The last was set face down and pushed toward the back. Feeling nervous suddenly, Eric reached out to pick the frame up and look at the picture. It wasn’t, as he’d feared, a picture of the two of them, but of Blaine’s parents. William and Alice Edwards stood side by side, his arm wrapped around her middle, grinning at the camera. William had been young at the time of the picture, looking impossibly handsome, and eerily like his sons.
It was strange that the picture would be out of sight of all the others. Blaine had always had a good relationship with his parents, and he knew the Edwards had been thrilled when Blaine had announced his enlistment. Then again, he hadn’t heard Blaine mention his parents much, save for the one time, and that hadn’t been with any warmth.
Blaine grumbled in his sleep, an arm flopping over his broad chest. Eric shook his head, setting the picture back where he found it and quietly slipping out of the bedroom. Despite Blaine’s restlessness, Eric was sure the man would sleep for several hours. Blaine had tried to claim he’d got plenty of rest at the hospital, but Eric knew no one got real sleep while in a hospital bed.
The apartment was a depressing sight. Nothing of Blaine had bled into the space, and it felt like a display apartment more than anything personal. A peek through the cupboards and fridge wasn’t any help, especially when he saw Blaine was probably right about the milk.
“Do you eat out all the time? Jesus, Blaine,” Eric grumbled, beginning to throw out the old food.
Tossing the food led to wiping down the fridge, which ended with him wiping the counters. He swept the floor and loaded the dishwasher with what little there was to wash.
“Oh, fuck it,” he muttered, yanking the trash bag out of the can.
If he was going to stick around and play nursemaid for Blaine, he was going to do it with some supplies. There was no way he was going to even try to make meals with the meager supplies Blaine kept in the kitchen.
Taking the garbage bag with him, he walked around the small apartment to find anything else that would need to be thrown out. He stopped when a glint caught his eye from the coffee table in the living room. Frowning, he set the bag aside, bending down to pick the object up.
His breath slipped from him when the familiar green color of the stone in the center caught the light. Eric traced his fingers over the etchings. He’d forgotten how heavy the thing was, and he cradled it in his hand.
“You kept it,” Eric said softly, shoulders slumping.
He remembered the first time he’d seen Blaine after eight years, first in Morgan’s office, and then in their shared one. Eric had been so furious and embittered by Blaine’s sudden presence, he hadn’t paid much attention. But he remembered seeing a flash of silver on Blaine’s right hand, just the band, but he’d never seen Blaine wear any jewelry since.
“Even then, you were wearing it.”
Blaine must have turned the ring so Eric wouldn’t see it, guessing Eric would have lost his mind if he had. Eric had never seen a hint of it since, meaning Blaine had taken it off and left it at home. But he’d never put it away, never locked it in a little box, and thrown it to the back of his closet.
Eric closed his eyes, closing his fingers over the ring and taking a steadying breath. He’d been an idiot, an asshole, and he’d broken his own heart along with Blaine’s. Why the man was even bothering to try with Eric was beyond him.
But he was trying, and Eric couldn’t throw it back in his face as he had with the ring all those years ago. A wobbly smile spread across his face as he tucked the ring into his pocket, comforted by its presence.
He would have to make a couple of stops before he came back. And then, whenever Blaine was ready, they could talk.
Blaine
He woke to almost total darkness. His dreams had been restless, but he felt more rested than he had after waking up in the hospital. Warmth pressed against his back, making him open his eyes and peer over his shoulder. Eric lay curled beside him, back to back.
Blaine smiled, glancing at the clock on the bedside table, and realized it was the middle of the night. There was a small note next to the bed. Picking it up, Blaine read Eric’s neat scrawl in the light of the clock, informing him that there was food in the fridge if he woke up hungry. It was followed, in typical Eric fashion, with a demand that Blaine got up and ate something.
As much as he wanted to roll over and curl himself around Eric, he knew better than to disobey an order. Eric was trying to take care of him, whether Blaine wanted him to or not, and a worried Eric was not a kind one. It didn’t stop him from basking in the warmth of Eric’s body against his, or from savoring the ache in his chest as he remembered the nights they spent together, wrapped around one another peacefully as they slept.
