The Puzzle Box

by CC Bridges

  He’d spread out his finds on the table—three puzzle pieces that didn’t fit together, a piece of paper with a grid of letters, the package he got from work, and his sketchbook, which he always took to the coffee shop. Cole carefully opened the package, not surprised to find another wooden box with a three-digit combo lock sealing it shut.

  This box didn’t have any instructions attached.

  He took out his phone and contemplated emailing James before shoving it back in his pocket. No, James wanted Cole to figure this out, so by golly, he was going to figure it out.

  Cole opened up to a blank page in his sketchbook and let his pencil trace aimlessly, trying to zone out and let his mind work on the problem. After a few moments, it became obvious he’d started to draw James—that slightly crooked nose, the divot of his chin, those warm eyes. Cole smiled down at the drawing.

  These puzzles were a gift. They’d brought him close to James despite the distance. Cole had a feeling they were going to lead to an epic Christmas gift, which made it all the more frustrating that he hadn’t been able to come up with a present idea of his own. James deserved something great.

  “Hey, Cole, here’s your drink.” Steve, one of the baristas, brought the macchiato over to the table. Not only was it slow this evening, but Steve had a tendency to flirt with Cole. At first Cole thought he was angling for more tips, but after a few months, it became clear he might have a little crush on Cole.

  “Thanks, dude.” Cole set the cup on the table, far from his little project.

  “Hey, so what are you working on?” Steve peered at Cole’s sketchbook.

  “It’s a picture of James. My boyfriend.” Had Cole ever mentioned James before? By the way Steve’s face fell, probably not. Steve and James had never met. James was on deployment when Steve started working here.

  “Oh, uh, that’s cool. What’s all this other stuff?” Steve shuffled from side to side, and his cheeks turned red. Cole felt bad for the guy. He was young, probably only nineteen or twenty. He’d get over it.

  “James’s been sending me puzzles.” Cole gestured at the mess. “But I’m stuck on this one.”

  Steve picked up the paper with the grid of letters. “Do you have a key for this word search puzzle?”

  “Word search?” Cole repeated. He snatched the paper away from Steve, his heart racing. Now that he actually looked at it, Cole could pick out words in the grid—his name and James’s, the name of their street, their high school…. His mind whirled. “Steve, thank you. You’ve been very helpful.”

  “I try.”

  COLE HAD missed dinner, but he managed to circle all the words he could recognize in the letter grid. When he finished, the words not circled spelled out the numbers: 438. He entered that code in the lock, and the box popped open.

  Inside he found three puzzle pieces. Ah, that would explain why the pieces he had didn’t fit. Cole spread out the six pieces on his kitchen table and assembled the puzzle, revealing a scene on the boardwalk. In the background he could see a sign that said Welcome to Asbury Park.

  He stared at the picture for a moment, certain he recognized the place. Had James somehow managed to get a photo of the very place he’d asked Cole to move in with him? It was after college. They’d both graduated and spent the summer down the shore with their friends, renting a beach house before James had to leave.

  “That’s a long trip you want me to take, James.” Cole pulled out his phone, winced at the time, and sent Liz a quick text. Are you awake?

  The phone buzzed in his hand a few minute later—Liz calling him back. “I guess that means you are awake.”

  “Clearly. What’s going on?” She sounded worried. Maybe Cole shouldn’t have texted her so late.

  Too late to apologize now. “I wanted to tell you I figured out the grid from the restaurant—oh, and I got another package at work today. I needed the grid to get the code for this box.”

  “Nice work, Holmes. What was inside?” Now she sounded amused, which was much better.

  “The rest of the puzzle. It’s a picture of a place on the boardwalk in Asbury Park. Are you up for another road trip this weekend?”

  Silence.

  “Liz?”

  “You’re so close, Cole. But you don’t have it exactly right yet.”

  Wait a minute…. “Have you been helping James this whole time?” Cole demanded.

