Kiss Me

Part Fifteen

Marcus

"Checkmate." I said, grinning.

"That's the third time, you're cheating."

Walker looked like his whole world was about to end and I couldn't help but laugh at him. "I think chess is the only game you can't cheat at you idiot."

"I never lose at chess." He grumbled.

"That's because you've played with shit people." I sniggered.

"Nope, I don't accept these losses."

I chuckled. "You're a sore loser."

"Am not," he whines. "I'm definitely not."

"Arguing states very differently."

"Fine, next time we play poker and I'll beat you," He huffed. Making me grin all over again. Yet his eyes sparkled in the sunlight making my chest get real tight. "I got a pack of cards in my bag upstairs," he looked positively evil and cute all at once. "What?" He asked.

"Nothing...not really."

"Nothing, not really?" He repeated. "Doesn't make a whole lot of sense." Then I hummed happily as Walker kissed me, warm body leaning into mine. This felt so good. Why had I waited so long to ask? Had I asked for it, or had Walker just pounced on me? I couldn’t remember now, I was so absorbed looking into his eyes. Didn’t matter. As long as he was kissing me, slow, thorough, and deliberate, I didn’t care who started it as long as it continued.

He laughed as he nuzzled and mouthed his way along my jawline, sucking on my earlobe and sending a jolt of pleasure down my spine as he nudged a sensitive spot with his tongue, making me squirm again. Walker was good. Of course he was. He was experienced and worldly and comfortable in his own skin, he’d been with women and men, he knew it all. He probably could’ve made people come in their pants with a smirk. "You realize….we're in the restaurant?" I breathed out.

"Mm mm….don't care." He said in my ear. Then a sharp inhale of breath caught me and I whimpered. "Shit, you okay?" He asked, pulling away.

"My neck hurts, is all." I said rubbing at it.

"You’re stressed," Walker diagnosed after looking intently at me for long moments. "Naps on the bed from now on."

"I fell asleep once on the couch." I said, fairly sure I’d never been in any real danger. My neck was killing me, though, and I hissed as I went to turn my head. Walker was right. Should’ve napped on the bed, but after that emotional moment with my dad, it kind of took a lot out of me.

"Here," he said, and before I could figure out what here meant in this instance, he was leaning over the back of the leather bucket chair with both thumbs pressing into the back of my neck. The world’s most embarrassing whimper escaped me as he put pressure on the spot that hurt, teeth digging into my lip to stop myself crying out as he worked on stiff muscles. "Oh my gosh," Walker murmured, warm hands still on my neck, working on sore muscles without a pause. "Holy shit. How long have you been walking around like this?"

"Uh…" Always, I thought. I’d had a stiff neck my whole life, I’d just pushed it past the point where it could cope.

Another whimper escaped me as Walker pushed his fingers harder on the back of my neck, soothing away the worst of the pain instantly, a ripple of pleasure rolling down my spine. "Let me know if it’s too much," he said. "We’ll take a break. You’ve got knots the size of tennis balls back here." I wasn’t really surprised to hear that. Long hours, short nights, a pillow I knew I had to replace but hadn’t gotten around to yet. Walker, though, was magic. It hurt, it hurt like hell as he poked and prodded and dug his strong thumbs so deep into my flesh it felt like he was touching bone, but when he got something to give, it was incredible. A low moan rumbled in my chest as he loosened one of the worst knots, a rush of pleasure flooding my stomach. "That was a nasty one," he said, satisfaction in his voice. "Bet you feel way better?" I wanted to answer, but all I could get to come out was a desperate little whimper. And he laughed, keeping up his work without pause, and before I knew it I was sitting with my face pressed against the table, panting for breath and tingling with pleasure, another low, deep moan escaping me as he ran the pads of his thumbs up and down the back of my neck, knots all worked out, muscles relaxed and pliant. "I'm thinking we should have done this in the room." He chuckled.

"Mmm...prob...ably." I managed to say. Arousal tugged at my belly button, my cock stirring in my pants as all the pain faded back and the pleasure kept building, Walker’s strong fingers playing my body like a fucking flute. Did he know what he was doing? One part of me hoped so, and the rest of me dreaded getting caught with my dick half-hard from a simple friendly neck massage. And in the middle of the restaurant.

"You look relaxed," he murmured, voice settling over me like a warm blanket. "All done."

"Hadn’t realized how much pain I was in until I wasn’t," I said, squirming as the massage turned into Walker scratching the back of my neck lightly, a shiver running down my spine. "You do this for everyone?" I asked, focusing on not giving away that I was getting harder by the minute under the table.

