by Sierra Riley
27
Jake
Just like their quickie wedding, moving in with Russ and Ryan hadn’t really been how Jake had imagined it.
In his dreams, they’d all pick out a bigger, nicer house together. Somewhere they could make their own memories and traditions, zoned for a good school with neighbors who might actually call the cops if they disappeared without a trace. He and Russ would pick out shades of paint and a new finish for the kitchen countertops. He’d make sure there was a nice backyard with a fence, in case Ryan wanted to get a dog.
It was vintage Americana, dripping with every sort of saccharine fantasy he could imagine.
The reality was a lot less sixties family sitcom, and a lot more chaos.
He was still working all day at the clinic, of course, so he’d had to move most of his things over at night. Russ had insisted that a suitcase with some changes of clothes and other essentials wouldn’t do. The house had to look lived-in by a couple. Clashing tastes and all. So he’d brought that suitcase with clothes and a toothbrush and his own personal razor, but he’d also taken Russ’s truck to bring pieces of furniture over. An end table, a coffee table, a few chairs, lamps, and some other odds and ends Russ suggested.
What they were left with by Tuesday when the agent was supposed to arrive was a mishmash of two different personalities. Russ’s furniture was all sharp lines and dreary postmodernism, while everything Jake brought was bright and colorful and could have easily made its home in a Monet painting.
Somehow, though, it all seemed to work.
If Jake had been much for the abstract, he might have said it was a good comparison for him and Russ, too.
Even though their live-in situation hadn’t met Jake’s impossible fantasy, their relationship far surpassed it. At first, they’d both been all-too aware of the fact that Ryan’s future still hung in the balance, and he was by far the most important thing to both of them. But Ryan’s appointment had gone exceptionally well. Dr. Patel said the eye was healing nicely, the pressure was up, and Ryan had passed the vision test with flying colors. Once he’d gotten the all-clear to go back to school, Russ’s stress levels had dropped considerably. They still had the insurance visit hanging over their heads, but Russ made the most of his new self-discovery.
It was as if a switch had flipped in him, and now he just couldn’t be turned off. Not that Jake minded one bit.
Russ normally woke him right after Ryan left for school in the morning, knowing he had about an hour before he had to be at the clinic himself. Sometimes it was a sweet, affectionate act, with Russ kissing him into consciousness. Other times he woke to the feeling of Russ’s lips wrapped firmly around his cock.
They usually showered together, which ended up being three parts fooling around to one part actually getting clean. Russ had taken him against the shower wall once, while hot water sluiced down his back. And Jake had licked every drop of moisture from Russ’s body, foregoing the towel completely.
He’d ended up late that day, but it’d been worth it.
It wasn’t all frantic. After Ryan had gone to bed for the night, when they knew they had all the time in the world, things progressed more slowly. It always started with touching. Innocent at first, then far bolder. Kissing followed, and after a slow buildup, Russ joined their bodies, bringing them both to peak. It was the closest thing Jake had ever experienced to lovemaking, even if he was still afraid to call it that yet.
The fact of the matter was, it didn’t matter what he felt when Russ looked at him a certain way, or held him close at night. Ryan was almost fully recovered. The month he’d indulged in was nearly up.
Once they cleared everything with the insurance company, there would be nothing stopping them from getting an annulment.
As he and Russ waited at the kitchen table, Jake couldn’t help but think that this was the beginning of the end.
He shouldn’t have been surprised that Russ sensed his apprehension, but feeling Russ’s hand atop his did startle him somewhat.
“This is where you’re supposed to tell me it’s all going to be okay; that this is just standard procedure and we have nothing to worry about.”
Russ gave him a smile and Jake tried to meet it. He wasn’t sure he succeeded.
“It is going to be okay, and we don’t have anything to worry about.”
Not with the insurance agent, at least. Jake picked up his coffee mug, raising the steaming cup to his lips right as the doorbell rang.
