CHAPTER 26

Micah

Ilooked at my phone again, making sure I didn"t miss a text or call from him letting me know why he was running late. It was very uncharacteristic of him, and I was starting to get worried. I sipped my now-cold latte and scrolled through Instagram some more, committing to staying another ten minutes before I gave up. After all, it"s not like I didn"t know where he lived.

"Hey! I am so sorry I"m late! I completely suck! Please don"t be mad!" Rhys rushed out in a breathless ramble, diving into the booth across from me with a coffee cup in his hands. He was flushed red and his hair was rumpled. He kind of looked like he"d been put through the wringer.

"It"s okay! Really! Take a deep breath, man!" I reassured him, trying to calm him down so he didn"t start hyperventilating. "You alright? You look a little…flustered, and it"s not like you to be late."

Rhys" eyes widened a fraction of an inch and a look of embarrassment flashed across his features so fast that I almost missed it. Well well well, what have we been getting up to, Mr. Evans? Something naughty? Something bad? Something badly naughty?

"Yeah, no I"m good!" he said a little too fast to be convincing. "I was just talking to someone and lost track of the time. Anyway, how have things been with you?" Rhys plastered a wide smile on that betrayed his wish to change the subject. Unfortunately for him, I was a nosey fucker and couldn"t let it go until my curiosity was satisfied.

"Oooh no you don"t! We"re circling back to you. You"ve been pretty MIA lately, and I want to know what"s up," I said, directing the focus back on him much to his chagrin. "I mean…not to put too fine a point on it, but you look like you just got fucked…and good!" I teased.

Rhys blushed even deeper, and he squirmed in his seat, not making eye contact with me. Oh dirty angels above, I fucking knew it! My sexdar is almost never wrong. Micah = 1, Rhys = apparently 1 million from the look on his face.

I couldn"t stop my jaw unhinging and swinging open if I tried. "Rhys! Holy shit, who is it? Do I know him? Was it good? What happened? Last thing I knew you were having issues with that one dickweed who played…I don"t know, polo or rugby or something. Did he finally leave you alone by the way? Is this the guy who"s been keeping you busy lately?" I couldn"t stop the stream of questions pouring out of me, and I could quickly tell that I was overwhelming my poor friend. With every question I asked, his face drained a shade of color.

"Uhh…you don"t know him. I mean, there"s nothing to know. I didn"t get fu…I didn"t sleep with anyone. It wasn"t anything like that, promise! And the, um…Lacrosse guy hasn"t been bothering me. It"s all good. I"m good! Completely good and unsexed over here. I"ve just been trying to get out and live a little, you know? After what happened around Thanksgiving, I just didn"t feel like hiding in the apartment anymore." Rhys was stuttering and tripping over his words, and I instantly felt guilty that I had pushed him into talking about this. I really needed to learn to calm down.

"Rhys, I"m so sorry, it"s none of my business," I told him contritely. "I shouldn"t have pushed. I"m really glad you"ve been getting back out there and you aren"t letting what that douchebag did ruin your junior year. As long as he and his asshole teammates aren"t giving you any more grief, right?"

He nodded his head firmly, giving me a serious look. "I promise, that"s over with. I shouldn"t have any more problems with those guys. But…thank you for caring enough to ask, Micah. You"re a good friend and I"ve missed you." He gave me his patented sweet, genuine smile that could thaw even the frostiest of hearts. Rhys was such a good person with a beautiful heart and quirky personality. I really hoped he found someone worthy of him someday.

"I missed you too, Rhys. I"m really glad we were able to do this. It"s felt like it"s been forever since we"ve seen each other, which is insane because we literally share an apartment," I chortled.

"Yeah, but you"ve been spending a lot of time at Bash"s. Not that I"m judging! You should definitely be at his place. Not that I want you to move out or anything! I love having you as a roommate and friend, but I know how long you"ve wanted to be with him and you should take advantage of that! I"m just saying that I understand, you know? And I"ve been really busy too! Ugh, I"m rambling again…" Rhys cut off his words with a deep groan, burying his face in his hands and plunking both elbows on the table between us.

"Uh, Rhys, are you sure you"re okay? You just seem very on edge or something." Rhys had the tendency to be a little high strung sometimes, but this was well past his norm. I wondered if I was too quick to dismiss my concerns about him.