  “I can’t say anything else. I promised…. Damn it.” She hung up.

  Cole laughed. He texted You are so busted along with a smile emoji so she’d know he wasn’t angry. In fact, her involvement had his heart warming. He had great friends and a great boyfriend.

  Now if he could only figure out this last puzzle. It had to be something obvious, something James would have expected Cole to notice. He spent a good minute contemplating the composition and use of color before realizing James wouldn’t have thought of that at all.

  Maybe he should head to bed and pick this up in the morning. Cole got up and knocked into the table, sending the puzzle pieces flying. “Damn it.”

  He knelt, trying to gather all of the pieces together off the floor. Only then did he notice the back of the pieces had writing on it.

  Cole’s heart sped up with excitement. Of course. Put the pieces together, and there was a message on the back. He fit the puzzle back together quickly, his hands shaking. Then, using a piece of cardboard, he flipped the puzzle over to read the text.

  It was gibberish.

  “Not another puzzle! James!” Cole pulled out his phone to email James and complain when he thought of something. He took a quick picture of the words on his phone and took it over to the bathroom mirror.

  In the reflection he could read the message perfectly.

  Christmas Eve. 4PM.

  Cole grinned. “I’ll be there.”

  COLE STARED at the dark-blue waves punishing the beach. He couldn’t shake the feeling he’d made a terrible mistake. He’d gotten the puzzle wrong. James didn’t actually mean for Cole to come here. Or if he did, Cole should start looking for his next clue.

  He checked his phone, looking at the picture he’d taken of the completed puzzle one more time. Cole stood at the exact same location, although the boardwalk looked a little worn in the winter. Few places were open, although the downtown had been decorated for the holidays with red ribbons and white lights twinkled from the Stone Pony. Still it felt weird being at the beach on Christmas Eve. He didn’t even have to pay for parking!

  Cole looked out at the ocean, resting his arms on the wooden railing. He breathed deep of the salt sea air, the wind gently buffeting his face. A seagull let out a shriek, and yet somehow, over all of that, he heard footsteps, loud on the wooden planks.

  He turned just as James appeared on his right. “James!”

  “Merry Christmas.”

  Cole could feel the tears well up, even as he grabbed James and held him close. Is this real? He breathed deeply, taking in James’s scent even over the ocean air. He didn’t realize he was shaking until James pulled away and cupped Cole’s face in his hands. “Cole, are you all right?”

  “I’m fine. Of course I’m fine. You’re here.” He tucked his hands around James’s waist, fitting his thumbs beneath James’s shirt to get at the warm skin there. Cole needed to touch, to feel James was real. “How are you here?”

  James’s cheeks went pink. “I wanted to surprise you for Christmas. Oh, Cole, don’t cry, I’m sorry.”

  In response Cole kissed him. Oh, what a kiss. He poured everything into it, all the months of waiting and worrying, the nights of holding his pillow to his chest and pretending it was James in his arms, the quiet meals around his dining room table, too silent without James’s voice.

  James kissed back, his lips just as eager. He stroked Cole’s face, biting at Cole’s lower lip before licking the hurt away.

  “So you’re not mad?” James asked, his brow furrowed over those beautiful blue eyes.

  “Officially not mad.”

 
; James grinned, and that was much better, to see the light in his expression. “I booked us a hotel room. Interested?”

  “I see how it’s going to be.” Cole took James’s hand as they walked down the boardwalk. “I’m officially okay with that too.” It had been so long since he’d gotten his hands on James’s body. He didn’t want to take the hour car ride back home. “But why here? You could have just showed up at the apartment.”

  James shrugged. “It made sense in my head. I wanted to take you on a journey. Reminding you of the things I think about all the time when I’m away from you.”

  “How we first met? Our first kiss?” Cole couldn’t help it. He raised James’s hand and planted a kiss on his knuckles. “Mr. Romantic.”

  “Yeah, but also… I’ve been away a long time, Cole. I’m sure you’ve gotten other offers.”

