“Thank you,” I said, my voice thick and hoarse. “I still don’t know what I did to deserve you, but I thank God every damn day for bringing you into our lives. I can’t promise you that I won’t still try to push you away from time to time. I have it on good authority that it’s something I’ve always done. But what I will promise is that I’ll try to not get mad at you when you hold on for dear life. And I can only hope that you won’t get sick of me and decide I’m not worth holding on to.”
“Never.” His simple response was barely more than a whisper. He picked up the bar of soap and began running it over my body. Once the suds began to lather on my skin, he set the soap back in the holder and used his bare hands to wash me. “I’ve never wanted to fight for someone the way I do for you. It’s so damn crazy for me to sit back and actually think about how much our lives are intertwined. And I’m sorry that it all started with that night.”
I stiffened because I hated to think about the night of his accident. The nightmares had been absent for the past three weeks, but I kept worrying they’d return. Still, I had to believe Dax when he reminded me that everything happened for a reason. There was a purpose behind him changing his mind and doing what he did when I was the one passing him. And if that somehow led us both here, I couldn’t be angry with him.
“I’m not,” I told him softly before leaning in to press my lips to the crook of his neck. “I’d go through it all again if I knew this was where I’d wind up. I love you, Dax. I know it’s too soon to say that, but I don’t want to go another day without you knowing how much you mean to me. You told me once that I saved your life that night, but really, you’re the one who saved me. I thought it was too late for me to have the life I used to think I’d eventually have, but you barged in here and proved to me that it’s never too late to be happy.”
“Not as long as I have anything to say about it,” he promised me. He pushed me beneath the water so I could rinse off before turning off the taps. He reached for a towel and began slowly drying every inch of my skin, paying close attention to my dick, which was still achingly hard. I could see him shivering in the cold and tried to urge him off the floor when he kneeled to dry my legs. He simply shook his head and continued. “I think it’s safe to say we saved each other. Now, we have to do our best to not waste the second chance we’ve been given.”
“And how do you suggest we do that?” I asked playfully.
“Come on, I’ll show you.” He took my hand and led me back to the bedroom.
By the time we finished, the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon. I lifted my head off his chest to check the time. Nearly seven in the morning. It was going to be a long-ass day on not much sleep.
* * *
When I woke up,I could hear voices from the back deck. I followed them, and found Justin and Matt curled up on the love seat and Dax sitting across from them. He shrugged when I shot him a look meant to ask when those two had found time to get so cozy, but I wasn’t about to embarrass Justin. It was good to see him relaxed and enjoying someone else’s company. Hopefully, it meant he’d quit giving us crap for Dax stealing me out from under his nose.
I retreated into the kitchen, in dire need of coffee and something to eat. There was one piece left of the coffee cake Dax had picked up at some point, so I set that on a napkin and joined them.
“So, would anyone like to fill me in on what I obviously missed last night?” I asked around a mouthful of coffee cake. It still irritated me that I’d been blindsided, even though I understood the explanation Dax had given at about three in the morning. Even then, he hadn’t been willing to go into details, saying it wasn’t the time or the place to talk about it. He was right, as usual, but now there was no excuse.
Dax opened his mouth to give his version of events, but Justin beat him to it. “Plain and simple, Thomas Whittaker is an asshole. He saw Jagger and Dax together and tried telling Dax how inappropriate it was for him to be that close to one of his students.”
“How did he know Jagger’s in his class?” I asked.
“He saw us at the parade yesterday,” Dax offered. “I was going to tell you about it, but then by the time we got back to the school, it didn’t seem like a big deal. This is a small town, and we’re bound to see them around. I was only upset that I didn’t know who they were at first. They kept watching Jagger from across the street.”
“How could younotthink that was worth telling me?” I jumped out of my seat but Dax pulled me back down. He held on to my hand tightly to keep me from going into the house and slamming the door. “Seriously, you can’t not tell me shit like that.”
“Like I said, I was busier thinking about getting twenty kids back to the school safely, and it really wasn’t that big of a deal,” he repeated. “Should I have made a note to call every parent whose kid saw someone they knew and said hello to?”
“No.”
“Then don’t think you’re special.” I knew he was teasing, trying to drive home his point, but it pissed me off that he could be so casual about this. “We’ve told Jagger time and again that when we’re at the school, he’s my student and I’m his teacher. I think the same goes for how I interact with you.”
I looked over to Justin for support, but saw that he and Matt were doing a good job pretending like they weren’t listening to every word of our disagreement.
“That may be true most of the time, but you know how I feel about them,” I argued. My neighbor closed her sliding glass door with more force than necessary, reminding me how my voice carried sometimes. I leaned in to keep from giving the whole neighborhood a show. “I don’t expect you to come home and tell me everything that happens during the day, but you can’t keep things from me, especially when it leads to Thomas showing up at work and blindsiding me. I can’t have that happen again.”
Dax rested his hand on my arm. I wanted to jerk away from him but figured that’d be petulant. “I understand why you’re upset, but you have to trust me. If I thought Jagger was in danger, I would’ve called you while we were walking back to the school. But he wasn’t. Thomas and his wife wanted to walk back to the school with us, but I could tell Jagger wasn’t comfortable around them, so I reminded Thomas that it was against school policy.”
“But you should’ve told me,” I repeated.
“Maybe so, but we can’t change that now. And I probably would’ve said something when you picked up Jagger, but you didn’t.” I wanted to lash out at him and remind him that it was because I was already at work. Sensing this, he squeezed my arm tighter. That simple move grounded me. “Your dad did because you had to work, and I get that. I didn’t say anything to him, because I told you already that it didn’t seem like a big deal, and I knew you’d flip out if you heard it from him before me.”
“Okay,” I grumbled. I still wasn’t happy, but this was a stupid argument. “So that’s it? He saw Jagger and you together at the parade? That’s why he showed up at the bar last night all full of himself?”
“Not exactly,” Dax admitted.
Before I could blow up at him again, Justin stood up and grabbed my coffee cup. “Dude, you really need to chill,” he warned me. “We all sat with your parents last night during the game. Like usual, Jagger didn’t want to be near anyone but Dax, and like usual, Dax couldn’t say no to him. Erica’s dad saw them behind the bleachers during intermission and decided to try and raise hell because Dax was carrying Jagger and hugged him.”
I propped my elbows on my knees and buried my head in my hands. It’d been foolish to make promises to Dax last night. I should’ve known something like this was bound to happen. “I knew it. I fucking knew they’d lose their minds when they found out, and I still let everyone convince me it’d be okay,” I muttered. “It was stupid and now they’re going to try telling me I’m not fit to be his father. Fuck, maybe they’re right.”
The punch to my shoulder caught me off guard and I almost tipped out of my chair. I looked up to see Justin hovering over me, madder than I’d ever seen him. I was so stunned that he’d actually hit me, although not terribly hard, that I couldn’t speak. I gripped the arms of my chair tight, waiting for another blow to come.
“You are such an idiot. Did you know that?” Justin stepped in closer and rested his hands at the edge of the chair. “You have so many people who are dying to help you. People who love you and want nothing more than to see you happy. And you’re still letting Thomas Whittaker dictate your entire life. You think I don’t know that the only reason you got married was he told you he’d make sure you didn’t see Jagger if you couldn’t make the situation right?”
