Then they were gone, leaving Warren on the doorstep, stripped of badge and title, but somehow lighter for it.
“So…” Jude adjusted his glasses. “You quit?”
“I did.” Warren shrugged. “Know anywhere I can stay around here?”
Jude laughed. Then grabbed Warren’s wrist and yanked him inside. He kissed him. Beautifully, unbearably tender. AndWarren staggered, then surged forward, locking his arm tight around Jude’s waist and kissed back with a ferocity lifting Jude clean off his feet, holding him as though letting go was unthinkable.
He kissed him as if he’d come home.
And they stumbled together into the living room, where Warren didn’t seem to want to let him go, but Jude leaned away, as he had to ask.
“What do you want to do?”
Warren inhaled, forehead to Jude’s. “You, Jude Ellison. I want to be with you.”
Jude smiled. Grinned. Floated.
“You showed me the life I want. A real one.” Warren locked his gaze on Jude’s.
“And what life’s that?”
“One where I get to eat lunch in your classroom. Be on your quiz team, pretend I know the answers. Hear you moan about marking and sit with you while you do it. And, in all honesty, I want my own classroom. Or a field. Something to know I’m making a difference to those kids lives. Like you are.”
“You want to be a teacher?”
“I’ve got the quals, the clearance. Once SEROCU finish their paperwork with Mrs Turner, she’ll decide if she’ll keep me on, but Worthbridge Academy still needs a PE teacher. Why not me? Who better to keep those kids on the straight and narrow than an ex-copper who knows every trick in the book?”
“You’ll…stay here?”
“Why not? It’s got the sea. Great rock formations.” Warren kissed him. “And you.”
The words cracked something wide open inside Jude. For days he’d braced for endings. He’d accepted that Warren had a life somewhere else. And maybe if he was lucky he might see him occasionally. But this? Him here. Staying here.
Choosinghim.
That was more than he ever thought possible.
So he buried his face in Warren’s neck, hot tears slipping free. “I want nothing more than you on the other side of my classroom window. Every day. In those shorts.”
Warren barked a laugh. “And how about in your bed every night?”
“You can take the shorts off when you’re there.”
“Can I now?”
“Well, I do still have things to teach you that don’t require clothing.”
Warren’s grin was soft and wicked all at once. “We could start now? Get ahead of the curve?”
Jude nuzzled into his neck. “To be honest, that’s actually what I’d meant when I asked what you wanted to do now.Rightnow.”
Warren cracked out a laugh. But before Jude could retort, he swept him up, carrying him up the stairs, straight to the bedroom, where he laid Jude down as though he were something precious. Then he straightened, unzipping his jacket, stripping off the day. Jude slid off his glasses, setting them aside, and opened himself—bed, life, heart—ready to let Warren in.
Warren slipped in beside him, pressing his lips to Jude’s. “I quite like you, Mr Ellison.”
Jude smiled. “I quite like you too, MrBeckford.”
Warren kissed him. Tender. Slow. Impossibly beautiful. No rush, because for the first time, forever felt possible. And even if Jude didn’t know exactly where this would lead, even if it turned out messy or reckless, built on nights of fear and lies and fire, he knew this much:
