“Really?” Callum smiled and took a short breath, excited at the prospect of meeting Jack in person. Three months was a long time, but it was a goal he could reach.
“Really,” Jack confirmed.
“Do you want to come here?” Callum asked, feeling particularly giddy from this new development.
“I have some other friends in LA; it couldn’t hurt for me to make a trip out there.”
Callum’s face fell.
“But I’m coming to see you. Callum, look at me.”
Callum looked at the screen. Jack’s head was tilted and a reassuring smile danced across his lips.
“If I see my friends, great. If not, they won’t even know I was there. The next time I come to California will be for you.”
“You’re really gonna come?”
“I’ll really come, and then I’ll come,” Jack said with a suggestive lift of his eyebrows.
Callum groaned. “Oh, my God, you’re my Daddy not my dad. Ease up on the bad jokes.”
Jack barked out a laugh and reached his hand toward the screen.
“What are you doing?” Callum asked.
“Touching you,” Jack answered with a small, sad smile. “This is real, Callum, and I am serious about you.”
“I’m sorry,” he apologized.
“What for?”
“I didn’t mean for things to get this serious.” Callum chuckled.
“Were your plans to just use me for some video sex?” Jack laughed.
“No, I mean, I didn’t think anything could be serious online like it is with us. I wasn’t expecting you. I feel like if you’d have known it would go this way, maybe you would rather have not talked to me in the first place.”
Another fear, out in the open.
“I never expected it to go this way because nothing’s ever gone this way. I wasn’t expecting you because I never knew I was missing you. But here you are, kitten, and I would never go back.” Jack’s words rang as clear as a bell.
Callum closed his eyes, feeling a little overwhelmed with the weight and honesty of Jack’s confession. It sounded a little bit like…
It sounded like something Callum was ready to hear.
III
June
6
Jack
Seatedacross from Bowie and Joseph, Jack sipped his coffee and watched the looks they kept sharing when they didn’t think he was watching. Something was definitely up. His thoughts were interrupted when their waiter showed up, setting plates in front of each of them and refilling mugs of coffee.
“How long are you in town for?” he asked Bowie, who had recently ended up making the move to Kentucky as he’d predicted.
“I’m back to Louisville on Wednesday.”
