Page 118 of The Lineman

Once I had him mostly dry, I shoved him toward the bedroom. “Bed. Now.”

He smirked over his shoulder. “You’re so bossy, Professor Mike.”

“And you are about to collapse. Go.”

He grumbled something under his breath but didn’t argue. I followed him, crawling into bed just as he sprawled onto his back with a deep sigh.

I rolled onto my side, facing him, then reached up and ran my fingers across his still-damp hair. “How’s it feel to be back?”

Elliot let out a slow breath, eyes half lidded as he looked at me. “Better now that I’m here.”

That warmth churned in my chest like a cat curling in my lap, all sleepy purrs and biscuits.

“I missed you, you know.”

His lips quirked. “Yeah?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

For a moment, neither of us said anything. The weight of the past two weeks settled between us, the silence filled with everything we hadn’t said yet.

Then Elliot exhaled, rubbing at his face. “Tell me about school. What’d I miss?”

I grinned, nuzzling closer so I could use his chest as a pillow in the spot I wanted to declare mine and mine alone. God, he felt good holding me like that.

“Well, I told you about Jamie, right?”

“Gay kid? Struggling at home?”

“That’s the one.”

“Is he okay?”

“Oh, yeah. He came to see me again. I think everything is really weighing on him, and he doesn’t have an inner circle. His mom’s there, but he can only talk to her so much.”

“Right,” he said, his voice growing distant.

“It got me thinking. There isn’t anything at the school to help kids like him, no support group, no alliance, nothing. Mateo and I decided to do something about that.”

I trailed off as I heard the soft, steady sound of breathing beside me.

I turned my head and looked up at his face.

Elliot was out, his chest rising and falling in deep, even breaths, his lips parted slightly.

I smiled, my heart squeezing.

I leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. “Night, big guy.”

He didn’t stir.

I settled into his arms, feeling the steady warmth of him, and I drifted off, too.

WhenIwoke,itwas still dark outside.

For a moment, I didn’t move. Just lay there, warm and comfortable, wrapped in the quiet hum of Elliot’s presence. His body was solid beside me, the heat of him radiating through the sheets, his arm thrown haphazardly across my stomach.

It took me a second to remember how we got here.

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