“We’re going to be late,” I yelled from the bedroom into the bathroom where Chase was taking his sweet-ass time getting ready for his own damn graduation.
He stepped out, wearing only a towel hanging low around hisridiculously chiseled hips. The bastard shrugged, smiling at me with his toothbrush in his hand, a smudge of toothpaste on his chin. “Well, maybe if you hadn’t woken me up with that cock of yours, we would have had more time to get ready.”
Damn him. When he was right, he was right. So rather than admitting that to him, I balled up his T-shirt and tossed it at him. He laughed, smiling, and saying,“I love you, too.”
Moving at a shockingly fast pace, he was dressed and ready to go before I even finished my coffee. When he walked down the stairs, I was struck by just how gorgeous he was. In freshly pressed black pants and crisp white dress shirt, he was nothing short of spectacular. He strutted over to me, careful to dodge Katie and her excitement on the way. Stopping right in front of me,he stole my mug and took a sip for himself. “You look insanely gorgeous,” I told him, completely mesmerized by his looks, his scent, his lips as they wrapped around the rim of the mug. Recalling how those same lips felt as they wrapped around my dick this morning nearly sent me into overdrive.
“So do you,” he said, reaching around me nonchalantly. As he placed the mug into the sink, he pressedhis lips against my neck. Muttering against my skin, he said, “But you always look insanely gorgeous.”
We lost ourselves to the feverish pace of our kisses, and just before we got too carried away, I looked at my watch as my arms wrapped around his shoulders. “We need to move now. I’ll get tothatlater.” Pressing against his growing erection, I made sure he knew what I was talking about.
Thedrive to the graduation ceremony was a mostly quiet one. It was a bittersweet moment for Chase. In the last six months, he’d worked his ass off—at school, at his internship, and at his nighttime job waiting tables at a fancy-ass restaurant in downtown. He paid me rent every month, even though I told him it wasn’t necessary. Refusing his money was pointless, but stashing it away for something specialfor him, that wasn’t in the rulebooks.
With that thought on my mind, I pulled into the parking spot in just enough time for Chase to say goodbye as he grabbed his cap and gown from the back seat. He rushed toward the group of graduates already lining up, and by the looks of it, we’d made it just in time.
As I made my way to my seat, I became giddy thinking about what the day had in store forChase.
And for our future.
When they called Chase’s name, we all stood, clapping, yelling, whistling, doing anything possible to make our pride be known. Yet deep in my heart, I knew the only way he would be able to tell how I felt about him, about his accomplishments, was for him to see it with his own eyes.
An hour and a half after he raced out of my car, he walked toward us, a bewilderedlook on his face. As he padded closer across the lush, green grass of the campus commons, recognition dawned. Walking turned to running and before I could say a word, he was lifting his brother up into the air, spinning him around in a circle. “Benny,” he called out. “You asshole,” he announced as Chase dropped him to his feet. “You told me you were away at a tournament.”
Shrugging, Benny smiled.He looked so damn much like Chase it was unreal. “I lied. It’s what kids do,” he dismissed, laughing and clapping his brother on the back. “I’m real proud of you, college grad! Sure as hell beats stripping, huh?”
“How the—”
“Right, like I’m the first person who ever lied.” Benny laughed as Chase’s face turned red. He turned toward me.
“Don’t look at me. I didn’t tell him,” I said, holding myhands up in the air.
“Whatever. Doesn’t matter now,” Chase said, pulling Benny back in for another embrace. “I’m so glad you could make it.” After he let his brother go again, he turned to our friends. “You guys, too. Thank you for coming. It really means so much to me.” Wes, Mia, Chelsea, and Alex all hugged him, one after the other, offering Chase their congratulations.
But I knew what matteredthe most was just around the corner.
Literally.
“Come over here,” I told Chase, lacing his fingers with mine. We walked toward the library, its massive stairs sprawling out wide in front of the antique looking building. “There’s someone else I want you to meet.”
As if we’d rehearsed it perfectly, the couple walked down the stairs just as we walked up them. Holding a tiny infant in her arms,the woman cried, unable to hold back her emotion.
“Chase,” I began, stepping to his side so he could be face-to-face with the couple before us. “This is Stephanie and Justin.”
That was all I needed to say before they took over for me.
Stephanie spoke first, tears rolling down her round cheeks. “Thank you,” she blurted, her voice wavering so much even the two simple words seemed impossible tosay.
Chase steadied her, reaching for her arm as she wobbled a little. “Sit. Sit,” he encouraged. After they both sat down, he asked, “What for? What did I do? I’m sorry, but I don’t even know you.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. Her husband sat next to her, his arm wrapped around her shoulders, holding her tight. “No, you don’t, but I know you. And without you, I wouldn’t be here. And neitherwould she,” she said, looking down at her infant daughter, wrapped in a pale pink blanket in her arms.
“I don’t… what’s this about?” he asked, craning his head toward us.
“I had premature heart failure. It was genetic. There was nothing I could do about it.” She took a deep breath and looked down at her daughter before looking over at her husband. “I was on the transplant list for months andwas getting worse every single day. Until….” Her tears took over, allowing her husband the room to finish for her.
“Until we got a call that we had a donor.” As a doctor, I’d run through the scene in my head a million times, and even though I knew one family’s fortune meant another family’s tragedy, it didn’t hit home until right now. “That donor—”
Simultaneously, Benny and Chase said, “WasMom.”