  Cole thought about the barista and shook his head. “None worth one percent of you.”

  James laughed. “Good to hear. I’m not just back for Christmas, Cole. I’m back for good.”

  Cole stopped midstep. With the way the wind was blowing against his ears, he wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly. “What?”

  “I finished my five years of active duty. I get to go on reserves starting next year.” James swallowed. “I know it’s going to be weird, having me home, but….”

  Cole kissed him again. “Where’s that hotel room you mentioned?”

  Luckily James had gotten a winter rate on one of the beachfront hotels. They didn’t have far to walk at all before reaching the Asbury Hotel. “I checked in this morning. I’ve been waiting for you to arrive since about noon.”

  The lobby had been done up for the holiday, complete with a Christmas tree in the center. Maybe a lot of people came out for a beach getaway in the winter. If you didn’t have a lot of family for the holidays, he could see it being romantic to come down here and just be a couple.

  Which was exactly what James had planned, apparently.

  Cole didn’t pay much attention to the decor of their room. He noted pale wooden furniture, white walls, and a perfectly good king-sized bed in the center with the top cover already turned down. Of course he had to tackle James onto it.

  James laughed, struggling to get out of his jacket. “You know, my original plan was to have you come here, and I’d be on this bed, naked except for a giant red bow.”

  Cole sat back and tugged off his own jacket. The thought of James—stretched out, in nothing but perfect golden skin—made his cock leap. “Why didn’t you?”

  James had gone for his shoes next. “There was always the chance you’d bring Liz with you.”

  He had to laugh at that because he’d almost done that very thing. “Well, you’ll be happy to know that’s the only time she broke character, when I tried to get her to come with me. How did you manage to get her on your side?”

  “She’s always been on your side, Cole. Which is exactly why I emailed her with my silly ideas once I found out I was being released.”

  “Never silly.” Cole slipped out of his shoes and decided he had enough with being apart. He started attacking James’s shirt, lifting it up over his head and revealed his lightly furred chest. God, it had been so long.

  Cole gave in. He ran his hands down James’s sides, leaning forward to follow with his mouth, tracing down the center of James’s chest, taking time to worship one nipple, then the other. He cataloged the taste, rememorizing James with each lick and nibble. “I need to taste you.”

  James groaned. “Go ahead.”

  With trembling hands, he unbuckled James’s fly, taking the time to push his jeans down past his hips. He might want to get his mouth around James, but Cole wanted to do this properly. James kicked off his pants the rest of the way and sat at the edge of the bed.

  Cole got on his knees and slipped between James’s thighs, pressing them apart with his hands. He loved the way James’s breath hitched when he did that. For a moment he regarded James’s cock, taking it in one hand and getting to know the weight of it. Cole remembered this—smooth and slim but long.

  When the drop of liquid pooled at the top, Cole leaned in for a taste. The salty tang shocked his tongue. It had been too fucking long.

  “Cole,” James groaned, his hand in Cole’s hair, just how Cole liked it.

  “Let me,” Cole breathed across James’s cock. He smiled when it twitched in response.

  No time for teasing now. Cole wrapped his mouth around James, keeping one hand at the base and the other braced against one muscular thigh. He used his tongue, his lips, humming when he could. It felt right to fit this way again.

  He could feel James’s reaction, the way his thighs strained to remain open, the way he pulled at Cole’s hair, the noises escaping from his mouth.

  “Come on me.” Cole pulled away. He wanted to be marked as James’s because he damn well belonged to him, and he’d let everyone know that if he could.

  He stroked James with his hand until James let out a deep sigh, streaking Cole’s chest with stripes of come. Cole shuddered, his own cock pressing hard against his jeans and begging for release.

  “Get up here, you.” James didn’t give Cole time to react. He reached down and hauled Cole onto the bed, tearing through Cole’s fly, and then stripping him of his jeans and boxers. Cole loved being manhandled like this.

