Luis sucked until Jase went soft and there was nothing left. Then he removed Jase from his mouth and said, “I love you just as much. I thank the planet for everything about you.
Not a day goes by for me without experiencing a profound sense gratitude for the journey we’ve embarked upon.
Sometimes I even look up at the sky and say thank you to the universe for everything it has given me, when no one’s around.”
Jase smiled and handed him a Kleenex so he could wipe his face. “You’ve been watching Oprah this week again, haven’t you?”
Luis shrugged and set the tissue on a round table beside the chair. “It’s the farewell season.” Jase could always tell when he’d been watching Oprah by the way he spoke about spiritual situations. In this sense, Luis knew he was a sponge, ready to absorb everything he heard.
“Ah well, in that case,” Jase said, with affectionate condescension in his tone. “I didn’t know that.”
Luis reached up and gently squeezed Jase’s balls with his thumb and index finger. “I can’t help it if I’m impressionable, and Oprah knows what she’s talking about.
She’s been through things, Jase. They just found her long-lost sister she never knew about.”
Jase bent down and kissed him on the lips. “I’m sure she has, and I think it’s adorable when you talk that way.
Let’s go back to bed now. We can lie there until Hunter wakes up and you can rest your pretty head on my chest and whisper positive things about the universe and Oprah’s long-lost sister while I feel you up.”
“I have to get up and shower,” Luis said. “I should put some ice on my lips. They’re probably all swollen and we have to go to the hospital this morning. Everyone will think I’ve either had an allergic reaction or I’ve been sucking dick.”
“Come back to bed for a few minutes. I don’t care what they think as long as they think you’ve been sucking my dick. I want to hold you in my arms for a little while.”
Luis reached up and cupped Jase’s balls in his hand.
“That’s an offer I can’t refuse.”
* * * *
It took longer than they thought for Cory to be discharged from the hospital. The nurses had warned them ahead of time. There were prescriptions to fill, papers to be signed, bags of supplies to be packed and carried down to Jase’s truck. They arrived at the hospital at ten in the morning and didn’t actually leave until almost four in the afternoon.
The majority of the time was spent waiting for carefree doctors to sign the discharge forms. While Luis waited upstairs in Cory’s room, Jase took Hunter for long walks around the hospital campus. Thomas had offered to watch Hunter while they were at the hospital. Thomas was waiting for them back at Cider Mill Farm, with Cory’s parents and Jasper, to welcome Cory home. Leaving Hunter with him would have been a logical solution. But Luis thanked Thomas and said he’d rather he had Hunter with them.
Ever since the experience with Darius Denby, Luis wouldn’t let Hunter out of his sight. He even cancelled or postponed all modeling jobs until late September when he knew Hunter would be in preschool. In the nights following Darius’s arrest, Luis remained wide awake, wondering about all the things that could have happened if they hadn’t found out about Darius just in time. As a result of all this, Luis and Jase had decided to enroll Hunter in preschool four full days a week that fall, from Monday to Thursday. This way Luis could work and they wouldn’t have to worry about hiring another housekeeper for a while. Jase’s pragmatism took over and he told Luis what had happened with Darius couldn’t be considered a normal circumstance. Luis agreed with Jase and said he’d go back to looking for another housekeeper in time.
He just didn’t say how long it would take him to look.
Luis helped Cory get dressed that afternoon. While a nurse remained in the room organizing the medical supplies Cory would need at home, Luis slid Cory’s broken arms into the cut-off sleeves of a white button-down shirt. He buttoned the shirt slowly, working his way from the bottom up, as Cory stood there helpless and frowning about being so needy. “I hate being like this,” Cory said. “I can’t even put on my own shirt.”
Without looking up from a bag of bandages, the nurse said, “You’ll be doing everything you normally did before the accident in a few months. Be patient, sweetie.”
Luis reached for Cory’s boxer shorts and said, “Yes, sweetie. Just be patient.” Luis was joking about the way this particular nurse called Cory sweetie all the time. She seemed to have developed a small crush on handsome Cory and she wasn’t shy about it. She knew Cory was gay and that Jasper was his lover, but for some reason this only seemed to attract her all the more. “Now lift up your legs so I can put on your underwear, sweetie.”
“Do you need help, Luis?” the nurse asked. She gazed at Cory and smiled. “I can hold up his legs for you.”
Cory slipped his feet into his boxer shorts and sent Luis a frustrated glance. He smiled at the nurse and said, “Thanks, we’re fine.”
Luis pulled Cory’s underwear up to his waist. Before he reached for Cory’s jeans on the bed, he patted Cory’s dick through the boxer shorts when the nurse wasn’t looking and said, “I might need some help putting on his jeans. I’m left-handed.”
Cory looked down. “That makes no sense at all. What does being left-handed have to do with anything?”
Luis was teasing him again. He shrugged and said, “I’m not sure I’ll be able to pull up your zipper.”
The nurse stopped organizing the supplies. But before she could turn, Cory said, “I’d rather Luis put on my pants.
I’d feel more comfortable.” Then he looked down at Luis and said, “I’m sure you can manage this one simple task alone if you try, even though you’re left-handed. From what I hear, you’ve never had trouble pulling anyone’s zipper down before with your left hand.”
The nurse’s face turned red and the glanced down at the bag of supplies fast.
Luis smiled. Not a bad comeback at all. He suspected Cory must have been feeling better. So he turned to the nurse and said, “I’d better do it myself. I don’t want our little patient here getting all upset and frustrated.”
Thanks to Cory’s remark, the poor woman had trouble speaking now. She smoothed out the front of her uniform—a baggy pink cotton affair with little teddy bears that reminded Luis of pajamas—and said, “I’ll go check on the discharge papers.”