Soon, he told himself.
Knowing he couldn’t behave himself if he stayed in bed any longer, Blaine gently eased himself off. It was new, and the springs were reluctant to give without a fuss. Blaine winced as he banged his side against the edge. Eyes watering, he glanced at Eric, who continued to sleep peacefully. The man slept like a rock from what Blaine remembered, but he knew all too well how time and experience could change that.
Smiling, he bent over and brushed a gentle kiss over Eric’s cheek. Before he could do more than that, he backed up and walked out of the bedroom. Flicking the kitchen light on, he blinked at the loaf of bread on the fridge and the bagels beside it. Frowning, he opened the fridge to find an assortment of food and drink that hadn’t been there before.
“Damn it, Eric,” he muttered, taking the sandwich that had been left for him.
Sighing, he booted the door closed and bit into the sandwich. The bread had gone a little stiff, but he chewed happily. His appetite came alive as he walked into the living room, consuming half the sandwich before he plopped down on the couch. He was halfway through the second half when he looked down at the coffee table, chewing thoughtfully.
The ring was gone.
Blaine set the plate aside, leaning over to look under the coffee table in case it had fallen off. Looking between the cushions came next, and while he found a few bits of change and crumbs, there was no ring. Looking under the couch required more bending on his part, earning him another sharp jolt from his cracked ribs.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Eric’s irritated voice brought Blaine up to stare at the other man. His dark hair ruffled from sleep, Eric glared at him through sleepy eyes.
“Uh,” Blaine began, not sure how to explain what he was doing.
“You’ve got three broken ribs, you shouldn’t be...what the hell is wrong with you?” Eric asked.
“They’re cracked, not broken,” Blaine corrected.
“Not the point.”
“Was looking for the uh...remote.”
Eric sighed, motioning to the couch. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, you should stick to telling the truth because you’re absolute shit at lying.”
Blaine sighed, wincing as he pushed himself to his feet. “Okay, I wasn’t looking for the remote.”
Eric huffed. “I know you weren’t.”
“I just,” Blaine said, unsure how to explain that he’d had the ring, had kept it all that time.
Eric’s eyes fell on the plate. “Done?”
“Yeah,” Blaine murmured.
“Then come back here,” Eric said, motioning Blaine back toward the bedroom.
“I’m not tired, I just woke up,” Blaine muttered.
His complaints didn’t stop him from following behind Eric back to the bedroom. He reached down beside the bed and pulled up the box that had once held the letters Blaine had written for him. Eric’s face was in shadow, and he reached out, turning on the bedside lamp to illuminate his nervous features.
“Hey,” Blaine said, stepping forward to lay a gentle hand on Eric’s elbow. “What’s wrong?”
Eric took a deep breath. “Just been...doing a lot of thinking is all. Driving myself crazy, and I shouldn’t be, not about this.”
/>
“This?” Blaine asked, heart skipping a beat in hope.
Eric nodded, opening the box and reaching into it. From it, he drew out the class ring. “Found this earlier when I was cleaning up. I know it’s yours, but I couldn’t...I carried it around with me today when I went shopping and did a couple of...errands.”
Blaine’s smile felt goofy and too broad on his face. “You did?”
Eric nodded. “Yeah.”
“I know it’s a little silly,” Blaine admitted. “Since it’s supposed to be for high school kids and all, but...I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t like the idea of you carrying that around with you. It was the closest thing I had to a real kind of ring.”
Eric looked up, eyes wide and a little wet. “Real kind?”
Blaine lay his hand over Eric’s, and the ring. “I know I didn’t say it then, but I was thinking it. I was hoping, once we got out and got our lives together, that I could replace this ring with an engagement ring.”
“Seriously?” Eric asked, voice shaky.
Blaine smiled, squeezing Eric’s hand. “Even when we were just friends, Eric, you were all I really wanted in my life. Then I had you in just about every way a person can have another, and I knew, I just knew that I was never going to want anyone else at my side.”