  “Mister. Impatient.” James punctuated each word with kisses, starting at Cole’s jaw and then mouthing down his chest, plucking at Cole’s nipples until Cole felt heated and oversensitized. “I. Have. Lube.”

  Cole laughed, but then the laughter changed into a moan as James got between Cole’s legs, sliding one hand to explore behind his balls. Oh. He hadn’t been touched there in months. Cole didn’t like to play with himself in that way. It always belonged to James.

  James leaned over Cole and grabbed something from the bedside table—the lube. Then he coated one finger and reached for Cole again. “All right?”

  “Mmmmyeah.” Cole had lost the capacity to speak. He could only feel: James’s breath against his hard and oversensitive cock, James plying Cole’s hole with his fingers, opening it and demanding passage.

  Two fingers inside him now. Cole arched his back, trying to spread his legs and ask for more. He knew he couldn’t take it, not yet. James massaged him from the inside, pressing farther until Cole cried out from the shock of it.

  “Like that,” James murmured. “Come in my mouth, lovely.” He engulfed Cole’s dick, his mouth hot and wet, and Cole couldn’t take any more, he just couldn’t.

  “James,” he said as he came. “James, James, James….”

  “Shh, I’m here. I promise I’m here.” James eased out of Cole gently. He pressed a messy kiss against Cole’s chest. “Let me get a towel. Don’t move.”

  “Never moving again,” Cole promised. He closed his eyes and dozed off for a moment before he felt a warm, damp towel against his chest.

  James smiled down at him. “Dinner? Then we have the room for the rest of the night. I figure we drive back to the apartment in the morning before heading to my parents’ house.”

  “Right. It’s Christmas.” Cole reached up and cupped James’s face in one hand, feeling the slight stubble against his fingers. “Fuck, it’s Christmas.”

  “You sound upset?”

  “I didn’t get you anything.” Cole hadn’t managed to come up with a present. He thought with James away, he’d have a little more time to make something.

  “Well. I didn’t get you anything either. Just myself.” James looked almost shy as he said it. “And you’re enough for me, Cole. Just you, as you are.”

  Oh God, he was absolutely perfect and beautiful, and Cole wanted to spend the rest of his life with this man. “Marry me,” he said.

  James’s jaw dropped.

  Cole pulled away long enough to grab the standard hotel notepad from the end table, wishing he’d brought his proper sketchbook with him. The ballpoint pen sufficed as he drew a quick facsimile of a ring, the kin
d of ring he’d always wanted to buy James—solid except for a diamond and an emerald, both of their birthstones. “There. That’s an IOU.”

  James took the notepad and stared down at it. “Cole….”

  “I’ve been eying it at the jeweler on the corner for months,” Cole said softly, just so James didn’t think he’d come up with it on the spot.

  “Yes. Of course I’ll marry you.”

  Cole tumbled him back onto the bed.

  The next morning he woke sore but satisfied and happy in a way he hadn’t been for a long time. Cole got out of bed and looked out the window, shocked to see snow flurries despite the weird weather they’d been having. It wouldn’t be a white Christmas, no, but it would certainly be a magical one.

  He slid back under the covers, kissed James awake, and murmured, “Welcome home for good. I love you. Merry Christmas.”

  “Merry Christmas, Cole.”

  CC BRIDGES is a mild-mannered librarian by day, but by night she writes about worlds of adventure and romance. When she’s not busy solving puzzles in an escape room, she can be found diving into comics or binge-watching superhero movies. She writes surrounded by books, spare computing equipment, a fluffy dog, and a long-suffering husband in the state of New Jersey. In 2011, she won a Rainbow Award for best gay sci-fi/futuristic novel.

  Website: www.ccbridges.net

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/ccbridgeswriter

  Twitter: @ccbridgeswriter

  Email: ccbridges10@gmail.com

  By CC Bridges

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  Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS

  www.dreamspinnerpress.com

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  DREAMSPINNER PRESS