Page 27 of Fighter
“Oh, hell no. Once I graduated, I had to get out of here. Mom and Dad were miserable all the time, people looked at me like I was the poor pitiful brother of the dead girl, and I just couldn’t take it. So when I got the letter from Berkley college with a full scholarship for the first two years, I ran to California as fast as I could. I met Janet, my wife, during my first semester, and we’ve been together ever since. Married for four years now, and our twindaughters just turned two last month,” Adam’s smile was so brilliant and genuine; Chris envied him.
“Of course you had twins.” Chris shook his head, not so jealous of that bit.
Adam pulled out his wallet, the first image a snapshot of two little girls with pale blonde hair and intense blue eyes. “This one with the pigtails is Sophie, and the stinker with the dirt on the hem of her dress is Jean.”
Chris ran his fingers over the image. “Jean.” Fresh tears stung his eyes. “You gave your daughter her name.”
Adam nodded, smiling. “Yeah, I did, and the girls both look so much like Amanda. But that smile you see, that’s from Janet’s side of the family. Sophie was her grandmother’s name; she died of breast cancer a few years ago, so we are honoring the loved ones we lost with our girls’ names.”
It was a moment in time that would forever be imprinted on Chris’s soul, seeing the two adorable little girls smiling at the camera, so carefree and innocent. They would never know how wonderful their aunt was, what joy she could have brought into their lives. And that was Chris’s fault, his cross to bear. Linc seemed to sense his unease, and leaned into him, kissing Chris on the cheek. “You okay, babe?”
“Yeah, just…I’ll be right back.” Chris stood and managed to put one foot in front of the other, finding his way to the bathroom almost blindly. Thankfully it was a single restroom, so he was able to close the door and lock it, not be confined to a tiny stall. “Get your shit together, man.” Griping at his reflection in the mirror while splashing cold water on his face was oddly calming. It was a lot to take in, the added pressure of Adam showing up, being married, having kids. “Enough, Chris. It’s enough. This is why you made this goddamn trip, to deal with the past and say your good-byes.”
After wrestling with his conscience and self-loathing, he headed out to their table, finding Linc and Adam laughing and joking like the best of friends.
Adam’s wallet sat on the table, open, a familiar image rough around the edges staring up at him. It was the one of him and Amanda taken not long before the accident. They were both so young, smiling at the camera, Amanda on his back. “Oh, hey, can I see that one?” Linc asked, pointing at the snapshot. Adam nodded, pulled it out, and handed it to Linc.
“Wow, you’ve talked about her so much I almost feel like I knew her too. She’s beautiful.” Linc handed the picture to Adam.
“Well,” Adam tucked the keepsake into place, slipping his wallet into his jacket pocket, looking down at his watch, “I’ve got a plane to catch, so I really need to get going.”
“Yeah, so do we.” Chris stood and followed Adam out of the restaurant, Linc right behind him.
Adam shook their hands again before getting into his rental car and extended the offer for them to come visit, to meet his wife and daughters if they were ever in California. Chris promised to do just that as he tucked Adam’s business card into his pocket, patting it for good measure. Linc turned to get into their rental, but Chris stopped him, placing a hand on his shoulder and turning Linc to face him. He wrapped his arms loosely around Linc’s neck. “Thank you for being here with me. This will probably be my last trip to Alabama; there’s nothing left for me here anymore. I’m glad I got to say good-bye with you by my side.” And then he leaned in and kissed him, right there in the parking lot of the restaurant.
Linc jerked back when a car sped by honking, some stupid—and likely inbred—asshole yelling, “Fucking faggots!” out the window.
Chris smiled at him, ignoring the bigot as he opened Linc’s car door for him. “Come on. Let’s go home.”
Chapter Twenty Six
Finally
The mood when they landed at LaGuardia airport was much more relaxed than it had been two days ago when they left. Where Chris had been withdrawn, somber, and quiet, now he was smiling, jovial, and held Linc’s hand every chance he got. He knew that it wasn’t just the trip saying good-bye to Amanda and that painful past that set his mind at ease. It was the visit with Adam and seeing the picture of his daughters, knowing that Amanda would live on through little Jean. There was a piece of her in that child, and knowing that gave Chris some comfort.
