He Loves Him Page 21

  Admittedly I didn’t pay much attention to the game, I tried, but I was too busy watching Riker. He was enjoying himself so much I wanted to soak in every moment of it. And it made me smile. Nothing was going to put a damper on his mood that was for sure.

  For an hour after the game, when we were back in the car, he couldn’t stop talking about it. Then suddenly, “Kit?”

  “Yeah?” I replied.

  “Thank you,” Riker said.

  “You’re welcome,” I said with a smile.

  “I feel like I should’ve done more for you on your birthday now,” he admitted.

  “You did everything I wanted, Ri, and I loved every minute of it. You didn’t need to do anything else,” I said.

  “But you… you keep spoiling me, Romeo, and I don’t spoil you,” he said sadly. That couldn’t stand, because first of all it was a lie, he did spoil me. Second, I couldn’t let him be sad, not after he had been sad all week because of me. Not when he had finally been smiling again.

  “What are you talking about? You spoil me all the time. With all the cuddling and the kisses. By helping me with my homework when you hate doing work yourself. By giving me a family again. You being there everyday spoils me. So, I’m going to spoil you every chance I get in return. Besides I like spoiling you.”

  “Well, thank you for spoiling me tonight.”

  “Thanks for letting me, but there is one last thing,” I said suddenly remembering the other present I had bought him.

  “What?” he asked.

  I reached behind his seat and pulled out a gift bag that had been sitting back there all week and handed it to him. He looked skeptically at me for a moment then started throwing the tissue paper out of it.

  “Oh. My. God.” He pulled the stuffed animal out of the bag and held it in front of his face beaming, “You got me a dragon!”

  “You wanted one.”

  “This is amazing, you’re amazing. Oh my god, it’s a dragon!” He babbled away.

  “You’re cute when you get excited, you know that?”

  “I’m naming him Fitz,” he said without even acknowledging my statement.

  “Of course, you are.”

  He leaned over the center console, kissed my cheek, and said “Thank you Kit, I love him.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  What remained of his energy seemed to disappear from him not long after that. Of course, he sat there in his seat talking to me about absolutely nothing of importance while he played with Fitz in his lap, because even grown men can’t resist playing with stuffed dragons. Then he was quiet for a little too long and when I glanced over, he had fallen asleep, his arm curled around the purple and black dragon in his lap.

  Chapter 53 - Kit

  October 3rd, 2015

  I had met up with Riker and Jake in one of the dining halls for dinner, before taking Riker to a movie. Once the movie was out, we had driven a little ways to the edge of the city limits, where we could get a clear view of the sky without buildings blocking the view. We were just in time to watch the sunset. Riker walked a few feet away from the car before stopping and staring out at the horizon. He seemed deep in thought, so I watched him for a few minutes from the car before I joined him. I draped my arms over his shoulders, linking my hands together, and holding his back against my chest. He sighed contently and leaned back ever so slightly.

  “Kit, I’m safe, right? With you?” He asked once the sun had fully disappeared from the horizon. The uncertainty in his voice hurt. The fact that he had to question that hurt, because he shouldn’t ever have had reason to ask. He should never have been hurt enough before to ask that question.

  “Riker, I promise you right now that as long as you want me, you’re safe with me.”

  “How… how do you know? How do you know you won’t hurt me like he did?”

  I held him tighter. How was I supposed to answer that? I knew how I felt, but I didn’t know how to put it into words, or how to make him believe it.

  “Because, to me you’re a prince. You’re my prince. And every prince is adored and protected by his people. I’ll protect you with everything I have, I’d take a bullet for you, Riker. I might only be one person, but as long as you’re with me, you’re safe. I will never hurt you like that, because I’ve seen the aftermath, I’ve helped pick you up from it, and I never want to see you like that again. You’re safe with me, I promise you that, my prince.”

  Something wet dropped onto my arm, and I realized it was a tear. Riker was crying.

  “Riker, hey, hey you’re okay,” I tried to soothe him. He shook his head a little then turned around in my arms and threw his around my neck. He plastered his face to the side of my neck and started sobbing. His body shook against me.

  “Shh, shh. I’ve gotcha. I’m right here, I’ve gotcha.” I kept talking, trying to calm him down. I swayed us a little, hoping that would help him. It took a while, but he calmed down and pulled his head back to look at me. There were still tears on his face that hadn’t dried yet, but he was smiling. I reached both my hands up to swipe the tears away and frame his face.

  “Were those happy tears?” I asked, noting the small smile gracing his face.

  He nodded. “That was the most amazing thing anyone has ever said to me. If I’m your prince, then you’re my Romeo.”

  “As long as there’s no Juliet in the picture.”

  He laughed wetly and dropped his head to my shoulder again. That was a win. He didn’t laugh a lot these days. I missed it.

  His phone beeped a couple times. He pulled his phone from his pocket and looked at it for a few seconds before sliding it back with a sigh.

  “Jake’s wondering when I’m getting back.”

  I chuckled. “I guess I should get you home, huh?”

  “Yeah, probably,” he said, stepping back from my chest and swiping his hands across his face.

