asked engaging questions, before finally handing him a business card—which he’d dropped at first. Jasper watched to see if the guy was going to check him out as he bent over, but he didn’t. That was even more annoying, because he’d stolen an opportunity from Jasper to look at Ryan’s ass, just like he’d stolen the win.

Ryan walked back to the table, smiling.

“What are you so happy about?” Jasper asked.

“I might have secured a new client. He needs his shed finished.”

“That’s good. Does he need it for his printers, so he can create a cheating empire?”

“Maybe,” Ryan said, twirling a small pair of wire snips he’d been using for last minute updates to their display. He held them up and grinned. “But I have a feeling that plan will be delayed a bit.”

“Why?” Jasper said, grinning. “What did you do?”

“I snipped all his cords when I dropped my card. He brought three printers with him.”

Jasper burst out laughing. “Ryan! That’s terrible.” He stepped closer and whispered, “And very sexy.”

“I know what my baby needs.”

“Uh huh.” Jasper eyed him, wishing he could lean over and drop a big kiss on him.

“And right now, I think it’s dinner,” Ryan said. “Or maybe that’s just me. But I’ve been simmering stock for twenty-four hours. What do you say we go home and I make soup?”

“I love that idea.”

Half an hour later, they were pulling up the driveway. The porch light had turned on with the evening hours, casting the front deck in a warm pool of golden light against the gathering dusk. Jasper took a moment to enjoy the view, the same way he did all the time now that things were so good again.

He loved looking at the house now that evidence of Ryan was everywhere. The siding had been replaced—a project he’d taken on as education, so he could offer it as a service through his new business. The flower beds were full, even in winter, of evergreen plants and overwintering vegetables for wildlife to snack on. The chicken coop, of course, had been given a facelift, the run extended an extra twenty feet, fully covered by thick wire.