Leonard glances at me. I meet his eyes, and again I see that stressful edge grow. “Are you okay?” I ask.
Mark turns to me in surprise. “Is heokay? Why wouldn’t he be okay?”
“He had a hard time before, too,” I point out. Appreciating now more than I ever really did how tough that situation must have been on Leonard. His first time in a teaching post and two weeks in, he was facing grooming accusations and police questionings.
“I’m uh, fine,” Leonard says. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He has more confidence the second time he says it. He clears his throat. “Eddie, can we…?” He gestures to the door.
“Me and my boyfriend are picking out a house, so yeah, best you leave,” Mark says pointedly to Leonard.
Bethany laughs as she stands, grabbing Eddie’s hand on the way to the door. “Leonard, I’m Bethany. How about we all grab lunch? I can tell you how Mark’s such a terrible boyfriend that Eddie had to step in, and how now Kyle really fancies Eddie and—”
Mark is on his feet, but Chris blocks his threatening advance on the laughing Bethany.
Mark glares at Chris until the door shuts. And then he takes a step in, getting in Chris’s face. “I said that me and Kyle are picking out houses.” His tone is frigid; a clearget lost. Chris doesn’t take a step back. He doesn’t avert his eyes, staring Mark down.
All I can think is,we’re back to this?
“Did nobody bring me food?” I ask.
Mark startles. “Oh.” All his attention snaps to me. “Yeah, on the way, babe. Let’s get you sitting up for it.”
Mark strides to my side, and Chris joins in to help get me sitting up with as little movement as possible. Mark positions the fold-out table over my lap and makes sure nothing is catching or pinching.
“You’re acting silly,” I say when Chris goes to the door to let in the nurse with food.
Mark continues to adjust my blanket without looking at me. “He’s super ugly. I can’t see how you ever had a crush on him.”
I roll my eyes. “He’s not—” I stop, deciding against telling Mark that I think Leonard is good looking. “I liked his personality.”
“His personality is crap.”
“Mark,” I groan.
“It’s always Mark, Mark, Markwith you.”
“Mark!”
Epilogue
I stretch out on the pool lounger, enjoying the feeling of tired muscles. Tommy and Eddie argue in the pool in the middle of a water-volleyball game, while Sebastian and Bethany make cocktails at the bar. Mark walks along the edge of the pool with two of their creations in hand. His shirt is cast aside and his skin has a golden shine from a summer spent touring hot European countries all on Damien’s dime. I ended up sharing our location with Damien a few times, inviting him to join us for dinner and drinks and, for the most part, managed to make Mark be nice to him for a few hours. The trip was the perfect distraction while Ronan was charged and convicted.
Damien had this place ready and waiting when we came home; one of the nights I’d shared the kind of place I wanted. Somewhere near the beach with nice trails nearby. Somewhere a little bit away from the city so it was peaceful, but close enough to a major airport for Chris to be able to visit whenever he liked. He had a whole list of places to show us, but I didn’t have to see more than the driveway here to fall in love. I tried to get Mark’s input, but he told me he’s happy with anything so long as we’re together.
Mark sets our drinks on the table next to me and runs his fingers over my shoulders. “You’re getting burnt,” he says. He snatches up a bottle of sunscreen and I lean forward to let him apply it as I sip my cocktail. It’s lethal.
“Jesus,” I cough. “Are they trying to kill us?”
Mark, taking advantage of my moving to let him reach my back, slides onto the lounger right behind me. His warm hands run over my shoulders, then my back, and I relax with a sigh, letting my eyes drift shut as the application turns into a massage. “That feels amazing,” I hum.
“Why do you keep inviting them over?” Mark asks.
“Because they’re our friends.”
Mark grunts. A summer of travelling together, just the pair of us, and rather than Mark getting sick of only having me for company, I feel like the opposite has happened. He gets irritated when anyone other than us is in the house. He makes a point of trying to get my trousers off if I’m so much as texting someone, never mind his antics if I’m on a call.
Mark’s hands skim down my sides, travelling to my front. He pinches my left nipple and skims his fingers just above the band of my swimming trunks.
“If it was just us, I could get a handful of lube and slip my hand down your shorts. Give you a messy, sloppy hand job.” Mark speaks low against my ear, hot breath dancing over sensitive skin. I twitch down below, doing my best to control my reaction. Everyone will see if I get an erection right now. I grip the arm teasing my stomach, squeezing Mark’s warm flesh.
