44. Reece

Nerves are plaguing me as I drive to Velum Beach. Jasper is sitting beside me, clutching my hand in his and running his fingers over my palm. It's comforting but also causing my heart to race. He's also grinning at me, as though he knows something is up. I'd thought about asking him the night he was discharged from hospital and I stayed at his house but I wasn't organised. Now I had the necklace burning a hole in my pocket. I didn't want to go traditional and give him an engagement ring. It seems so cliched to me.

It seems like hours have passed when we pull up to the Velum beach carpark. As usual it's deserted, but one car that looks like it's been parked for months and isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

I cut the engine and Jasper practically bolts out of the car. He runs onto the beach, stripping off his t-shirt and shorts as he runs towards the surf. I follow–not quite as eagerly–but I quickly catch up to him and wrap my arms around his waist from behind. He wriggles in my embrace.

"Jasp, baby, what are you doing?" I rasp into his ear.

He turns his head back to kiss me. "Going skinny dipping, Ree," he declares, a devilish smirk in his eyes that's taunting me, daring me to join him as he frees himself from my hold, and tugs his jocks down. He runs into the surf then, and I strip out of my clothes, admiring his bare arse. Once in the waves he splashes the water, beckoning me to join him. Cupping my dick I run into the waves and pull him against me.

"Hey," he murmurs softly, giving me a shy kiss.

"Hey," I respond back, my voice raspier than I intended, showing that I'm turned on, despite the freezing water.

I kiss him harder, teasing him with the tip of my tongue. He moans into my mouth, and I deepen the kiss, exploring his mouth with strokes of my tongue against his. He groans and breaks the kiss. "Fuck, Reece. I love you."

"I love you too, Jasper. I'm so glad you're here with me, and I can be open with how much I adore you."

Our bodies are wrapped around each other, and we're bobbing up and down in the waves. He sighs. "I'm sorry for the choices I made. I didn't want to die. But I couldn't handle being apart from you. It was torture."

I kiss his forehead, replying, "You don't have anything to be sorry for, baby. It was torture, but it's the past and we need to look to the future."

His eyes light up with the word ‘future' as though he knows exactly what I'm implying without saying it. Again I kiss him, hard and just as teasing as before. I bite down his lip, drawing a drop of blood that I lick away eagerly.

"Fuck," he hisses, breaking the kiss.

"You're mine, Jasper."

"Yours, Reece," he rasps back, shivering in my embrace.

"You cold?" I ask, squeezing his butt.

"Yeah, this water is freezing."

"Yeah, let's get out. I've got a surprise for you."

Again his eyes light up, and once I let him go he saunters out of the water, and back up the beach to where we left our clothes. He tugs on his jocks and t-shirt, and once I'm out of the water I do the same, sitting beside him, and reaching into the pocket of my jeans to pull out the necklace. Jasper is staring into the ocean, lost in thought, so I shift and kneel in front of him. I'm not on one knee, again not giving in to cliches.

"Jasper, baby," I start, waiting for him to look up at me. "I love you, and my world starts and ends with you. I want you by my side until the day we both leave this world."

He gasps, glancing down at the necklace in my hand. It's a simple gold chain with a heart locket.

"Are you serious?"

"Dead serious, Jasper," I reply, chuckling. "Marry me, pretty boy?"

He kisses me hard, wrapping his arms around me. "Yes, a million times yes."

He holds out his hand, and I shake my head. "I didn't get you a ring."

He gives me a cheeky pout. "Oh."

I hold up the necklace, and he leans forward. "I didn't want to do the whole cliched thing. I'll give you a ring on our wedding day."

"That sounds perfect," he replies, touching the locket with his thumb once I've clasped it around his neck.

"You're mine forever, pretty boy."

"Forever yours, Reece and Jasper until the end of time."

"Yeah, not even death will end our love," I reply, kissing him again, and pulling him into my lap. Nothing could be more perfect than having him in my arms. Jasper Capullo was always meant to be mine.