Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 55627 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55627 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
“Uh huh.” He brushed Jack’s soft hair off his face. “I like the way you smell. I like the way you look. I like the way you taste. I like the timbre of your voice. I like the way you think. I like how hard you work. I like how much you care. I like how your mind works. I like everything about you, Jack Storm.”
“Gray,” Jack rasped. He was more awake than Gray had realized because he opened his eyes, which glistened with unshed tears. “You’re always so good to me. So so good to me.” He wiped his face against Gray’s shoulder. “You’ve always been too good for me. I would give anything for you to want to stay with me.”
Gray genuinely considered proposing on the spot, but Jack deserved better than a last-minute proposal in bed while he was drunk. “I’m not going anywhere.” He circled his arms around Jack and held him tightly. “Go to sleep, sweetheart, we’ll talk more in the morning.”
“Your sweetheart,” Jack mumbled. “I like that.” His voice lowered with every word, and by the end of the sentence, he was asleep.
Though his body was tired, Gray’s brain was still running, so he stayed awake, skating his palm over Jack’s back as he thought about the day.
Eric’s birthday celebration hadn’t been all that awful. The normal gang had been there, plus Kevin’s friend Jeffrey, who Gray suspected was going to become a regular at their get-togethers seeing as how he had made it onto the group chat. That was fine, he was nice enough, and Gray barely remembered sleeping with him so it wasn’t awkward. Or at least, it wasn’t awkward for him. The same couldn’t be said for Jack who had kept an uncharacteristic distance from Jeffrey, which meant he wasn’t comfortable. Not that Gray was judging because, first off, he had been truthful when he’d told Jack that his jealousy turned him on and also because Gray wasn’t a hypocrite. He had spent years feeling jealous when Jack was with Jaime and then again when he had gone out with a few guys afterward. And unlike Jack’s behavior with Jeffrey, Gray hadn’t always been kind and polite about it.
From the first time he had seen Jack and Jaime together, something had struck him as off about their relationship. They got along well, never argued, were exceptionally polite to one another, and seemingly had a lot in common. Gray hadn’t been able to put his finger on what he found lacking, so he had chalked it up to his own jealousy. When they hadn’t quickly broken up, he had told himself that he was fabricating some shortcoming in Jack’s relationship because he wanted Jack for himself and couldn’t have him. Knowing what he did now, Gray realized what he had subconsciously noticed was lacking between the two men—passion, desire, any sort of physical connection, true intimacy. Jack and Jaime had been friends, they had been business partners, but they hadn’t been lovers, and they hadn’t been connected romantically.
He was no longer jealous of Jaime and not because he was now happily married to Oliver. No. It was because he was too busy despising the man to have room for any other emotion. Gray had never been a violent person, but he would have derived a great deal of satisfaction from punching Jaime’s smug face. Chances were high that Jack would befriend Jeffrey long before Gray got over his urge to break Jaime’s nose.
Based on the confused looks Jaime had thrown his way throughout the night, he was fairly sure he hadn’t been hiding his animosity well. Or at all. Jaime was Jack’s business partner and his friend. He was and would continue to be a staple in Jack’s life. Gray knew himself well enough to know that he’d never like the guy, but Jaime was essentially family to Jack, so he would work on being less overtly hostile. Normally, he would go to Jack for advice on how to make nice with someone in a tense atmosphere but bringing this problem to Jack would put him in the middle and stress him out, so Gray would have to rely on Google instead. He wasn’t the first man on the planet to dislike his in-laws. Surely the internet could give him some useful tips.
Finally having sex with Jack was a huge and very welcome development. But as much as he had enjoyed getting to taste Jack, see him naked, bring him pleasure, and watch his face when he came, the hot sex and intense intimacy weren’t the only things on Gray’s mind at the moment. Instead, he was reflecting on their conversation about Jack’s past and his worries. Gray kicked himself for missing something that should have been obvious. Maybe if he had understood what was wrong early on, he could have talked to Jack, convinced him that he should get out of his unhealthy relationship with Jaime. He could have saved him years of pain and trauma.