He climbs the ladder with a little extra sway in his hips. And I was right. His ass in those slacks gives me all sorts of dirty thoughts. Like how I wantto spread those cheeks apart and make him shout my name using only my tongue.
Just as we make it to the top, I cave and bite into his ass cheek.
“Jasper!” Olly yelps.
“I couldn’t help it. Your ass in these slacks: new kink unlocked.”
“Yeah, well, at least it’s not the breaking-and-entering kink, although now that I think about it, I’m not ready to rule that one out.”
We make it to the top. “Nowadays, I’d only do it for you.”
He blushes a shade of red that I’m pretty sure matches his favorite flannel shirt.
“Wow… it’s beautiful.”
It’s darker than shit, but you can see the lights from the ships sitting off the coast waiting to come into the harbor.
I sit down on the ledge, resting my arms on the railing, and Olly joins me.
It’s quiet as I stare out into the darkness, all the noise of life fading away.
“You know, I’ve been thinking about something.”
“Yeah, what’s that?” I ask.
“For the longest time, I thought I irritated the crap out of you; like I was an annoying bug on the bottom of your shoe. But you kept coming around and talking to me, arguing with me.” He chuckles. “I was getting so frustrated because I didn’t understand.”
“You’ve never irritated me, Olly. Youintriguedme.”
“I realize that now. Well, when I saw how you were with Marcus and Jacob, but especially Marcus. You two bicker like a couple of school kids.”
“What can I say? It’s fun to get him all riled up.”
“I’m sure he feels the same.” He laughs. “When you bicker with someone, it means you feel comfortable with them. It’s like your way of showing that you like them.”
I nod my head. He’s right. I only do that with the people I trust.
“You do it with the guys at Ink Me, too.”
“I think I’ve trusted them for a while and just never realized it.”
“Tell me about Matthew?”
Matthew.
I take a deep breath and blow it out, steadying the shake in my voice and hands.
“Matthew was amazing. He always understood what I was feeling. Sometimes even before I did. His heart was so big and kind. He would’ve taken every single kid he crossed paths with if Jacob and Marcus would’ve let him. But, for some reason, he chose me.”
“Smart man,” Olly says with a shoulder bump and crooked smile.
“Young me didn’t think so.” I give him a sad smile. “I met Matthew at the social services office the day my previous family left for Europe. I was refusing to talk to anyone. The only thing I wanted was to crawl into a bed and sleep until I turned eighteen. I only had two more years and then I was free of the system. And that’s the same thought I had when Matthew brought me home for the first time.” I laugh. “That makes it sound like he brought home an infant and not a sixteen-year-old. Anyway, I carried on with my original plan. Put my head down and don’t make any waves. Be invisible.”
“Jasper, you are much too fabulous to be invisible. It’s hard to see the feather boa, metal-wearing, bracelet-jingling man next to me be anything close to invisible.”
“It’s because back then I was ugly-jeans, t-shirt-pocket-wearing kid,” I confess.
“Huh, I can’t see it.”