Eric’s head bowed. “I hated you so much.”
“I know,” Blaine whispered.
“Sean was...Sean was my brother, my parent, the anchor that I needed not to go spinning off into the dark,” Eric said softly, his fingers curling around the ring. “But you, you were the sun. It didn’t matter how shitty I felt, or how low I was, you were always there, ready to lift me up and warm me. You were always so good at finding me, seeing me.”
“I still do,” Blaine said, running his fingers through Eric’s hair.
“And the one time you needed me to be there for you, I threw it back in your face,” Eric choked out.
Blaine’s heart sank. “I made mistakes too, Eric. I should have never dropped it on you. I should have talked to you beforehand, but I didn’t. I was scared.”
“I made you scared,” Eric said savagely.
Blaine sighed, leaning forward to press his forehead against Eric’s. “We can sit here and blame ourselves, blame Sean, and try to find out who’s the most at fault. But...I don’t really want that.”
“What do you want?” Eric asked shivering.
“You,” Blaine whispered. “It’s always been you, and it always will be.”
Eric pulled his head up, eyes swimming with tears as he pressed his lips to Blaine’s. Gently, Blaine cupped the back of the man’s head, pulling him closer. He heard someone sigh contentedly and realized it was him as Eric’s arm wound around his waist and gripped him tight.
“I’m sorry,” Eric murmured.
“So am I,” Blaine told him.
“You shouldn’t be.”
“But I am.”
“Then stop.”
“You stop.”
Eric huffed. “Stubborn.”
“I don’t want to live in the past anymore, Eric,” Blaine told him, taking the box to set it on the table. “I want to focus on us, on the present. I want to try to do now what we wanted back then.”
Eric leaned into him, body going loose. “I was getting so pissed, how you always seemed to know me so well, how I always wanted to just...give in to you.”
“And?” Blaine asked softly, wrapping Eric up tight in his arms.
Eric sighed. “You said we needed to stop living in the past. Easier to say I should stop kicking myself for being a melodramatic, selfish asshole.”
“You’re not,” Blaine told him.
“You said it yourself!”
“I said you could be, there’s a difference.”
“Thanks, Blaine.”
Blaine smiled at the not so subtle sarcasm. “I know you, Eric. What few things you let close to you, you love with a burning passion and defend like it’s your life on the line. You put so much thought into everything you do, and you don’t let the world back you into a corner without a fight. And yeah, sometimes you’re an absolute bastard, you can overreact and be selfish, you push too hard, and sometimes you need to ease up on people.”
“I really hope there’s a ‘but’ somewhere in there,” Eric grumbled.
Blaine took Eric’s face between his hands, holding gently. “But, I can’t imagine loving anyone but you. I say all the pretty words that are what I feel, say all the things about you I know are true, but at the end of the day, it’s you, always you. I love you, and I’m never going to stop. I didn’t before, and I’m not going to stop now.”
When Eric kissed him again, Blaine felt the fire in his chest burst into life. A shiver ran through him as fingers clutched him, pulling him in for a desperate, feverish kiss. They moved backward, the back of Eric’s knees hitting the bed and sending them tumbling onto the mattress. Blaine fought the wince as his ribs were jarred, earning a whispered apology from Eric.
Blaine didn’t care, silencing Eric with another kiss. They rolled, Blaine on his back, as he pulled at Eric’s clothes. There was a need in his movements, but he tempered it, wanting it to be good, to be slow. Eric’s chest and stomach were covered in a small patch of dark hair, which Blaine ran his fingers through as he traced Eric’s body. Undoing his jeans, Blaine gripped his hips, grinding up into him.
Eric gasped against his lips, trying to remove Blaine’s clothes without breaking the kiss for too long. They adjusted and kicked, removing every last shred of their clothing. Eric’s body was warm and taut against him, his cock pressing firmly against Blaine’s stomach as their tongues danced over one another.
