Better Be Sure (Harrison Campus 1)

“It’s fine, but they weren’t cops. Even if they were, we weren’t doing anything illegal.”

Ed never turned his gaze from the road in front of them. “No, but they might have looked in.”

Jack shrugged it off. At least he’d managed to make Ed see stars as he’d promised himself.

“Sorry, Jack. I….”

“You don’t need to apologize. I get it.” He did. Totally. Maddeningly totally.

They rode quietly for a minute, and Jack slipped a hand on Ed’s thigh and squeezed. “What are your plans for the weekend?”

“Saturday is hiking day. We have a lazy breakfast, then drive out, well—” He hitched a thumb in the direction they came. “—back there and enjoy nature.”

“You do that often?”

“At least once a month. Bit of a tradition.”

“Cool. My dad and I used to go yard sale-ing on weekends. We’d hunt for old books mostly. Sometimes we found first editions practically being thrown away. I still have the books.” He shook his head and kept it together. “I really miss doing that.”

Jack lifted his hand off Ed and rubbed his ring through his shirt as his mind reeled through the memories.

“I think you were right,” Ed said, breaking Jack out of his reverie.

“Hmm?”

“Eventually we need to eat.”

“Now?”

Ed shook his head. “Not tonight. Another date.”

Jack bit down on a warm sigh. “How about Friday? We’ll do dinner. Or we could make it a daytime thing and do brunch on Sunday?”

Ed’s throat worked with a nervous swallow. “How about both?”

Chapter Nine

Jack returned home well after midnight. He went past the graduate photo of ’89, polished it, and then all but bounced up the stairs toward his room. Making out was incredible, but he wanted to rip all of Ed’s clothes off.

Definitely needed to get some privacy. Thinking about it was returning his hard-on. Good thing the lights were off up here.

Climbing the second flight of stairs, he heard movement on the third floor. Maybe Marcus was waiting for him to come home. He smiled at the anticipated cross-examination his brother would throw at him. Strangely, he welcomed the questions. It felt good to have someone to talk about with him for a change.

His smile vanished when he saw who made the noise.

“Look, it’s Jack ‘Can’t Keep a Date’ Murphy.”

Ignoring Harper and his cronies, he kept walking to his bedroom. Ed being closeted complicated things. So much he didn’t want to talk to Harper about it.

Almost to his door, he heard footsteps coming closer rapidly. “Where were you this late? Trying to keep your date interested?”

“Seriously,” Jack said as he spun around. “What’s your problem? Are you mad cause I won’t go out with you? I mean, there’s no other reason for you to be this obsessed with my sex life.”

“In your dreams. You and all the gay boys wish I played on your team.”

“Actually, we don’t. What we want is for you to stop hitting on us.”

Harper got up in his face and smiled. “Such brave words from my soon-to-be homeless boy.”

“Right, I’m going to lose.” Jack rolled his eyes. “You do realize I just came home from a date?”

Harper raised an eyebrow and turned toward Greg. “You mean the ‘boyfriend’ no one has seen? Including your brother Marcus?”

Jack glared, fists balled as Harper walked down the hallway. He watched them disappear before he forced his legs to move. “Fuck.”

* * *

“You sure this is okay?” Jack scanned the crowded restaurant. He hadn’t expected the Olive Garden to have a twenty-minute wait in a packed lobby. Every time the door opened, Ed tensed.

Ed bumped shoulders, nearly knocking Jack off the seat they shared. “My mom loves this place. We come here when she wants to eat out.”

Jack stared at the black pager the hostess gave him. “It’s not as cool as the diner you showed me on our first… the first time we caught up.”

Ed’s knee pressed against his, forcing him to turn. “It was easier pretending to want friendship.” Ed rubbed his thighs, little finger sliding down the seam where their legs met. “But it was a date.”

The black square shook and red lights flashed. With a goofy, ridiculously happy grin, Jack handed over the pager. A tall, skinny guy about his age eyed him up and down. The host smiled and Ed cleared his throat, then stepped next to him. A touch closer than a friend might.

“Follow me, guys.”

Ed scanned the restaurant, glancing away when other customers looked toward them.

Their two-person booth wasn’t in the very back, but out of the way enough to give them some privacy.

“Here you go, guys. My name’s Jacob and I’ll be your server.” Jacob’s eyes darted between the two of them, a question in his eyes. The guy guessed they were together.

Jack snorted the moment he’d set the menus down and was out of earshot. “Do you think he asked the hostess to let him have our table?”