Both of them have always worked in their regular jobs. Philipp as a middle school teacher and Adrien as a senior electrical engineer in the development department of a large French company. Neither of them would ever have to work again if what I read online is true. At the time, I didn’t really think about it, but today I see them in a different light.
Paul is still looking at me expectantly. “I heard you, don’t bullshit me.”
Embarrassed, I run my hand through my hair and nod again.
“No need to be embarrassed, I’ve heard a lot of things here. But you probably don’t want to know.” I think I could have handled that statement alone, I know that’s how it is. But when he grins cheekily at me? That’s a bit more difficult. At that moment, the door opens behind me.
“Where... ah, hi, you’re home.” Without looking at me again, Louis runs to Paul and hugs him, while Paul buries his head in my boyfriend’s neck, holds him tight, and takes a deep breath. They whisper something, but I can’t understand anything. Jealousy spreads like wildfire to every corner of my body.
Just friends, my brain tries to counteract. Just friends. Just friends. Then their embrace breaks, Louis turns around and presses his naked body against mine. Yep, naked. Completely. My boyfriend was just standing completely naked in the armsof another man. Okay, his best friend, but my jealousy is completely understandable, right? Totally normal.
“Why aren’t you wearing anything?” I wrap my arms around him and try to whisper as quietly as possible.
“Awww, is someone jealous?” Ah, fuck, Paul heard me anyway. “I can reassure you, we walk around naked all the time here, but we’ve never been hard for each other.”
“Come on, let’s go back to my room, the bed was terribly empty without you.” With these words, Louis pushes his hips forward to get me moving.
“Have fun with round two.” And sure enough, the cock pressing against mine is suddenly pretty hard again.
As soon as the door closes behind us, Louis takes a step back, that magnificent hard cock looking up at me. “Just for you. I promise. For no one else. Never again if...”
He swallows and his look changes. He lets me in, lets me see everything, especially his fears. This is a side of Louis I haven’t been allowed to see before, one that was always well hidden behind a challenging smile and cheeky remarks. One that he may not have had before.
“If?” My voice fails me even with this one word.
“If you keep me.”
Chapter 50
Louis
24 years
Okay, trust is harder than I thought. What used to be blind and easy no longer works that way. For neither of us. He’s jealous of Paul, and I’m just scared out of my mind that he’ll change his mind again and tear down what we’re rebuilding so carefully. Words don’t help at all; only time will tell if we can overcome our fears.
For now, David and I are strolling across campus, holding hands. We stop every now and then to kiss. I always knew that this is what I want, to be visible in my relationship, just likemy fathers always have been. I was afraid that David might not be ready to do that, but when we got off the tram together for the first time, he held out his hand to me and I took it. Neither of us has let go since.
“Do you have plans for the weekend?”
I briefly considered visiting my parents, as I had done the previous two weekends, but everything in that house reminds me of us before the breakup. And of my devastation afterwards. All of our moments as a couple are connected to that place. I have no idea how our new reality fits in there, and I am afraid it won’t.
“I have to work on Friday.” Pia and Jonas preferred the Saturday shift, Paul and I didn’t care, so we switched. Actually, I think it’s pretty cool because I feel like I get more out of the weekend.
“Is it okay with you if I make a plan for us?” Silly question. We haven’t done anything else for six months.
“Sure!”
***
“Look who’s here.” Paul nudges me in the side with a grin. For the first time since we got back together, David sits down at my bar. His usual spot is free because it’s already half past four. Except for the usual faces, there aren’t many people left. Many of the Saturday crowd now come on Fridays, having swapped with us, so it’s no wonder that David doesn’t go unnoticed.
“Hey Louis, isn’t that your stalker? I thought he was gone?” I grin at my boyfriend, who bites his lower lip sheepishly.
Seductively I lean over the bar, and I admit it would bemore convincing if I didn’t have to stand on tiptoes, but I don’t have anything to prove here anymore. I cup his face with both hands and kiss him. Here, in the middle of the club, I’ve never mixed work and private life like this before. There’s hooting and screaming around us.
We break apart with a smile, the edge of the countertop digging painfully into my hip, but the show was worth it. “This isn’t my stalker; this is my boyfriend.”
In the last half hour, Paul has received more attention from our customers than ever before. Everyone feels sorry for him because I left him for someone else. No one here cares that this is completely untrue, and Paul revels in the sympathy of the others.
