Wednesday
There was one thing that he was acutely aware of, and that was that he only had a week to go.
A week until his papers were signed off on.
A week until Poe set him free.
A week until he was told to leave.
And Gamble wasn’t happy about it either. The last four weeks went by so fast, and all he could think of was that kiss by the pond, and how it had made him feel.
Poe was the only other person he’d kissed in the past few years, other than Storm.
Oh, he’d kissed Jagger on the forehead to bust his short ass, and he’d told Zayn to kiss off, but he’d not put his mouth on another human being for a while.
It had been anything but chaste, and it fueled ongoing dreams about the man.
Wicked.
Wild.
Dreams.
What he’d realized over the last four weeks was that he was even more attracted to Poe, and that he absolutely could not go home.
He couldn’t walk away.
Gamble was even more determined to stay here, and now, all he needed to do was figure out how to do that.
Poe was a different story altogether.
After that kiss, he was much more careful around Gamble. It was as if he was attempting to keep him at arm’s length.
Oh, they still ate all their meals together, they read together, and they rode horses together, but ultimately, it was different.
Poe was chillier.
Oh, he was still funny, kind, and a good doctor, but he was hyper-aware of the space between them.
He didn’t touch him anymore.
Even the gentle little touches to the arm or shoulder were gone. Every second of the day, he made sure there was space between them.
And Gamble hated that.
A.
Freaking.
Lot.
It was annoying him to no end, simply because he was trying to get the man to notice him and ask him to stay. With each step forward, Poe took a step back, keeping that goal just out of his reach.
Truth be told, he hated that the man was avoiding contact with him because of that kiss.
It had been fantastic.
It was things that dreams were made of, and hot, sweaty fantasies in his sleep.
