EPILOGUE 1

2 months later

jamie

I was early but I never could help myself from being early for Mateo. He just had that kind of effect on me. I literally always wanted to be with him. Soon that would be our reality when we hopped on a plane for Europe in just a few days' time, a reality I hoped he would enjoy as much as I knew I would.

We were starting in Paris first where Mateo was booked solidly for a month with photoshoots and fashion shows that he had been deliriously excited about when Glen had sent the schedule over. I admittedly couldn't name one fashion house from the next but it was so nice to see Mateo literally buzzing with happiness. It just confirmed for me that we really had made the right call here with his career.

And with each other. That part I was very, very sure about and I was just as delirious about the idea of getting to wake up beside him every morning as I was about this crazy whirlwind overseas move we were about to embark on.

After Paris it was over to Milan for fashion week casting call which Glen assured me would be a shoe in for Mateo with fashion houses already clamouring for him. We were going to take a few extra weeks while we were in Italy so Mateo could show me around where he had grown up, including a week in his home town. I wasn't sure if I was more excited by the idea of eating my way through Italy or hearing Mateo speak his native language. Which still admittedly got me rather hot under the collar.

After that we were heading straight for New York and to Glen's apartment in Manhattan. We'd committed to staying there for six months but I had a feeling we wouldn't be leaving. I'd seen the list of jobs Mateo had lined up for him over there with fashion brands even I had heard of. That plus the ease of access to the other fashion capitals in Europe and I could see it was where he needed to be. And I needed to be wherever Mateo was. Simple as that.

Mateo reliably rolled his eyes at me which I now knew was his love language as I followed him to the kitchen, waiting as he added the yellow gerbera I'd just given him to the overflowing vase that was bursting with the colourful bunch he'd collated over the last two months. He'd had to keep throwing out the older ones as they dried out but there were still enough beautiful, vibrant gerberas in that vase to leave him in no doubt of my feelings for him.

Mateo's eyes lingered on the vase, that soft smile playing on his lips that told me he loved his growing collection of gerberas, the ones I gave him whenever I saw him. Just so he never forgot how much I loved him. Turned out my boy was a bit of a romantic at heart. Well, deep, deep down at heart at any rate.

"How was your last day at the office?" I asked, eyes tracing the way his light blue jeans hugged his ass, that black leather jacket I had originally fallen for squeezing his shoulders.

"Good," he smiled. "Really good. I think Lucille is going to be great and Dante already loves her. They'll never even know I left."

"Sure," I teased, brushing my lips against his temple. "Dante will miss you and you know it."

Mateo sighed. "Yeah. I know."

"Hey, we'll keep in touch with them," I assured him, needing him to know I would help him with that. Hell, I loved that adopted aunty and uncle of his nearly as much as Mateo did. "I've already set Giulia up on Zoom so we can video call them as soon as we get to Paris."

"Dante gave me a farewell gift," Mateo added, a shy smile on his face. "A Saint Christopher pendant." I noticed then the small golden disc on his chain, the engraved image of the saint with the words ‘ go your way in safety '.

"The patron saint of travellers," I said, sliding my finger under the gold disc so I could look at it. "It's beautiful."

"Yeah, it is. And what about you? When is your big farewell happening?" he asked, his fingers lingering on the chain as I dropped it.

"We had to make it for Wednesday," I told him. "Only day we could all make it in to the station." As I had fully anticipated, I had copped an absolute ribbing from the guys ever since Mateo had shown up at the station and blew up my life. I don't think a day had gone by where one or all of them hadn't introduced me as ‘ this is Jamie, he's terrific in bed '. I had no doubt my farewell was going to be very much along the same lines. Though secretly I loved the ribbing because it was words said by my Mateo. Not that I would ever tell any of them that.

"That's only two days before we leave for Paris," Mateo replied.

"I know, darling," I grinned, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "Plenty of time for me to pack. I travel light."

"I should probably warn you that I don't travel so light," he grimaced.

"Really? I never would have guessed," I teased, grinning as his cheeks lit up. "Don't forget we've also got that barbecue at Kel and Bill's tomorrow night."

"I remember," Mateo smiled. "I love your besties."

"Well that's good because they love you too," I assured him. "In fact, Bill has a really unhealthy crush on you so be a little on your guard about him."

"Sure he does," Mateo choked on a laugh. Oh, if only he knew.

"You ready to go?"

"I am," he smiled, letting me take his hand and lead him out to where my car was parked on the street.