It was so much like the last time they’d had one another, wanted one another, and yet completely different. They were both bigger, older, wiser, but it was still Eric. Blaine still shivered when Eric nibbled the pulse point on his neck, and Eric still shivered when Blaine held tight to his hips.
Rolling Eric onto his back, Blaine took his time to lay a trail of kisses down his neck, over his shoulders, and down the line of his chest. Eric’s stomach muscles jumped as Blaine’s ministrations reached lower. Letting out a soft moan, he wrapped his hands around the man’s cock, stroking it gently.
Eric gasped, arching his back into the touch. Blaine grinned, wrapping his lips around the leaking tip, earning himself a whimper. With Eric distracted, Blaine reached out to root through the drawer beside the bed and pull out the bottle of lube. Eric slid deeper into his throat as Blaine popped open the bottle.
With a strangled yelp, Eric’s hands slapped down onto the bed, gripping the sheet tight as Blaine’s fingers slid into him. A sound that might have been an attempt at Blaine’s name came from Eric, his cock throbbing against Blaine’s tongue. Humming contentedly, he added another finger, stomach twisting in delight at the squeeze around his fingers and the desperate groan from the other man.
“Tease,” Eric managed around another rattling breath. “Just...Blaine, Blaine, please.”
As much as Blaine had loved the fire and vigor of Eric in their shared moment in the alley, he had always loved when Eric became pliant and needy. He gazed down at Eric, pupils blown, cheeks red, lips parted as he panted for breath. He wasn’t going to demand, but he sure as hell was willing to plead for what he wanted.
Blaine grinned, sliding up Eric’s body and claiming his lips. Eric raised his hips, wrapping his legs around Blaine’s waist and pulling him close. Slipping a hand between them, Blaine slid his slick hand over the length of his own cock, making sure to coat it thoroughly. He had to force the other man’s hips down onto the bed to keep him still enough to aim, jutting the head of his cock against Eric’s hole.
“Yeah?” Blaine asked, looking down at his bare cock.
“Yes,” Eric hissed.
With a push, they both groaned as Blaine spread the other man open. Shuddering, he pushed down into the other man, taking deep breaths to keep himself in control. It had been so long since h
e’d last felt this, Eric’s body beneath him, wrapped around his cock, legs quivering as they held tight to Blaine’s waist. No one had ever felt as good, as right, as Eric, and as he sank the last inch into the man, he knew no one ever would.
Cradling the back of Eric’s head, Blaine shifted his hips, drawing a low groan from his partner. It was all the encouragement he needed to begin rocking his hips. Each thrust pulled back a little further and buried into him a little harder. Sweat began to shine on Eric’s forehead and chest, his mouth hanging open, and his eyes locked on Blaine’s face.
Blaine curled down against Eric as he pistoned his hips, driving himself into the other man with growing abandon. Below him, Eric clutched to him, pushing his face into Blaine’s neck, murmuring, and moaning softly. Fingernails dug into Blaine’s back, twisting the pain into pleasure as the bed shook beneath them.
Sensation melded perfectly with memory. Eric’s grip on him was both familiar and somehow new. Eric pulled him closer, using his thighs with more confidence than he ever had in the years before, and he was far freer with his cries of pleasure. It was the same Eric, though, the same man Blaine had given his heart to years ago. Despite the time apart, they found their rhythm together in no time, pushing and pulling at the same time, rocking together as they worked themselves to their peak.
When it came, Blaine’s hips stuttered, motions slow as Eric cried out. The grip around his cock tightened, and Blaine’s orgasm flooded through him. With a final thrust, he buried himself to the hilt, breath stolen from him. Arms shaking, he bent himself around Eric, holding him tight as pleasure shivered and shook through him.
“You good?” Blaine asked softly when it was over, and he could ease himself out of Eric.
Eric gave a faint noise that could have been a breathless chuckle. His eyes were closed, his dark hair plastered to his forehead. As far as Blaine could see, there wasn’t an ounce of tension in the man.
Unbreak My Heart (Heroes of Port Dale Book 4) Page 14