He took a deep breath, and dropped his hands, giving me a much calmer, authentic smile that time. "Yeah, I swear I"m fine. The talk I had with my…friend earlier just rattled me a bit, and I"m still a little jittery. Anyway, can we just talk about you and how things are going with Bash and stuff?" A silent plea was sketched on his face, and I didn"t want to make him more uncomfortable.

"Yeah, of course. Well, things have been amazing! We went out for Valentine"s Day a little late because Bash had a paper to write, plus we couldn"t find reservations anywhere within city limits. We ended up going to El Naranjo a week after and the food was so freaking good! It was all so…perfect, just the two of us back to our bestie roots. We didn"t even have sex that night. We just talked for hours like we used to and then cuddled up with a movie," I paused, thinking about that night and how much it had meant to me.

"Aw Micah, I"m so happy for you! I can"t believe you guys have come so far in such a short amount of time. Please don"t take offense to this, but I"m also a little surprised Bash jumped on the rainbow train as easily as he did," Rhys chuckled timidly.

I snorted a quick laugh. "Rainbow train? You stealing my phrases now?" I winked at him teasingly. "And I"m not offended at all. Honestly, I was shocked by it too at first. I mean, I never had any reason to believe that Bash was anything other than straight as an arrow before this." My thoughts came to a screeching halt as I was swarmed with memories of our first hookup at UNT. Ahh yes, the forgotten night…the one that technically doesn"t exist for him. Just love that.

There were a handful of moments during our relationship thus far where I considered filling him in on what we did that night. I thought it might have come back to him in pieces or maybe he"d magically wake up remembering all of it, but no such luck. For some reason, I would have felt bad holding it back from him for so long just to tell him on a random day. I worried that he"d be upset or embarrassed that he had jacked us off to high heaven and then promptly forgotten all of it, so I kept it to myself and tried to put it out of my mind. We had made so many new, delicious memories recently that it didn"t matter in the big scheme of things.

"Was there any…learning curve to the sex stuff for him?" Rhys asked, awkwardly curious.

It was my turn for my face to flood with color. "Uhh, no. Not like you would think. He said he did a lot of research before we got together. First he looked out of sheer curiosity, then to make sure he was doing it right and making it good for me. There were some things he dove into so enthusiastically that it had my head spinning a bit. Like he took to rimming like a champ. Whether he realizes it or not, that boy was made to eat ass." Rhys choked on the coffee that he had unfortunately been sipping while I talked. Ooookay, so maybe I should have kept that part to myself…oops.

"Well, that"s still good to hear," Rhys forced out, trying to steady his voice. "So, tomorrow"s the last day before Spring Break! You guys have any plans for the next week?"

"Yeah, actually! Bash has a surprise planned for me on Wednesday, but the rest of the time we"ll probably just spend hanging out together, barely leaving his apartment," I mused half to myself, thinking of all the salaciously fun things he and I could get up to with nine whole days to ourselves.

"That"s awesome, Micah! Maybe we three can get together one night and do something! Would that be okay?"

"Hell yeah, that"d be great! I"ll let Bash know and I"ll text you!" I smiled, happy that Rhys and I had gotten this chance to catch up. He"d been a friend I didn"t know I needed until I met him.

*****

Spring Break started off as good as I had expected it to. I packed a week"s worth of clothes and necessities, planning to stay at Bash"s apartment every waking minute to spend time with him. Our codependency hadn"t really improved with our new bestie-boyfriend status, but who was going to judge? My parents had weirdly enough been supportive of me staying in Austin for the break to be with Bash. It seemed like my moving away hadn"t impacted them too badly, and they actually started going out more and enjoying their alone time. They deserved it. My mom and dad had never batted an eye when I would randomly drop by or come crash for the weekend when I was at UNT, but I never thought how I might"ve been cramping their empty nest lifestyle. Maybe we all three needed the space.

Of course, I"m sure the same could be said of Bash and me, but good fucking luck with that one. He was mine and I wanted the least amount of space between us as physically allowed by the laws of science. I didn"t even want an atom"s worth of space from him, which sounded only mildly deranged as I thought it.

The first few days of the break were spent exploring Austin together as we had always wanted to. We played a competitive game at Peter Pan Mini Golf, took in a comedy show at Esther"s Follies, and hiked up Mt. Bonnell. On Tuesday, he had taken me to Zilker Park for a picnic and afterwards we walked through the Botanical Gardens there. Bash had been flirty and playful the whole time, stealing kisses and sneaking his hand along my body when no one was around. That day we weren"t best friends, but lovers who couldn"t seem to get enough of each other. Every minute of that day had my pulse thrumming a hard, steady rhythm and electricity racing through me from his touches. That night we fucked like rabbits over so many surfaces in Bash"s place that I lost count.