  I bowed at him and held my hand out to him. “Shall I escort you back to your castle, my prince?”

  He laughed a little again and took my hand. “After you, Romeo.”

  Chapter 55 - Riker

  April 7th, 2017

  Sunlight had never felt so good with the way it was beating down on me, almost too hot. Almost. Right then, I think I could’ve been on the sun and not been too hot. I pushed my sunglasses back down and opened my eyes, staring straight up at the sky. Kit’s stomach was slowly rising and falling beneath my head. He was dozing off. Oblivious to the rest of the world. Oblivious to the other students, and couples, lounging around on the lawn as the rest of the student body walked past.

  It was a rare day for both of us. Kit’s professors had all let their students have the day off, supposedly to work on their senior projects, and well I had attended my one Friday class that morning before meeting Kit out here on the lawn. We didn’t spend a whole lot of time together on campus, if we did it was usually catching a quick lunch or me meeting him in the library to help with some assignment or another, our schedules had just never really allowed for it, even on weekends. But today, without classes or work, we had all the time in the world.

  Sure, Kit probably should’ve been working on his end of the year projects, and I probably should’ve been doing my own assignments, but today was one of those glorious days where Kit decided being the perfect student wasn’t all that important. It was also one of those days where the weather was so perfect you couldn’t possibly stay inside. Kit could sleep all he wanted, and I could just watch the clouds go by until he woke up. I was perfectly happy lying there doing absolutely nothing while the world moved around us.

  At some point lunch would be a concern, and so would the murderous-looking clouds way off in the distance. Oh well, at some point I would get too hot to stay out here and Kit would wake up and perhaps want to go do something else with our time.

  I turned my head to look at him asleep. He was using my backpack as a pillow and he had one arm flung over his eyes instead of the sunglasses resting on the top of his head. He was gett
ing even tanner than he already was. God, he was gorgeous.

  For a few more moments, I watched him until suddenly he moved his other hand to the top of my head where he tousled my hair before turning my head back up to face the sky. I chuckled and I could’ve sworn he was smiling under his arm.

  He didn’t take his hand away from my head as he dozed off again. I stared back up at the sun. The sun was just on the right side of hot and I knew that we’d have to relocate soon, but I was going to enjoy it as long as possible. We had already been lying there two hours, a little longer wasn’t going to hurt us.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket, so I pulled it out to check the message.

  Jake: What are you up to?”

  R: Busy, why?

  Jake: You’re never busy -__- Jer and I were headed to the field thought you might want to join.

  R: Tempting, but no. Busy.

  Jake: I still don’t believe you. You don’t have class. You’re always looking for a reason to procrastinate and Kit is in class.

  I lifted my phone, turned the camera on, and found an angle where I could get my head and Kit’s in the picture. I smiled obnoxiously as I took it.

  R: [picture] :p

  Jake: Is he dead?

  R: No, he’s asleep.

  Jake: Alright, well I stand corrected. Carry on then.

  I put my phone back into my pocket, closed my eyes, and just smiled. Then I realized my mouth was insanely dry, so I sat up and reached for my water bottle.

  As soon as my head left his stomach Kit whined, “Nooo. What are you doing? I was comfortable.”

  “Just getting a drink.” I took a sip then had a brilliant idea. “Hey, do you want to go to the pool?”

  “Ohhh that is a good idea.” He quickly got to his feet, tossing my backpack onto his shoulder and pulling me to my feet. “Come on.”

  Chapter 56 – Kit

  April 7th, 2017

  The complex’s pool was completely deserted, everyone had to be in class or stuck inside doing work. Riker had jumped into the pool for five seconds before getting right back out and lounging around on one of the deck chairs for an hour before getting back in the water. Now he was just swimming back and forth from one side of the pool to the other.

  I looked down at the phone in my hands.

  E: I’ve almost finished with the figures. Hopefully I’ll get them to you in the next hour so you can get started on your part. Don’t want to waste the day.

  K: Definitely don’t want to waste it.

  E: I still can’t believe they ALL gave us the day off.

  K: Neither can I, it’s great. I needed this time.

  E: Well let’s make the most of it.

  K: Yeah.

  I put my phone aside and looked up at Riker still doing his laps. Yeah, I definitely was grateful to the professors. Somewhere in the back of my head was the small voice yelling at me for not working on the project like Elyse and the rest of the group almost certainly was, but I had buried it as deep as I possibly could for the day. That took a lot of effort, but I had succeeded.

  Sometime between waking up and Riker being in class, I remembered the impending doom that was the real world lurking just ahead of me. Maybe on any other day that would’ve pushed me harder on my assignments so that I could get the highest grade possible and be ready and wanted by employers, but on this day, it pushed me in another direction. In a few short months I would be in the real world, I wouldn’t be a kid anymore, there wouldn’t be as much time in my life for fun and relaxation, let alone the time to spend hours on end on any given day doing whatever came to mind in the moment. College was about fun and spontaneity and enjoying the last years of life unburdened by the responsibilities of full on adult life.