The drive to Paddy's was short and it was hardly any time at all before I was opening his car door for him. He gripped tight to my hand as I led the way inside, feeling just the faintest intake of air from Mateo as we stepped out in public. He was still getting used to being out with me but there were always those unwelcome remnants of his past fears that came out for a brief moment, usually forgotten as soon as I squeezed his hand in reassurance.

For a small town like Esperance, the people here were pretty easy going about Mateo dating a guy. Nick assured me he'd never had any real trouble being openly out around here and I was so glad that was his experience. And now Mateo's too as the bartender gave him a friendly hello as we ordered our drinks.

The guys were already there, gathered around the pool table and commandeering the old velvet sofa like usual. Nick's arm was entwined around his boyfriend's waist and the huge smile on his face told me how pleased he was that Ajay was in town.

We made our way there now, Mateo pulling me along beside him.

"Good to see you, Ajay," Mateo said, smiling with a friendly nod at Nick's boyfriend.

"You too, Mateo," Ajay beamed. "Like my top?" he asked, gesturing down at the charcoal henley he was wearing.

"Love it," Mateo grinned, sharing some silent communication with Ajay while Nick looked on with an indulgent smile.

"Ajay this is Jamie, my boyfriend," Mateo continued, turning to me to make the introductions.

"Nice to meet you, Ajay," I said, holding my hand out to shake his.

"You too," Ajay grinned. "I've heard a lot."

"Now you make me sound like an old gossip," Nick returned, sharing a grin with Ajay. And man they were cute together. They really were perfect as they shared a smile that was just for each other. Ajay was gorgeous too, just quite a bit younger than I had expected but that was no surprise given I already had five years on the three high school best friends in this group. Now I was starting to feel old.

"Have you four stopped your jabbering yet?" Rob called as he chalked up a pool cue. "Let's get this show on the road."

"Always so impatient," Nick chided. "But how is this working with five of us here?"

"Hmm, I didn't really think that through," Rob mulled, eyeing each of us in turn. "Oh wow. I just realised my posse of gay friends has expanded exponentially. This is looking great for me."

"Ajay's not gay," Nick pointed out which had me huff out a laugh.

"That might be true but he's certainly not straight," Rob continued with a wink as Ajay took the pool cue out of his hand.

"I can't argue with that," Ajay returned with a toss of his head of curls.

"All right, how about this," Rob suggested. "You four play off against each other and then the winners can go up against me."

"Deal," Mateo agreed, squeezing my hand.

"Do we play couple versus couple or switch things up?" Rob continued, eyeing me and Ajay.

"I'm not that great at pool so I'll happily stay with Mateo," I returned. "He won't judge me."

"Same here," Ajay grinned. "And Nick will hyperventilate if you keep using terms like switching things up."

"Also true," Nick nodded sagely.

"All right, no switching things up then. Let the gay tournament begin," Rob announced loudly. Mateo laughed, a huge contrast to the way he had flinched the first time I'd been here and Rob mentioned anything remotely to do with his sexuality. We really had come a long way.

"Rainbow tournament," Nick pointed out to which Rob sighed and rolled his eyes in a motion even Mateo would be proud of.

"Fine. How about the GB tournament," he huffed.

"I can live with that," Ajay responded.

"Are we all happy with our identities then?" Rob asked.

"Perfectly happy," Mateo smiled, pecking a kiss on Rob's cheek as he picked up a pool cue and moved to the head of the table to break. I had to admit I loved teaming up with Mateo and I could see Ajay and Nick were enjoying the game too. We all pretended to take it far more seriously than we really were, talking strategy between shots and using the opportunity to get handsy with our partners much to Rob's chagrin.

Nick and Ajay ended up beating us though we all played pretty well and we managed to make it right down to the eight ball. I thought Mateo might be upset about losing but he seemed perfectly content to sit on the sofa with my arm around him and drink a vodka soda so I figured he didn't mind too much. Then Rob promptly cleaned up the table and demanded a rematch which we all obliged.

"This might be the last time we're all here for a game of pool," Rob mentioned as though the thought had just dawned on him.

Mateo and Nick shared a glance with each other before the same thought must have dawned on them too.

"It's like an end of an era," Nick added.

"It's not like I'll be gone forever," Mateo replied. "Jamie and I will be back at some point."

"Yeah except who knows where Nick will be by then. We might never have another game of pool again in our lives," Rob said, horror on his face.

"Nah, man. We'll make sure of it," Mateo assured his best friend. "Whenever we're back home we'll always make sure we make time for a game of pool. Even if it is so you can hand us our asses."

Rob huffed out a laugh. "Even if you're so famous by then you won't remember our names?"

"I can promise you that will never happen. The name forgetting at least," Mateo replied with a grin.