He had bent me over his kitchen island and taken me from behind, then moved me to his couch where he drilled me into the seat cushions until I screamed. Later in the shower, he rimmed me until I nearly cried, and then soothed it all when he plunged into me on his bed, holding my gaze and whispering filthy, beautiful words to me the whole time. It was complete rapture and I was living for it.

Today was Bash"s surprise for me, and I was once again kept in suspense the whole day, unable to draw any useful information from him to decipher where we were going and what we"d be doing. It was another date like the 360 bridge where we had to leave at a specific time, so at half past four we headed out. We drove through downtown Austin toward the river, and when Bash turned into a parking lot for a boat tour agency, excitement kicked up in my chest.

"Are we going…" I started to say, but was quickly denied.

"No! No questions! Just wait! I promise it"ll be worth it, beautiful," Bash winked at me and had me melting into a puddle at his feet.

Jesus, will I ever not be affected by him like this? Almost nine years of friendship and you"d think I"d keep a better hold of my shit around him, but nooo…one wink and he"s got me falling apart into a gelatinous pile of goo for him. Pitiful. Absolutely pitiful.

I fought against my inner brat to pout that I had to wait some more. Even I had my limits to how pathetic I was willing to act. Most days. A friendly man with a neatly trimmed beard and a slight paunch came out to help us. He and Bash talked off to the side out of earshot, ostensibly to discuss the mechanics of everything and ensure we were good to go. Even if he cut me off earlier, I knew we were going on a boat. I wasn"t a total idiot. I was just idiot adjacent at times.

I got lost in a daydream about Bash and I on some massive river yacht with a fancy bow where we"d reenact the scene from Titanic, my Rose to his Jack. The sun was just starting to drop, barely seen above the high rises on the Austin skyline in front of us, so it would have been a perfect opportunity. I sighed dreamily, letting my penchant for the dramatic drum up this fanciful vision in my head. It all got wiped clean in a millisecond when the nice boat man returned hauling a bright red…canoe.

"Uhh, what is that?" The words escaped before I could stop them. Bash just chuckled, not offended by my slightly judgmental tone.

"It"s a canoe, babe. Thought that one would have been obvious. Remind me, how did you get into UT again?" Bash jabbed, narrowing his gaze playfully.

I blinked at him and gave him a one-fingered salute, which only caused him to laugh. I felt my lips twitch in response, but tamped it down in a fit of bratitude. "Careful Dupont, or you"ll find yourself the victim of a very unfortunate, tragically unexpected and unexplained canoe capsizing which you may or may not return from." His stupid, sexy laugh only grew and my traitorous smile cracked through.

The canoe was fed into the water and Bash climbed in, holding out his hand to me so I could climb aboard and sit down gently without rocking the boat too much. We were given a brief talk on how to paddle and steer, and then we were off. Evidently, it wasn"t Bash"s first time on one of these little river toys, so I let him take the lead. Also it was his date idea, so I didn"t have much say in the matter to begin with.

Once we ventured out past the trees and overhanging foliage of the river bank, everything changed. It was like the few feet into the middle of the river launched us into a different world. The city skyline rose up, seeming to grow in size right before our eyes with the setting sun providing the most ethereal backdrop.

We passed under one bridge that had people on top waving down to us, and I waved back to a little girl who was adorably hanging half over the edge with a giant smile on her cute little face. We traveled a little further down the river in silence, just taking in the urban beauty of the lit up high rises mingling with the gorgeous nature scene running parallel to it.

It was like two different worlds had merged together in a seamless blend, and it stole my breath. It wasn"t like this was the most exotic place on earth, but right then at that moment with Bash sitting across from me, it was one of the most beautiful places I had ever been.

I caught his gaze and his smile was soft and knowing, like he could read my thoughts and knew what I was feeling. It was nothing new. Bash could read me like an open book, and my soul was always bared to him. It was his after all.

Suddenly, Bash stopped rowing and motioned for me to stop as well. My brows furrowed in confusion, wondering why we had halted. "Aren"t we going further down the river? That seemed like an awfully short ride if that"s not the case," I quipped.