“Guess it’s showtime. You ready to pretend to be hopelessly in love with me?”
It was a joke. He knew it was a joke. And yet he almost choked on his coffee.
Christ. If only.
“Way to boost a guy’s ego, Larson,” Russ said before heading to the door.
Jake joined him, trying to stop the sudden tremor in his hands. Once again he and Russ had switched roles. Russ was the calm one now. Or at least the one who had things under control. Jake, meanwhile, wanted to bolt for the back door, hop the fence, and hide under the topiary in the neighbors’ yard.
Fortunately, Russ opened the door before he could do any of that.
“Hey, you must be the guy from Blue Ridge. Come on in.”
“Mr. Callaghan, Mr. Larson. It’s good to meet you. I’m Ben Walters and I’ll be conducting your interview today.”
Ben was young. Fresh out of college, if Jake had to guess. He smiled, and didn’t look at them with the dead eyes of a corporate drone bent on destroying their life. So that was something. Jake relaxed just a little as he shook the man’s hand and found a firm grip.
“Sorry the place is a mess,” Russ said.
“No worries at all. I know you’ve been focused on your son.”
At least Walters had done his research. He was afraid they were going to get someone who would be shocked that the medical claim was even legitimate, let alone the marriage.
Walters came in, briefcase in hand, and Russ started leading him toward the war table. Jake closed the front door behind him, briefly considering making a run for it after all. But he couldn’t leave Russ alone. Even if Walters was practically half their age.
“Can I get you anything to drink?” Russ asked, padding toward the fridge.
“No, thank you. That’s very kind of you, though.”
Walters flashed Russ a smile, but there was something slightly… off about it. Jake couldn’t place the feeling that settled in his gut, but it made him uneasy.
He and Russ exchanged a nod, and Russ grabbed them both a couple bottles of water from the fridge. They settled at the table, Russ sitting beside him. Jake picked up on a bit of apprehension in the way Russ held himself, his back rigid in the chair.
Jake wondered what they should be doing. Every married couple he knew never went out of their way to “look” married. But then they weren’t typically being judged on whether or not their claim was false. In fact, he bitterly imagined if he’d married a woman, it wouldn’t have come up regardless.
“I won’t take up much of your time today, but I do want to check off a few things with you. I’d first just like to verify your identities.”
He asked their names, birthdates, place of birth, and a few other details that had nothing to do with insurance. He wasn’t about to argue, though. The sooner this was done, the sooner things could finally go back to normal.
He’d just ignore the pain that thought caused in him.
“And how long have you been together?”
“We met in college,” Russ supplied. “Been friends since then, and I think there was always something there. We just didn’t really wake up and realize it until recently, you know?”
Russ leaned a little closer to him, and Jake was sure it was only for effect. His words, too, must have been for Walters’ benefit. They were true on Jake’s part, but if Russ had secretly harbored feelings for him all these years—and what a fucking laugh that would be—he’d kept them hidden insanely well.
“Likely on account of your being ma
rried previously, I imagine.”
Walters said it with that same smile, and Jake finally realized what felt off about it. The smile didn’t reach his eyes in the least. It barely made it to the crest of his cheeks.
“To our mutual friend,” Jake supplied before Russ could come to his own defense. That wouldn’t end well. “Russ and Carrie loved each other very much. The three of us were always very close.”
That much was true, at least. He felt Russ let out a breath beside him, and knew he’d calmed from what might have been a sudden outburst.
“She passed away somewhat recently, yes?”
Russ nodded. “She was a pilot in the Air Force. She wasn’t supposed to be called out for another tour, and she could have turned it down, but…” They both knew Carrie would never have turned it down. “One of the planes I guess hadn’t been thoroughly checked before it made it to the airfield. The wiring was faulty, and it started a fire while she was in the middle of a routine fly.”
Jake didn’t have to fake his reaction. He reached out and took Russ’s hand, giving it a squeeze. Russ squeezed gently back, offering him a small smile.
