The city was starting to get busy again now that the deep ache of winter was passing. I felt more alive then too. I never did fully adjust to being away from the coast, even if it felt like it had been a hundred years since I’d seen Cypriot sands beneath my feet.
I took a breath and imagined what it would be like taking Jonah there. Watching him stand beside the water. He wouldn’t be able to see the expanse of ocean in front of him, but he would feel it. Subtle, soft crashing waves over his feet, the breeze whipping his wavy curls around his face, the smile he’d giveme because there was something about that place that was so…freeing.
I was never much of a historian, but I used to think of the ancient feet that had once walked those same sands I grew up on, and it gave me the strangest sense of purpose. The strangest sense of…connection.
The coin in my pocket felt heavy suddenly, but in a good way. A reminder that while I was part of something bigger, the small pieces mattered too. That I was allowed to do hockey and be good at it, and take care of my family, but also have something for me.
I pressed my foot harder to the gas pedal and felt a punch of relief when I reached Jonah’s building.
There was a single parking spot across the street, so I snagged it before the SUV with yoga stickers all over the back could get it. The person behind the wheel in massive shades flipped me off, but I ignored them as I hopped across the street and made my way inside.
There was a small queue for the elevator, so I took the stairs, my knees protesting through every flight, but eventually, I was on Jonah’s landing, slightly winded, but my heart was beating fast for another reason.
I was going to see him. Maybe. Probably.
And when I did, I was going to finally fucking kiss him.
Hurrying down the end of the hall, I came to a skidding halt in front of his door. This…was his door, wasn’t it? It looked wrong. Like I was on the wrong floor. Or maybe I was just so fucking jet-lagged I didn’t know left from right or up from down.
I lifted my fist and knocked and was met with silence. So I knocked again.
Then one more time.
Then I looked down to see a doormat with a huge bird reading Welcome. This was not Jonah’s door.
Fucking fuck.
Counting in my head, I realized I was one story short, so I raced back to the stairs as my breath stuttered in my lungs and took the steps two at a time. I was nearly gasping for breath by the time I came to the top of the landing, and that was the moment Jonah’s front door opened.
I froze as he stepped out, but it took me only half a second to realize it wasn’t Jonah at all. It was his brother. I’d never met Micah, but I’d seen him on videos plenty of times. They looked so much alike except for the fact that Micah’s eyelids were closed, dark lashes always fanning down, and he had a scar on the left side of his jaw.
I couldn’t hear what they were saying with the blood thundering in my ears, but then I caught a single word. “Brut.”
My face bloomed hotly. I didn’t actually wear Brut, though at this point, it didn’t matter. I’d thought about changing my cologne a dozen times, but I realized it was one of the ways Jonah knew it was me. How he always knew it was me.
I waited for him to say my name as he poked his head out into the hall, but he didn’t. He was silent. Then he hugged his brother goodbye, and the door shut again.
Pressing myself against the wall, I squeezed my eyes shut as Micah moved past me. His cane nearly skimmed my shoe before it hit the stairs, and he took them quickly and furiously, like he was attempting to get them to collapse beneath his feet.
This moment was another faux pas. I knew that. They couldn’t see me—it was my job to tell them I was there. Hurrying to Jonah’s door, I took only a single second, and then I knocked.
It flew open, and he appeared, my fucking angel. The man I wanted to be my everything.
“There’s no way you left anything, dude. You didn’t even bring anyth—” He stopped abruptly, then swallowed. “Alexio?”
“Hello.”
“Was that you a second ago?”
“It was.”
“Fuck you! I?—”
I was on him after that. I couldn’t stop myself. My hands flew to his waist, and I backed him into the apartment, kicking the door shut before spinning him and pinning him to the wood. My nose went to his neck, lips grazing over his hammering pulse, and he held me too, like he needed me.
Christ, I was so fucking gone.
“You’re a dick,” he grumbled.