  I didn’t regret anything during my four years, maybe I spent a lot of time studying and working that I could’ve afforded to spend with friends instead, but I also did spend plenty of time enjoying life. Now that it was almost over though, I had the urge to grasp as many of those fun moments as I could and to let the stress of everything else disappear for a little while. It was my senior year after all, it was supposed to be the best year.

  Riker paused in his swimming for a moment and looked up at me, pouting. Maybe he had the right outlook on things. Maybe the grades weren’t all that important, at least not as much as the world would lead us to believe. Maybe passing in good graces was good enough. Maybe the experiences we all make for ourselves, and the ones we share with others, is what it was really about. Learning to experience life as it comes, sitting back occasionally to do absolutely nothing but prepared to jump into action the moment something comes along of interest, but also taking a hundred different moments in stride at the same time and still keep moving without losing a beat. Sleepless nights really didn’t seem like a big ask if you lived every moment of the day, whether it be doing nothing in good company or hiking with friends. After all, what’s the point of life if you spend the whole time worried about what’s coming next and not living in the moment?

  I shook my head a little and smiled back at him, then stood up and made my way into the pool. The professors might’ve given us the day to work on our projects, but there was still plenty of time to finish them, we had planned out how to get it done in time without this day anyway. Elyse could work all she wanted I’d catch up later. This day would be about seizing the moment and experiencing life as it comes. It would be me and Riker, because when it was all said and done, he was more important than anything.

  By the time I was fully in the pool, Riker was underneath the water swimming towards me. He stopped just short, jumping out of the water and splashing me big time with a roar. I lunged after him with a chuckle and a big smile, but he was already backing away from me.

  “Come here, little shark,” I said as I started moving towards him smiling.

  “No,” he said with a defiant little smile.

  Quick as ever he started swimming away from me and I chased after him. It took me a little while, but I did get my hands on him in the end. He flailed trying to break free and he giggled, and then he yelped as I tossed him a couple feet. I swam back to him just in time to pull him back into my arms a split second after he resurfaced. He was laughing again, but this time he came willingly into my arms.

  Our legs were knocking into each other and getting tangled a little as we treaded water, but somehow that made the moment even more perfect, because neither of us cared. He was laughing happily against me. I had him, all beautiful and smooth with drenched hair, in my arms. I didn’t need anything else in my life.

  Chapter 57 - Kit

  April 15th, 2017

  I couldn’t sleep. I wish I could say it was because Riker was sprawled out over three-fourths of the bed, and totally not leaving me any space whatsoever, but that wasn’t it. It had just been one of those days, and no amount of relaxed down time with Riker before we went to bed had been able to make things better.

  Riker shifted next to me but kept on sleeping. Alright, I couldn’t lie here and stare at the ceiling anymore. I turned and pressed a kiss to his spine then whispered, “I’ll be back,” before rolling out of the bed and quietly leaving the room to go to my own room. I changed into my workout clothes and headed to the complex’s gym. Thankfully, it was empty. Not many people used the twenty-four-hour gym, but there had been a few times when there had been someone else here at this hour. It wasn’t a bad thing. It was just that sometimes I needed to really let loose and it was easier to do that without an audience.

  I had only planned on it being a quick twenty-minute workout. Quick enough that Riker wouldn’t try to claim the entire bed and then realize I was gone. But it turned into a thirty-minute workout, and then forty-five, then an hour. It wasn’t until the hour and a half mark that I finally sat down on the gym floor to catch my breath. Sitting there and breathing heavily, a full body exhaustion fell over me. It took another ten minutes of sitting there for me to summon the energy to stand back up and make my way back to the apar
tment.

  I took the shortest shower I possibly could while still getting rid of all the sweat. I changed again and snuck back into Riker’s room. Surprisingly, he hadn’t taken over the entire bed, he hadn’t made any more room for me either, but hey, I could manage. I flipped the blanket back just enough to slide into the space I vacated earlier, then ever so gently shoved Riker’s torso over a couple inches and kicked my legs over top of his. I kissed his shoulder then finally let my head hit my pillow and my eyes close.

  My sleep was peacefully blank. If there were dreams, I didn’t remember them. When I woke up again, it was to Riker’s alarm blaring. Usually he moved faster than anyone on the face of the planet to turn an alarm off, but after a few seconds it was still going. I opened my eyes and laughed tiredly. He somehow had gotten most his torso and arms trapped under the blanket and was flailing miserably trying to get free.

  “Don’t hurt yourself,” I said before rolling over so that my chest was plastered to his back and I could reach over to his side of the bed and grab the phone, quickly hitting the off button on the alarm.

  He relaxed immediately under me. “Thanks,” he said.

  I put his phone back down and wound my arm back under the blanket and around his waist. “I didn’t realize your bed was booby trapped.”

  “I didn’t either.”

  “So, what’s the alarm for?”

  “Nothing, I just forgot to turn it off,” he groaned. Right, his first weekend in a while without having to wake up for soccer practice or a game.

  I kissed the back of his neck then straightened the blanket out over him. “Go back to sleep, Ri.”