“I’m very sorry to hear that, Mr. Callaghan.” Walters shuffled some papers around, and for one blissful moment, Jake thought he might be done. Apparently he wasn’t even close. “I have to ask: Were you ever unfaithful to your wife? With Mr. Larson, perhaps?”
Jake was stunned. His eyes widened, his lips parted, and he just stared at the young insurance agent who’d seemed so harmless only moments before. He must have misheard him. There was no possible way Walters had said what Jake thought he said.
“Excuse me?” Russ asked, obviously in the same state of bewilderment.
“I don’t mean to offend, I just find it a bit suspect that the two of you were so quick to marry. If you were engaged in a relationship before your wife’s death, then I can understand it. And rest assured, Mr. Callaghan, it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen such a thing. Deployment is difficult on the spouse left behind.”
“I didn’t fucking cheat on my wife,” Russ said through gritted teeth.
“So you and Mr. Larson, after having no previous romantic relationship, decided to get married less than a year after your wife’s death?”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Russ—”
“Jake was here for me, okay? You think I just got so lonely I decided to fuck my best friend? I wouldn’t do that to him. I wouldn’t marry him because I was having trouble being on my own, raising a kid on my own. And it’s pretty fucked up that you even think I would.”
Jake couldn’t believe what he was hearing. It was as if Russ was actually defending their union as a valid marriage.
But Walters seemed unfazed.
“Let’s set that aside for a moment,” he said as if he was helping them pick out baseboards and planned to move onto cabinets next. “Am I to understand that the two of you live at this residence?”
“Yes. The three of us live here,” Jake said, correcting him.
Walters smiled. “Of course. You made the move, then, Mr. Larson? I assume to avoid disrupting the family unit.”
“That’s right.”
His stomach lurched, dread heavy in his gut.
“Very curious then that you’re still leasing your own apartment.”
He’d been prepared for that. There’d been no opportunity to break his lease, and it would have put him in a terrible position once this was over. But it definitely looked suspicious.
“My lease isn’t up until the summer. I’d end up paying more to break it now than I would to just pay rent for the next few months.”
That much was true, at least.
“And when did you first move in with Mr. Callaghan?”
He looked at Russ. They’d coordinated an answer for that, too. “About four months.”
Walters wrote something down, and Jake’s heart leaped into his throat as the agent opened his briefcase. Surely this was the end of the questioning.
But as Walters withdrew a few eight- by ten-inch prints, Jake’s confidence faltered, and that feeling of dread grew tenfold.
“These were taken last week. They seem to dispute your claims, but I suspect you already know that.”
There were three photos. Two of them showed him moving furniture and other odds-and-ends from his apartment, into Russ’s truck. The third was a picture of Russ standing at his door. It looked like the day Russ had come over to apologize; the day that culminated in a frantic coupling, making Jake wonder just how in-depth the company’s surveillance had been.
“You took pictures of us? How the fuck is that legal?” Russ asked.
“I took pictures of public property,” he said with a smile. “You just happened to be in them.”
“I don’t fucking believe this…”
Russ was very close to unraveling. He could feel the tension coming off of him in thick waves. He had to come up with an answer fast, or they were done for.
“I was living here prior to that, but I didn’t want to move any of my things here until after Ryan’s surgery.
“I see.”
Walters left the pictures out, but sifted through his paperwork. From what Jake could see, he was perusing a series of call logs. Fuck, had he tapped their phone lines? Was that even legal? Was any of this legal?
“I have a few names here of people I assume you both know. I’d like you to confirm, if you don’t mind.”
Jake slowly realized his assumption was wrong. Walters hadn’t tapped their lines. He’d done something far worse—he’d interviewed the people around them.
“A Miss Amy Barnes, and a Miss Patricia Howell?”
Jake drew in a breath, but nodded. “Amy and Patti are my employees.”
“You have a good relationship with them, I assume? Curious then that neither of them knew you’d gotten married. Some workplace strife, perhaps?”