"Nope," he said. "Do it for all my boyfriends though," I swallowed. Right. "Even temporary honorary ones," he added.

"Honorary?" I asked. That didn’t sound fake.

"Honorary," Walker confirmed. "Like an honorary doctorate. You’re not really my boyfriend, but you still deserve your own place in the lineup."

Why? What had I done for him? And why did I like the sound of it so much? "Because…?" I asked.

"Because you’ve taken me away to a family destination wedding," he said. "Want me to watch your sister get married. I’ve never had anyone that serious about me before. Kind of exciting." But it’s not real. Even as I thought it, it seemed petty to argue. Walker sounded happy, and he knew why I’d brought him here, what my motivation was. This wasn’t Walker fooling himself. It was Walker enjoying himself. Making the best of current circumstances. I envied him more and more the longer I spent with him. Yet guilt hit me like a rock to the head. We spend everyday together. We've had sex, twice. He's honest and caring. He also says how it is and I liked that. A lot. I liked him. A lot. A huge amount. A massive amount. More than I could admit.

"I can live with honorary boyfriend," I said, sighing as he finally took his hands away from my neck.

"Good," he said, moving to sit next to me again. "You’re very rewarding to take care of."

That was a new one. I wasn’t even sure what it meant. "Thank you. I think." I forced myself to sit up, although I wasn’t about to stand while Walker was still looking. "And umm. Thank you for fixing my neck. I owe you."

"You don't owe me. Honest." His eyes looked down at the chess board, his lashes fan across his blushed cheeks. I wondered if he knew he was one of a kind. I wondered if he knew how perfect he was. God! I thought. He is so perfect. My heart was going crazy and my brain too. I was staring at him as he put the chess pieces back in place. I felt guilty. Like I've just been leading him on or using him for comfort when I needed comforting, but now...now I think it's high time I comforted him. I think it's about time I was finally honest about my feelings, for him and honest with myself. Fuck honorary boyfriend….I wanted him to be my actual boyfriend. Yet maybe right now wasn't the right time to ask him. Later, later I will ask him.

"Afternoon ladies," I looked up at the voice to see Henley staring down at us, a big grin across his face. "Having fun?"

"Great fun," Walker said. "I lost three times, He's cheating." Waving his hand over the chess board.

"I'm not cheating." I added.

"I wasn't referring to that, but okay." Henley pulled out a chair and sat with us.

"You saw…" I muttered.

"Oh yes, looked like you were thoroughly enjoying yourself."

I huffed and folded my arms over my chest. "Where's Aya?"

"Helping your mom and Lily."

"Right. At least she doesn't hate him." I started to feel pissed that my mother could accept so easily when it came to Henley and Aya. That them being gay was nothing. But me...that's a whole different ball park. I was the son she pretended she didn't have.

"I wouldn't think that far ahead Marcus, your mother is being nice because we're doing the flowers. I'm sure if we weren't she'd hate us, too."

"That woman…" I started to say then stopped myself. Because it doesn't matter. I need to let it not matter.

"Marcus. You only need a few important people in your life, the rest shouldn't matter. It's not the quantity it's the quality. And you have that."

"Yeah, I'm one of them," Walker said, and squeezed my thigh. "My brother too. Which by the way said he wanted you to call him."

"He did?"

"Yeah. Apparently you're not picking up your phone."

"Oh, right...I think the battery is dead. I should charge it."

"Here, use mine. I'm gonna go grab a pint of beer, you two want one?" I nodded and took Walker's phone. And he walked away, leaving me with Henley.

"You've not told him yet then?"

I looked up. "Told him what?"

Henley grins and patted his chest, confusing me. "That you like him. We've all noticed you know. We see the way you both look at each other and you've definitely done it."

"Done what?" Okay okay, I was playing dumb.

"Stupid. You two are actually good for each other."

"What if it goes wrong...like, well...like…"

"Tom?" He said, cutting me off.

"Yeah."

"Tom's different Marcus. You know that. Two broken people won't make a whole. Walker is far from broken. He's tough, he can handle it and that's exactly what you need in your life."

"My life?" I question. "Maybe…." I stopped myself and started to nibble on my thumb nail. It was just as well I had something to put in my mouth to stop me talking, because I could have said a whole lot of things right now without thinking them through. Things I needed to really think about before I gave them voice, even to Henley, who I knew I could trust. The only person who had all the answers was me. And Walker deserved those answers.

Something in the centre of my chest squeezed so hard it hurt, but on the next breath the pressure eased off and flooded me with warmth and relief and other, bigger feelings I didn’t have names for right now. Or maybe I did. So later, later I'm doing it. For both of us.