Bash carefully stood up and made his way over to my seat, the boat rocking moderately from his movements. Once he sat down, he interlocked my right hand with his left and leaned in close.

"Watch the bridge," he whispered, pointing up to the large stone bridge in front of us that I knew stood as one of the major roads into the city center. I waited with baited breath, but nothing happened. All I could see were the throngs of people clustered on top of the bridge, and I absently wondered why they were there. After what seemed like several minutes of silence with Bash not saying anything and no changes in our surroundings, I decided to risk it.

"Okay, sooo…what"s supposed to be happening? Are those people waiting for something? I mean, this is cool and all, but I have to admit I kind of expected mo—"

The words died on my tongue as out of nowhere swarms of little black creatures burst forth from under the bridge. I gasped sharply, their abrupt appearance making me grab Bash"s hand tighter and lean into him. My eyes widened and my mouth fell open in soundless awe as I watched the tiny winged animals take flight, flocks of them creating dark streaks across the orange and yellow sky.

"Oh my God…Bash, what…are those bats?" I whispered, almost afraid to speak in fear of breaking the enchanting spell that had taken hold of me.

"Yeah, baby. They"re Mexican Free-tailed Bats. They live under the Congress Avenue bridge there, and for a few months out of the year, they come out each night and fly out toward the lake. The city"s kind of adopted them and protects them since they keep the bug population down, and of course they"ve become a major tourist draw. This is one of the other things that I"ve waited to do until you were with me. It"s another first for us to share, baby." Bash"s words had me turning toward him, unable to resist his magnetic pull.

When our eyes locked, the intensity in those stunning emeralds of his had my stomach fluttering. I pressed my lips to his in a firm, sweet kiss in acknowledgment of his lovely admission.

"Bash, I can"t believe you planned this for me, for us. It"s…I can"t even think of how to describe this," I stuttered out, words failing me as I tried in vain to encapsulate everything I was feeling in that second. He simply smiled and kissed my temple gently.

"Just enjoy it, baby," he said in a low whisper, and I rested my head against his shoulder as we watched the magic unfolding in the air before us.

The bats continued to pour out in dark masses, stretching and twisting in the sky, undulating like a dance that nature had coordinated. Their screeches were almost musical, accompanying their winding display in near perfect synchronicity. We sat there for what felt like ages as they came in waves from under the stone structure, only faint exclamations from the crowds on the river and bridge breaking their haunting melody.

When the sun had fully set, the swarms died down to little wisps and I took my first full breath since the show had begun. I turned to Bash again, and the look on his face was almost nervous.

"Bash, what is it?" When he only bit his lip and didn"t answer, I grew a little anxious.

"M, I wanted to ask…I mean, you don"t have to if you don"t want, it was just an idea, but…" Bash stammered cutely, but it wasn"t doing anything to ease my anxiety.

"BB, just spit it out."

He took a deep breath and let it out in a fast puff of air before pinning me in place with his eyes. "Would you move in with me? Permanently?"

I felt my eyes widen and my mouth gaped open and close like a fish gasping for air. I didn"t know why his request threw me since I had practically been living with him since November, but this was different. It was a concrete thing, something that couldn"t just be undone at a moment"s notice, not entirely. It was also proof. Proof that Bash wanted me full-time in his life, wholly invested in us and everything we could be.

"Bash…" He must"ve thought I was hesitating or unsure because his face fell and he quickly backtracked.

"Hey no, it"s okay, M. I"m sorry, I shouldn"t have dropped this on you in the middle of our date. I know you"ve been staying with me, and that"s amazing, but I…I just want you with me all the time. I thought we were ready for the next step, and—"

I sealed my lips to his to cut off his adorable rambling. He only seemed shocked for a second before grabbing my face with both hands and giving into my probing tongue. When his flavor flooded my mouth, I moaned and clutched at his biceps. I pulled back before either of us could get carried away, holding his gaze with intent.

"Bash, I would love to move in with you. I want to go to sleep each night wrapped up in your arms, and have your face be the first thing I see every morning. You"ve always been my home, baby. Now I want to make it official."

Bash"s face split into a wide grin that made his gorgeous eyes crinkle at the edges, and he reclaimed my lips with unleashed ferocity. When we were both breathless, we just stared at each other in heavy silence, our hearts doing the talking for us.

He knew what I needed, and I trusted him to give it to me.