“I orchestrated the things he did with Micah. I topped them both. I gave orders. Instruction.” Justin shifted on the bench.
“So you offered him a collar without ever showing him physically how you wanted him? Or what you wantedfromhim?” Jack asked, suddenly feeling terribly sorry for Keith.
Jack thought about Callum and the desperate way he begged for Jack’s touch. The memories turned him on, and getting a hard-on at the hospital with a hopefully future colleague was not his idea of a good first impression.
“Keith was around a lot when things were going good, but he’s not answering our calls now. Not even Micah’s. It hurts me to see Micah as upset as he is, but I think it’s better. The space. I never had the feeling Keith was as committed as Micah wanted us to be; maybe that’s why I held back.” Justin checked his watch. “When you get so wrapped up in each other, it’s easy to lose sight of what drew your attention in the first place.”
Justin stood up with an apologetic shrug. “And with that thought, the time I’d scheduled for our interview is nearly over.”
Jack stood and he held his hand out. Justin took it and shook firmly.
“You know that Keith will probably come around, right?”
“Of course,” Justin nodded, the earlier mask of cool indifference sliding back into place. “In the meantime, you be good to Callum. He’s a good kid.”
Justin’s voice didn’t crack like it had when he’d said the same thing about Keith, and Jack knew Justin was holding his cards to his chest, that he probably missed Keith as much as Micah did.
“He is,” Jack agreed, even as Justin’s words echoed in his head.
It all just moved so fast.
It’s better. The space.
“So I’ll send everything up to HR and someone will get in touch.” Justin’s voice drew Jack’s attention and he nodded in agreement.
“I appreciate that. It was great talking with you.”
Justin smiled and dropped his empty coffee into a nearby trash can and vanished back inside the hospital.
Jack replayed the entire conversation in his head on the drive back to Callum’s apartment. From the innocent comments about things moving too fast, to the concern Justin hadn’t been able to provide Keith with what he needed. Every mile he drove, a sense of dread festered inside him.
For as much as he wanted to stay with Callum until he found a place of his own, if he even bothered finding a place of his own, he couldn’t. They’d built the foundation of their relationship on mutual need, distance, and space. Once they got the physical urges out of the way, the underlying wants that had propelled them into each other’s lives wouldn’t be magically different.
All the things Jack had in New York were gone now. No time at the shelter, no long hours at work, for now. He had nothing to do besides throw himself into pleasing Callum. But Callum would still have his backward schedule and the lack of desire to force a relationship into the hours after dinner and before bed.
By the time he’d parked, Jack had formulated his plan. He’d give them this week together, wrapped up and lost in the other’s want, then he’d move into Landon and Verity’s as had always been the plan. Jack would find a way to properly court his kitten, even if the hours were off and the nights sleepless.
Jack recalled the agony in Micah’s eyes Sunday night when he realized Keith wasn’t at Rapture waiting for them, and Jack was dedicated to never seeing those feelings reflected at himself from Callum.
He parked Callum’s car in his assigned spot and jogged to the front door, sliding the key into the lock and letting himself in.
Callum was naked on the couch, porn on the television, and his cock a violent shade of red. He was sitting on his hands and he looked toward Jack with fire in his eyes.
“I’m so fucking glad you’re back, Daddy.”
Callum’s normally raspy voice was an octave deeper and far gruffer than normal. He made a fist around his cock and his entire body trembled.
Jack swallowed thickly and loosened his tie before working the buttons of his shirt undone and pulling the tails from his slacks.
“Have you been a naughty kitten? Breaking the rules?” He closed the space between them, discarding his shoes at the edge of the couch.
Callum panted and shook his head. “This is the first time I’ve touched myself. I waited until you were here. I’m a good boy, Daddy,” he whispered.
Jack shoved everything he’d mentally agreed upon in the car to the back of his head, opting instead to pull his cock out of his pants and straddle Callum’s thighs. He rubbed his dick against Callum’s erection and relished the way his body shook under his hand.
“You said something about my cum earlier,” Callum panted, just before his orgasm tore through him, covering Jack’s stomach with his hot, wet release.
15