The trek from their gate, through the terminal, and out to the parking garage took more time than Chris had expected. Thank goodness they didn’t have to stop at baggage claim—they may have been at LaGuardia all night! He’d barely pulled out of the airport and Linc was so tired, his eyes were already drooping. But Chris was confident that once they arrived at their destination, he’d be wide awake. “Babe, where are we going?” Linc asked when he took the exit for Chelsea.
“I booked us a room at a hotel in Chelsea for the night. I didn’t want to go back to the house yet. I mean, this was supposed to be our vacation, and it was all doom and gloom. I want us to end this on a positive note. We’ll go to the hotel, shower, and curl up in bed together with room service and watch a movie. Then tomorrow, we’ll go home.” He reached for Linc’s hand, loving the feel of his lover’s fingers wrapped around his own.
“Besides, I’d like to wake up tomorrow morning with you naked in my arms, and us be the only two people in the room.” They both laughed at that uncomfortable memory.
Chris parked in front of the hotel, grabbed their bags, and tossed his keys to the valet. He’d completed the pre-check-in on his phone as soon as they’d landed, so they were upstairs in their suite in a matter of minutes. The door to the room wasn’t even shut before he started helping Linc out of his clothes, shoving him toward the bathroom. “I have it on good authority there’s a tub in there that’s bigger than my bedroom—with jets and everything.”
Linc tried to drag Chris into the bathroom with him, and though it was tempting, Chris had other plans. He plopped onto the bed, picked up the phone, dialed room service, and ordered a bottle of champagne with a fruit and cheese tray, asking them to send it up immediately—there would be a little something extra in it for them if they got it there five minutes ago.
When Linc exited the bathroom twenty minutes later, the champagne was chilling on the bedside table beside the snacks, and the room was bathed in soft candlelight. Chris was leaning against the headboard, naked as the day he was born, watching Linc as his eyes took in the room. “C’mere.” Chris beckoned him over. He could hear the want and need in his tone and hoped Linc did as well. Chris could tell Linc was fighting the urge to run across the room and jump onto the bed; he could see the muscles in his thick thighs twitching. Instead, he sashayed over to the bedside table, deliberately staying just out of Chris’s reach, picking up a flute and filling it halfway, offering the glass to Chris. He took it, trying to grab Linc with his other hand, but his lover was too fast for him.
“Patience, darling,” Linc teased.
Chris watched with bated breath while Linc dribbled champagne into his own glass before taking a seat on the side of the bed. He sat up, reaching for Linc, intent on wrapping a hand around his neck and pulling him over on top of him, but Linc slid to the foot of the bed, shaking his head and grinning. “I just wanna kiss you.” Chris pouted, but it didn’t work.
Linc spent the next few minutes torturing him; he fed Chris a grape, then a strawberry, followed by a cube of cheese. After they toasted and drained the contents of their glasses, Linc reached for the bottle, but Chris was done being patient. He grabbed the glass from Linc’s hand and tossed that one plus his own over the side of the bed. The glasses rattled and cracked as they hit the ground, and Linc laughed robustly. “That’ll cost you.”
“They can fucking bill me.” Chris growled. He grabbed Linc, flipped their bodies so that Linc was lying on his back on the bed, and eagerly slid in between his boyfriend’s legs, lifting one and draping it over his hip. Bodies rocking, hips thrusting, Linc shivered when Chris’s cock brushed up against his.
“Chris, kiss me, please,” his lover begged. And boy, did he. A chaotic merging of lips and tongues, dueling, tasting, teasing—the most delicious little whimpers fell from Linc’s mouth as Chris sucked on his bottom lip, biting down on the sensitive flesh.
Chris pushed himself up, needing some air, gritting his teeth when Linc wrapped his legs around his hips, rocking them so that their dicks grazed with every thrust. “Jesus, would you stop that? I’m gonna come, and I want to be inside you this time.”
