The first line made his stomach bottom out.
A man called Rafe Addison contacted me on Facebook to tell me you’d gotten married.
If it was possible to be a bigger asshole than Rafe was, Noah couldn’t imagine how someone would go about it. The email went on to say that he was claiming it was a sham marriage and that Noah’s new husband was straight, but that she didn’t believe that was true.
At least Noah wasn’t going to have to try and convince his own mother that his marriage was legitimate. Although, she was probably only saying that because thinking otherwise would have required her to admit that Noah wasn’t perfect. She would never have wanted to admit that to anyone except Noah himself.
He sent an email back to say that he’d eloped, that it was sudden because of his visa status but that he’d been dating Jace for a while and they were happy together, and to send a few photos Noah had of them together to convince her that Jace really did exist.
Noah couldn’t decide whether deportation or his mother finding out was a worse fate. He’d hoped to avoid both. If she did figure them out, he’d never hear the end of it.
He could hear Jace moving around in the apartment, but didn’t want to face him just now. Jace probably hadn’t realized what Noah meant by what he’d said the night before—he would have been blinded by not being even a little attracted to him—but Noah still felt humiliated.
What if he’d actually poured his heart out to Jace and asked him to love him, or at least not leave him? Jace would obviously not have known how to deal with that, and it would have ruined their friendship after all. Noah was glad he’d played it safe, after all.
Today was not going well, and Noah didn’t want to deal with any of it anymore. He crawled back into bed, giving himself the excuse that he was still sore and tired after yesterday’s game, and curled up under the blankets. His bed wouldn’t judge him or reject him.
He’d get over Jace. He’d have to, if they were going to survive the next three years with their friendship intact.
Sleep came easily, Noah’s general exhaustion with life making it no effort to let his mind switch off again.
He woke with a start an unknown amount of time later, heart racing. His mind supplied a vivid play-by-play of the first wet dream he’d had in years, starting with Jace coming to explain to him that it had all been a misunderstanding, he had wanted to kiss Noah, he just didn’t know how to approach it.
They’d kissed, and by way of dream-logic ended up naked on the bed, Jace covering Noah’s body with his own, his hard cock rubbing against Noah’s stomach. Dream Noah didn’t need any prep time, he could take Jace in one stroke, arching his hips as Jace filled him.
Jace was so hot inside him, making him gasp and moan and beg for more. And he loved Noah. In Noah’s mind, in his own dream, Jace was in love with him and wanted to be with him. It wasn’t just sex.
It was really good sex, though. Not artful, not sophisticated, but raw and needy and loving, pleasure-focused. Jace stretched him full, held him close, kissed him and rocked against him so sweetly that even the memory of it made Noah feel as though his heart was about to burst.
Noah could have let Jace pin him to the mattress forever, feeling their bodies slide together, Jace’s cock hitting every sensitive spot he had and a few that real-world Noah didn’t. Jace had whispered that he loved him between harsh breaths, biting down on Noah’s shoulder as he came inside him. Still rolling his hips as he finished, as Noah wrapped his legs around Jace’s waist and pressed their bodies as close together as he could get them.
The dream had ended before Noah came, but he woke with a sticky mess in his underwear anyway, and a dull ache in his gut. He’d been given a taste of everything he wanted, but he couldn’t actually have it. Jace wasn’t really about to come and confess his feelings for Noah.
He wasn’t inclined to get up and talk to Jace just yet. Between the almost-kiss of last night and the perfect dream he’d just woken up from, he wasn’t sure he could face him.
If things were going to be like this all the time, it was going to be a very long three years.
Chapter Twenty
The moment Jace saw Brian heading for him, he felt like a coward all over again for not telling Noah how he felt. He’d spent all of yesterday going back and forth over whether he should tell Noah or not, what would be best for both of them in the long run, and he still hadn’t come to a conclusion he was happy with.
“So? Did you tell him?” Brian asked the moment he was within conversation distance. Jace kept walking, continuing his rounds, fully aware that Brian was going to follow him.
He could have said he didn’t get a chance, but Brian would be able to see right through him. “What if you’re wrong? What if he’s not interested after all, and I make things weird between us?”
Brian snorted. “I’m not wrong. And isn’t it weirder to not at least try? You’re both adults. On the off chance Iamwrong—which is minute, but present—you’ll handle it. You would not be the first best friends to want slightly different things to each other. Except you don’t. Noah follows you around like a puppy. A puppy in heat.”
Jace wrinkled his nose. “I don’t think that’s a flattering thing to say about him. Besides, you saw Joe. If Joe isn’t good enough for him, how the hell am I meant to compete? I’m broke, I’m a nurse, and I don’t look like a goddamn underwear model.”
“Are you sure he broke up with Joe because he wanted a richer, more model-like boyfriend?” Brian raised an eyebrow. “Because Noah isn’t a shallow person, andthat’snot a flattering thing to say about him. At least puppies are cute.”
“He said…” Jace sighed. He remembered what Noah said, and it was the thing that kept coming back to haunt him. If he told Brian about it, Brian would think he was a total and complete moron.
“He said…?” Brian repeated. Jace would have to tell him, or he wouldn’t drop it.
“He said he wanted someone like me, okay? But he didn’t say he wanted me, he saidlike me. That means not me specifically.”
“That… you… how have you survived this long if you’re this dense?” Brian stared at him. “Oh my god. You’re unteachable. He said he wanted you and you didn’t jump on that?”