"I can't wait to see what you do over there, M," Rob said. "Just know we'll be back here rooting for you."

"Yep. What he said," Nick added.

I brushed Mateo's hand, feeling the emotions run through him at his friends' words.

"Thanks, guys," Mateo gulped. "I'll miss you both but this is definitely not the last game of pool we'll be playing. Okay?"

"Deal," Nick said, looking at Rob until he nodded and the three of them shook hands, a look passing between the three friends that acknowledged their years together. Ajay watched on with a soft smile on his face and he grinned at me when he caught my eye.

Rob let out a deep sigh. "Maybe I should give it another shot with Kat. I'm feeling all sorts of weird jealousy being the last one left on the shelf. My love life really sucks."

"Hey, you're worth it, Rob," I told him, running my arm over his shoulders and giving him a squeeze. "Never forget you're worth it."

"Thanks, man," Rob replied, squeezing me back.

"Hey, hands off my man," Mateo jumped in. "Go find your own."

Rob laughed. "You gay boys sure get possessive of your men. Not a threat, remember?"

"Ha. Well, it kind of goes with the territory with me," Nick laughed. "Have you seen Ajay?"

"You're no better. I remember you telling me to keep my purely innocent hands off Ajay once too."

"Ah, you got me," Nick grinned. "I'm just a mindless, possessive beast when it comes to Ajay. But I'm also admittedly pretty damn horny. And Ajay just got here today. You boys don't mind if we duck out early so I can whisk him away?"

"Seriously, Nick," Ajay sighed but I saw the smile on his face suggesting he didn't mind being dragged away too much.

"That'd be right. Brag to the rest of us that you have a night of hot sex to look forward to," Rob returned.

"Speaking of hot sex, I'm feeling a little horny too. What do you say, Mateo? You want to head too?" I asked, sharing a smile with him.

"Well, when you put it like that how can I say no?" he grinned.

"If you're planning on going home to our house just remember that I can hear everything," Rob pointed out.

"Aw, does that make you uncomfortable?" Mateo chided.

"No, I'm not uncomfortable," Rob huffed.

"As long as you're not turned on, I think we can live with uncomfortable," Mateo grinned.

"I am neither turned on nor uncomfortable," Rob pressed, folding his arms defensively across his chest.

Nick and Ajay had already slipped out while we were bantering with Rob but I felt Mateo stall as he looked down at his friend, not wanting to leave him behind. I was torn, both wanting to get Mateo alone as quickly as possible whilst also not wanting to abandon Rob.

I was just about to suggest maybe we could play one more round when a shadow passed by and a girl with long brown hair sidled up beside him.

"Hello, Robbo," she purred.

"Kat, my darling," he grinned, hauling her in for a sloppy kiss on the cheek which had her squealing. "Have you come to save me?"

"I've come to give you a game of pool," she told him. "But I swear if you ask me to marry you one more time I will walk out of here and never come back."

"Sure, kitty kat," Rob chided. "That's what you said last time and look, here you are again. Back for more. I know you want to wear my ring."

"What can I say? I'm a sucker for you," she grinned, taking the pool cue out of his hand while Rob smiled like the cat that got the cream. Or the cream that got the Kat perhaps.

Mateo waved goodbye to him and then tugged on my hand and we slipped out to the quiet alley while we had the chance, eager to get home to be with the one I loved before we set off on our next big adventure.

"You're gonna miss the guys when we leave, hey?" I asked as I slipped a hand around his waist, hauling him in closer.

"Yeah," he agreed. "That's the only thing that's making this whole thing harder. But I have a feeling Rob is going to be just fine."

"I think you're right about that. And we both know Nick will certainly be fine," I added.

Mateo huffed a laugh. "That he will. Him and Ajay."

"So that just leaves you and me. And I've got a strong feeling we're going to be fine too," I said, watching as he looked up at me, that serene smile in his eyes.

"Yeah I think you're right about that," he agreed. "Although I'm going to aim a little higher than just fine. You've taught me that I can aim for the stars and I think that's where we're heading too. Right for the stars."

"Well you certainly are," I replied, pecking a kiss to his temple. "And I'll be right alongside you, cheering you on, loving you, making you remember how worth it you are."

"How I'm not just my body?" he asked, that wicked gleam in his eye.

"Yeah, that too. Well, at least how you're not always just your body. Because I sure as hell want a piece of your ass when we get home tonight," I smirked, watching his eyes darken.

"That can certainly be arranged," he replied, laughing as I planted a kiss on his lips, uncaring of the people walking past us on the street as he kissed me back like only Mateo could and I knew that everything was going to be fine with him by my side.

Better than fine. Way better than fine.