Page 107 of Devil's Kiss
“Derek, I’m?—”
“Jordan, no. Just come down here, okay?”
The elevator door opened, and when Jordan stepped inside, he said, “I’m on my way.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
As the call ended and the elevator started its descent, Jordan had never felt more nervous about anything in his life, including his first day of teaching. Was this to be the day where Derek told him to get out of his life for good? The thought physically hurt, so he shoved it aside, refusing to believe what they had would end this way.
When the elevator came to a stop and the door opened to reveal Derek standing there waiting, Jordan took the steps he needed to reach him, and Derek met him halfway, pulling him into his arms. He had no idea what was going on, but Jordan could feel Derek’s entire body shuddering as he wrapped his arms around his waist.
He automatically smoothed his hand up Derek’s back, and after what felt like hours instead of minutes, Jordan asked, “What is it? You can tell me anything. Even if I won’t like it.”
Derek took a step back and looked down, and Jordan knew that expression. This wasn’t about what had happened between them. Something else, even bigger than that, was swimming in Derek’s eyes, and with three words he confirmed it.
“It’s my father.”
JORDAN HELD ONto the “oh shit bar” as Derek zipped them through the quiet night streets of Sunset Cove as though he were on a racing track going for first place. As soon as he’d told Jordan what had happened, Jordan hadn’t hesitated to go with him to the hospital. Now there he was, fifteen minutes later, buckled into the passenger seat of a Jeep with a man who earlier that night he hadn’t been sure he would see again.
Derek hadn’t said much of anything since he’d picked him up, but as Jordan sat there and looked at the hands he was wringing around the steering wheel, he wanted to reach out, touch him in some way.
Not sure how he would react, though, Jordan kept his hands in his lap and waited for some kind of direction as to what Derek wanted from him in that moment. It wasn’t until they pulled up at a red light and Derek turned to look at him that Jordan saw the silentthank youin his eyes. That was when he decided to hell with what may or may not happen, and reached across to the steering wheel to place a hand over the white knuckles there. Derek let go and brought their hands down to the center console, where Jordan entwined their fingers.
Yes,he thought as he closed his eyes. While they may not be in the perfect place right then, wherever they were, they were there together.
The light switched to green and Derek looked away and put his foot on the gas, but the rest of the way he kept the connection between them, and when they got to the hospital and had to let go to get out of the car, he didn’t waste a second in reconnecting once he rounded the hood to stop by Jordan’s side.
As they headed up the walkway to the double doors, Derek pulled him to the side for a moment and touched his fingers to Jordan’s cheek. Jordan thought he was going to ask him to wait outside, given the way his father and brother were, but all Derek did was lower his head and brush a whisper-soft kiss across his lips.
There was such emotion in the gentle gesture that Jordan’s eyes blurred and he blinked back the tears threatening. Then Derek moved his face to the side of his so their cheeks were touching and whispered, “I love you.”
And before Jordan had a chance to respond, Derek had moved away from him, tightened his hold on his fingers, and was walking them toward the double doors.
AS DEREK STOODby the elevator banks with his hand firmly inside Jordan’s, he shut his eyes and allowed himself to savor the simple beauty of that moment. Jordan standing beside him in apublicplace with his fingers wrapped around his. In amongst all of the chaos and all of the ugly, Jordan was, as always, there for him. His rock. His everything.
All that he was, and all that hecouldbe, he owed to the belief that this man had had in him, the respect that Jordan had shown and taught him from the very beginning, and it was then that Derek really got it. He really understood what Jordan had been telling him since that first day.
He tightened his grip on Jordan’s fingers and looked down at him. There were questions in Jordan’s eyes, ones Derek knew he would have to answer, but right now, he wanted this moment of simplicity. This moment of standing side by side in a sad hospital hallway, knowing that he would never again stand alone.
As the elevator dinged and they stepped inside, he pulled Jordan closer to him, and Jordan brought his other hand over to place it on top of their joined ones.
“You okay?” he asked.
Derek nodded. “Yeah.”
“If you need anything?—”
“You’re here,” he said, and Jordan fell silent, but his eyes were saying everything Derek was feeling. “That’s all I’ve ever needed.”
The elevator hit the floor his brother had texted him, and when they stepped off, Derek spotted Alan standing over by the entrance to the wing his father had been admitted to.
He pulled Jordan to a stop and thought he should give him the choice of what he was about to encounter, because while it was his family and he was used to their bullshit and asshole tendencies, he didn’t want to subject Jordan to that unless he knew what he was walking into.
“HEY,”DEREK SAID as he squeezed Jordan’s fingers.
“Hey.” He returned the half-smile Derek was aiming his way.
“I wanted to give you the option to wait back here if you want to.”