Page 51 of Regret Me Not
Again.
Christmas Eve Morning
PIERCE STAREDat the note, feeling again the deliciousness of his used body.
The amazing vibrancy of his reawakened heart.
He’d packed the day before, and he didn’t even stop to shower before pulling on his clothes.
He wasn’t sure what he was going to say, but he wanted to be wearing Hal’s sex on his skin and inside his body when he said it. He barely stopped to splash water on his face and brush his teeth.
He knew which condo belonged to Hal’s parents—had seen Hal disappear into it those first days—and it had always loomed, tall and unapproachable, the stairwell daunting to his wounded limbs.
The walk wasn’t easy—he used his cane and the rail—but every step felt like he was ascending a tower, maybe to battle for the prince inside.
He didn’t even wait to catch his breath before banging on the door.
He heard sounds inside—scurrying—the slamming of drawers and a muffled “Oh dammit!” before the door opened.
Hal stared at him, surprised and joyous.
His eyes were red rimmed, like he’d been crying.
“No,” Pierce snapped, rubbing under Hal’s eyes with a gentle thumb.
“No?”
“No, I’m not going to talk to you before I leave. I’m going to take youwithme. Come with me. Don’t stay here.” Pierce took a deep breath, and before it could hit him that he’d said the words, he kept going. “And it’s not pity. I mean, it is, but for me. Without you. Without you I’d feel so sorry for myself I’d curl up and die. I almost did, and that was before I knew you. But now that I know you—now that”—he shivered—“now that I feel you inside me, forget about it. I can’t go on. I can’t go home. I can’t… can’t just pretend that it’s Christmas unless you’re there with me. Stay with me. We’ll visit my sister—she’ll feed you ham. We’ll drive to Sacramento, and you can be a massage therapist there. I’ll take you to the mountains and the ocean, where the sun’s in the right place.”
He paused, and Hal just gaped at him, mouth open, eyes stunned.
Pierce’s voice broke. “Just stay with me. I love you. And it’s stupid and idealistic, and I don’t care. We can be that couple, the one who was never supposed to meet but who stayed together forever. I just know—” He took a deep shuddering breath and wiped his cheeks on his shoulders. “—I just know my life won’t be good—not the job or the house or the friends or the family—none of it will be good without you in it.”
He took another deep breath—or sob, actually—and wiped his eyes again, getting a good look at Hal.
Who was smiling and crying at once.
“What?” Pierce demanded. “You’re just standing there—what? C’mon, say some—”
Hal opened the door and showed the two neatly packed suitcases next to him.
“Do you think I was going to let you go?” he asked. “I was gonna stalk you to Orlando andmakeyou love me.”
Pierce laughed, shaking, and opened his arms. Hal went—oh, so easily. He fit, like he should be there all the times forever.
“Achievement unlocked,” he rasped, burying his face in Hal’s hair and taking comfort from his smell. “Stalking unnecessary. Come home with me.”
“Yeah.”
“Be a massage therapist.”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll love you so hard, nobody’ll care that you’re a kid and I’m a grown-up.”
“You’re not a grown-up,” Hal said against his chest. “You’re a unicorn.”
“Unicorns are the best,” Pierce agreed.