Page 163 of The Making of Jonty Bloom
“Without moving it from the garage.”
“A naked horny James Bond.”
“Oh fuck. Take selfies.”
Jonty laughed.
“Apart from a few difficult moments when I thought we were going to die and that includes you driving my Aston,” Devan said, “this has been the best month of my life.”
Jonty glanced at him. Devan was looking at him with that expression on his face that always made Jonty’s cock jump. Like he’d never seen anyone like Jonty before, never wanted anyone as much.
“I came up here full of anger and bitterness…” Devan gave a short laugh. “As you accurately pointed out, I was sad, and you taught me how to smile again. You’ve not only shown me life was worth living, but worth living well. There’s so much to see. So much to do and I want to do it with you. Every day has been an adventure. Every day you’ve made me laugh. I’ve done things with you that I would never have contemplated.”
Devan stopped walking and pulled Jonty round to face him. He held his face with his hands and kissed him, a deep passionate kiss that warmed Jonty from head to toe. “Thank you for being there for me, Jonty Bloom. Thank you for changing my life.”
“Are you thanking me for making you do the broomstick training at Alnwick Castle?”
“Thank you for making me look a prat, mounting and dismounting a broomstick, time after time, surrounded by a bunch of giggling kids.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I still don’t believe you had to keep taking pictures because you hadn’t caught me in the air.” Devan frowned. “And I still haven’t forgiven you for sendingallmy contacts that shot of me leaping up with the broomstick between my legs and my mouth open. I mean,allmy bloody contacts.AndI was wearing a Slytherin scarf.”
“Would it have been okay if it had been my Gryffindor one?”
“No, it wouldn’t.” But Devan was smiling.
“It’s been the best month of my entire existence too,” Jonty said. “Since you arrived, my life has tumbled like a piece of sea glass. All those sharp edges smoothed over, my true colours able to shine. My world has grown brighter and brighter. I feel…whole. I always thought it was my mother who was missing, but it wasn’t. It was you.”Because you love me and I don’t need to hear the words. I just know.
They walked back to the dunes in front of the house and sat down out of the wind.
“I’ve got a present for you to take to London.” Jonty pulled a photo book out of his jacket pocket. On the front cover, Devan was kite surfing. The sky was bright blue and Devan was miles above the water, flying high.
“I’d be careful who you show it to,” Jonty said. “Your mother is fine, but maybe not your father.”
Devan opened the book. The first page was a shot of Devan grinning and pointing at a seal on their boat trip to the Farne Islands. The next was Devan and Jonty at Hadrian’s wall wearing Roman helmets and pretending to fight with plastic swords, taken by a bemused Japanese tourist. But the one after was Devan lying asleep in bed, sucking his thumb.
“When the hell did you take that? I don’t suck my thumb.”
“Your mouth was open, and your thumb was available so…”
Devan laughed.
Jonty stood up, and started to walk backwards in the direction of the house. As Devan turned the pages, Jonty knew exactly what he was seeing. His own bare arse, Devan’s bare arse. Lots of shots of Devan laughing. None of him looking miserable. A few of him naked. A few of Jonty’s cock. More of Devan’s cock. The last picture in the book was of the crooked sea glass heart that Jonty had borrowed from Devan’s pocket then replaced.
“It wasn’t found on that beach,” Jonty said. “I’d kept it with me until I found a guy who could make me happy.”
Devan came to his side. “You knew then?”
“I took a risk. I could have taken it back if you’d turned out to be a wanker. But I hoped…”
Epilogue
Nine months later
JONTY WAS BESIDE HIMSELF WITHexcitement. After six months of construction and interior design work on the hotel, today was the day it reopened. Well, today was the party and The Dunes—not the name Jonty had chosen—was full of people, a lot of whom were celebrities, though not many Jonty had heard of. Champagne was flowing, not cheap stuff either, and the food prepared by Marcus and his team— Wayne was still around—looked almost too good to eat, but it wasn’t, because Jonty had sneaked a fewcanapés when no one was looking, then rearranged the others to disguise what he’d done.
He and Devan were wearing new suits. On their last trip to London, Devan had bought them both Armani two pieces. Devan’s was grey, Jonty’s blue. Jonty’s fit perfectly, though he’d tried to persuade Devan that he didn’t need to pay so much, but Devan had insisted in a way that Jonty had learnt not to push against.