“We wanted to keep it low-key until after Ryan’s surgery,” he said, trying his best not to panic.
“So I’ve heard from Dr. Gwendolynn Turner.”
Jake let out a soft breath. At least he had one person on his side. But Walters turned his attention to Russ, and there was no telling who he was going to bring up on his behalf.
“I also spoke with a Mr. Evan Barlow, Mr. Gregory Meyers, and Ms. Helen Conroy.”
“Those are two of my suppliers, and Ryan’s teacher.” Russ’s agitation was clear, and when Jake gave his hand another squeeze, it wasn’t returned immediately. “I talk to my suppliers once a month, at most, and Ryan’s teacher… I don’t know, every time they send home a progress report? They don’t need to know what’s going on in my personal life.”
“Does the same hold true for your parents, then?”
That was obviously Walters’ angle; distracting Russ and then hitting him with his real evidence. Jake was beginning to think Walters was older than he looked. Either that, or he took a certain amount of pleasure in upholding the paper-thin morality of his company.
Jake glanced at Russ, finding him utterly stunned. His mouth was open and his face was a bit paler than it should have been. If he didn’t do something soon, this interrogation was as good as over.
“Russ’s parents don’t really approve,” he said, hoping to God Russ wouldn’t hate him for it later. He knew Russ wasn’t exactly tight with his parents, but it was one thing to avoid them, and another entirely to accuse them of being raging homophobes. “It’s a sore subject.”
Thankfully, Russ was quick to play along. He gave Jake a grateful look before adding to the illusion.
“I know it was probably the coward’s way out, but I didn’t want to hurt them if it came down to a choice. I’d choose Jake every time.”
Russ was still looking at him when he said it, and Jake’s breath caught in his throat. It was a false scenario. A story Jake had conjured to cover an already fake wedding. But the way Russ was looking at him…
It felt all too real.
&
nbsp; “I’ll be blunt with you, gentlemen: Your wedding looks suspicious. I suspect you already know that.”
Jake was prepared to grovel; to tell Walters that they would cooperate with anything he needed, though he had no idea how they were going to counter the evidence the insurance company had stacked against them now.
But Russ apparently wasn’t having any of it.
“What I ‘know’ is that you’ve come into our house and called our marriage and our entire life together fake. We may not have taken the traditional route to get there, but nothing about us is fake.”
Russ had that look in his eyes; the one that meant a storm was brewing. Jake wasn’t sure he could stop it even if he tried.
“I’ve had feelings for Jake since college. And yeah, I loved my wife. But marrying Jake doesn’t mean I’m confused or just putting on a show. It means I’ve finally moved on; that I’ve gotten to the point where I can love somebody again. You know why nobody else in my life knows, Mr. Walters? Because it took me way too long to realize it myself. You can criticize me for moving too fast, but don’t tell me what I do and don’t feel. I love my husband, and your decision isn’t going to change a damn thing between us.”
The entire world stopped. Everything faded from Jake’s consciousness until only Russ was left. Sweet, beautiful Russ, speaking with such passion and conviction that he couldn’t help but believe it was true.
His heart clenched in his chest, and he felt the shimmer of moisture in his eyes. How long had he dreamed of those words? And still his dreams didn’t compare to the reality of it. God, please let this not be a dream. Let this not be one last, desperate act. He wasn’t sure his heart could take it.
Not now.
28
Russ
Jake was staring at him as if he’d just said the craziest thing possible.
True, this wasn’t how he wanted it to come out. But the moment the words left his mouth, Russ realized how true they were.
He loved Jake. A part of him had always loved Jake.
And saying it now wasn’t some bold move on his part. It was just simple honesty; admitting the fact that their friendship—a friendship that was already built on strong emotion—had turned into love along the way. Russ wasn’t sure when exactly it had happened, but he had no trouble admitting it. It felt right in a way that so few things ever did.
