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Jack had a life that Zeph knew nothing about and one he wasn’t going to be allowed to know about.

He had to accept that. Not taking close up photos of Jack had been hard.

If they were only for Zeph, why was that a problem?

Could he risk one? Actually, there were a couple on his phone of Jack at the ball.

One was when Jack had been laughing at something they’d seen and Zeph hadn’t been able to help himself.

Maybe that was all he’d have when Jack walked away again.

Zeph was pretty sure that was what was going to happen.

He suspected that when Jack returned nothing would be the same.

Maybe he was wrong, but he didn’t think so.

He closed his eyes, felt the sun’s heat on his face, yet he was cold.

Would they leave today? Head back to the UK?

Would Jack want to see him again? In another three years?

Questions hit like bullets from a machine gun, each of them blasting Zeph’s hope.

He opened his eyes when Jack dropped down on the sun lounger next to him.

“Thomas okay?” Zeph asked.

“Yes, but he’s stuck in Germany so I have to do a job for him. It shouldn’t take me more than a week. He’s sending details so I’ll shut myself in the study for a while, go through what needs to be done.”

“Okay.” What else could he say? Don’t go! Take me with you! “When do you have to leave?”

“Tomorrow. Early. I need to take the car but you can cycle to the shops now, right? Léon isn’t too far.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Don’t go in the sea unless you’re in an area where lifeguards are on duty. Don’t surf on your own. Wear your helmet when you cycle. Don’t stay out too long in the sun. You’re tanned but you can still burn.”

“Yes, Dad.”

Jack mock-glared.

He does care. But not enough to ask Zeph to go with him. Zeph opened his mouth to suggest it, then clamped it shut. He tried not to show his disappointment about what was happening, but the look Jack gave him told Zeph he knew.

When Jack went into the study, Zeph swam for a while, then went inside. He read, and when Jack didn’t reappear, went to see if he wanted anything to eat. When he tried the door and it was locked, his heart lurched. What the fuck?

“Are you hungry?” Zeph asked through the door.

There was no answer. For a moment, he panicked but what could he do?

Kick the door in? Look through the window.

Zeph crept outside and carefully worked his way to the study window.

If Jack saw him looking, he’d feel such an idiot.

But there was no one there. Where the hell was he?

Zeph could see all of the room. There was nowhere Jack could be hiding.

Had he gone somewhere and not told him? He must have.

But the car was still there and the bikes.

So…even if he trusted Jack, the feeling wasn’t reciprocated. Zeph tried not to take it personally. Maybe the client was someone famous and Jack couldn’t risk Zeph overhearing. Or Thomas had told Jack not to tell him. Jack trusted him but Thomas didn’t. That was fair enough.

He was still awake when Jack came to bed at one in the morning, though he kept his eyes closed. Jack snuggled up behind him and pulled Zeph close.

“I don’t want to go, but I have to,” Jack whispered, running his hands down Zeph’s body and curling them under the crease under his arse.

Jack pressed hot kisses to Zeph’s neck and ear, and Zeph liquified under his touch. Jack rolled him face down and lay on top of him, his cock nestled between Zeph’s buttocks.

A moment later, Jack’s lube-covered fingers were pushing and pressing at the tight ring of muscles at the entrance to his body, one finger slipping inside.

Zeph groaned and arched towards him. He forgot he was pissed off.

Forgot why he shouldn’t be pissed off. Forgot everything but this.

Jack was stroking that place inside him that made Zeph want to count stars forever.

“This…okay?” Jack panted, pulling his fingers free and replacing them with the head of his cock, rocking against him.

“Always!”

As Jack pushed into his body, Zeph’s hand slid to his own cock, squeezing it as Jack eased further and further inside him.

Pushing and squeezing at the same time. Jack’s moans and gasps fed Zeph’s until they were filling the room with sounds of their pleasure.

Rhythm was there, then lost. Jack had his arm beneath Zeph jerking him up into his thrust and it was all Zeph could do to keep his hand around his cock.

They came together as closely as they’d ever done and Jack collapsed on top of him, seeking out his mouth, kissing him so hard Zeph thought his lips would be bruised. He hoped they were.

Don’t let this be the last time.

Come back to me.

Jack was gone when Zeph woke.

Not just from the bed.

Zeph felt his absence from the house as a dull ache in his chest. He didn’t bother to check if the car was still there.

He knew it wouldn’t be. He’d hoped for a kiss goodbye.

He’d asked Jack to wake him and he hadn’t.

There wasn’t even a note. He showered, then dressed.

The sun was shining but it was a grey day.

Zeph had the feeling all days would feel grey from now on.

But Jack had said he’d return. Zeph would cling to that.

When Zeph pulled open the wardrobe door, he stumbled back and fell onto the bed.

All Jack’s clothes gone? Nothing left? He’d even taken his fucking tuxedo?

Zeph tried to talk himself into believing Jack would need it for something, but…

He was angry then. Why couldn’t he have at least said goodbye? Fucking arsehole!

He was shocked by his anger and by how lost he felt without him. Zeph was used to being on his own. He’d convinced himself that was how he liked things, and made himself okay with it, but now he’d been shown a different way of living, he felt adrift. He was angry about that too.

Jack hadn’t said not to call him, so Zeph did. No ringtone, then a voice said Call not connected. So he wasn’t going to be able to call him anymore, which pissed him off all over again.

He went into the study but found no clues about what Jack was doing.

No pieces of paper in the waste bin, no indents on the writing pad that Zeph could have rubbed with the side of a pencil.

Though as he looked round, he did wonder…

Zeph went outside and looked through the window, then at the exterior wall.

Was there something off about the dimensions?

He walked around the house. After he’d gone back inside and looked again, he knew he was right.

There was a space unaccounted for between the study and the garage.

A hidden room? A small one but… Maybe it was where the owners of the house stored their personal possessions.

It kept Zeph occupied for a while trying to figure out a way in.

He tugged at the shelves, moved books, looked for something that didn’t seem right, then almost by accident kicked at something on the bottom shelf that moved.

A moment later, Zeph had slid aside a whole section of shelving to reveal a door. He didn’t want to believe there’d be any risk in opening it or feeling inside for a light switch just to look, but…there was a keycode entry pad. Zeph sighed and put the shelving back in place.

It was private, the owner’s closet, and though he was curious, there was no way he’d be able to work out the code.

There’d be ten thousand combinations just for four digits.

But how had Jack known about it? Maybe he’d not been in there, he’d gone for walk outside which had been Zeph’s first thought.

All he could do was wait and hope that Jack came back.

So that’s what he did.