Out of Frame

by Megan Erickson

  “Damn, that’s sweet.” I leaned my head into Jay. “And kinda sappy.”

  Justin’s cheeks colored and he looked down at the floor. “Lan says I’m cheesy.”

  “Hey, we can all use a little cheese now and then,” Jay said, raising a bottle of beer to his lips.

  Justin glanced at the door to the kitchen. “I better get out there before he plans some revenge shit with Riley. Those two together are trouble.”

  He strode out and I turned in Jay’s arms, my hands reaching down to clutch his T-shirt by the waist. I nuzzled my face into his chest, which was bigger now that he was playing a rookie cop on a cable show.

  A gay rookie cop.

  After I’d moved to California, he’d hired a new agent, who found him several auditions. He wasn’t big enough yet to warrant much attention from the paparazzi, which was great. He had a small part that paid well and gave him plenty of money to send home to contribute to Darren’s surgery. In fact, they had a cousin who’d be donating his bone marrow, and the surgery was lined up for the next year. If all went well, Darren would be a teacher until he was old and gray.

  And I’d be the shy ginger boyfriend to the famous J. R. Butler.

  But to me, he was just Jay.

  He set his beer bottle on the counter behind him and smoothed my hair off my forehead. I’d let it grow a little longer because Jay said he liked it. “I like it here,” he said. “Do you?”

  “Yeah, I get a whole week where I don’t have to share you with millions of cable subscribers.”

  He laughed. “They get J. R. You get Jay. And you never have to share Jay.”

  I grinned and rose onto my tiptoes for a kiss. “That’s the way I like it.

  ***

  Jay

  The moon shone full in the sky, and I sighed, wrapping my arms around Quinn tighter. After a lazy afternoon, we’d traipsed out to the beach for a bonfire. Justin and Landry were all heart-eyes for each other now, Justin running his hands up and down Landry’s arm while he lay passive in Justin’s arms.

  Riley and Colin were talking about some kid Riley was counseling at the LGBTQ youth center where he worked.

  The waves crashed onto the shore behind us and I leaned my head back on the lounge chair we’d brought out. I thought Quinn had fallen asleep until he spoke up. “Jay?”

  “Hmmm?”

  “I love you.”

  I smiled and pressed a kiss into his hair. “I love you, too.”

  We’d said the words before, shortly after we moved in together a year ago. The Quinn who I lived with in California showed some of the same qualities as the Quinn I’d first met on the cruise ship . . . and then some. He was still shy, but it was more of a preference now. He liked to be quiet and was happy for me to be the center of attention. He was more confident, more independent.

  I understood now when couples said they’d grown apart, because I knew what it was like to grow together. That cruise ship had been the catalyst for us both to take control of our lives, to be the people we wanted to be, and sharing it together had bonded us, our hearts interwoven so tightly, I couldn’t imagine being apart.

  That was so cheesy. I was turning into Justin.

  “Wanna head back?” I murmured into his hair.

  His head bobbed, and we climbed off the chair. I folded it up and hiked it over my shoulder, reaching out to take Quinn’s hand. When I felt it slip into mine, I turned to the other guys. “We’re going to go on back, that okay?”

  Justin and Landry nodded and Colin looked up. “Be safe on the walk back.”

  Our house was right on the beach, so it wasn’t much of a walk, but Colin was kind of a dad to us all, so I just nodded. “Sure thing.”

  Quinn bumped into me as he stumbled on the loose sand near the stairs to our house. We brushed off our feet and padded barefoot down the wooden walkway. When we reached the gate, I unlatched it and motioned Quinn through. He paused when he spotted the hot tub. “Want to get in?”

  Hot water jets blasting my muscles? A wet Quinn? “Hell yeah.”

  We stripped down to our underwear and stepped inside. I hissed as the hot water enveloped me and I perched on the seat, leaning my head back.

  I opened my eyes to see Quinn playing with the bubbles on the surface of the water. “Come here.”

  He glanced up, and although his cheeks were reddening from the heat, they flushed even redder. He paddled over, and with a grunt, straddled me. I settled my hand on his cotton-clad ass. “Look at us. We’re having a great week and there’s no need to hide and take leaps into large bodies of water.”

  Quinn laughed. “We just stepped into this hot tub. We’re such adults now.”

  “About no more leaps for a while? I kinda like this calmer life, yeah?”

  He placed his hands on my shoulders, thumbs kneading the muscles. I focused on his face, damp from the water, the steam curling his hair and spiking his eyelashes. I’d never tire of looking at him. His eyes fluttered for a moment before he locked gazes with me. “I’d do it all over again, even if we didn’t end up together in the end. I’ll always leap with you.”

  I brushed the mole over his right cheekbone and he pressed into my touch. “I’ll always leap with you too, Lucky.”

  Megan Erickson is the author of the In Focus series, which includes Trust the Focus. She worked as a journalist covering real-life dramas before she decided she liked writing her own endings better and switched to fiction. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, two kids, and two cats.

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