Into the Dark (ORIGINAL AND UNEDITED EDITON)

Eighteen

I leave Jake fast asleep and get up early to go for a run. I've no idea where the energy has come from, but my eyes popped open at 6:30am and wouldn't close again no matter how hard I willed them to. I'd slept well though, probably because of the fitful night before, and so I had lain there in the dawn light of the bedroom playing over all of the possible scenarios which may or may not occur with Caleb later on today. Finally, I'd conceded defeat to wakefulness and pushed the covers off and slipped out of bed.

I ran the two and a half miles to the very boundary of the village and then back, and when I checked my watch as I reached the village roundabout, I was delighted to see that I did it in just under an hour. I'm still the colour of beetroot when I stop in by Ken's and get some croissants but having not run at all for weeks, it's definitely an achievement.

Ken makes small talk with some jovial village gossip, before almost acrobatically rerouting to the topic of my 'new man.' He had seemed genuinely enamoured by Jake, calling him a 'nice lad' with an impeccable taste in football teams. With a promise to pass on his compliments I run much more calmly back home, the croissants soft, warm and fragrant under my arm.

I brew some coffee and practically bound upstairs to see if he's awake yet. Perhaps I should have Jake fuck me in the arse more often? It certainly seems to do wonders for my energy levels.

I push open the bedroom door gently, not wanting to startle him if he is still asleep - which he still appears to be.  His hand is resting flat on his chest, his head turned towards me, eyes firmly closed and breathing deep and soft.  I don't want to wake him. In fact, I want to climb back in next to him and kiss him from head to toe, but I doubt he'd want me near him smelling like this. Instead, I perch on the edge of the bed and lean down to kiss him lightly on the mouth, smoothing his hair back away from his eyes. It's longer than I've ever seen it, and with the full beard, he looks very different to the Jake I met all those months ago. A more mature, more serious Jake. A Jake who was carrying weighty life-changing things around with him.

Lifting my head back up I study him closely - he's so ridiculously handsome sometimes it looks like he might be carved from marble. His features strong and well laid out, his mouth a particular crowning glory.

Christ, I love having him here when I wake up. I love going to sleep and waking up with him. Which is why I asked him to move in here.  He needs a room for Caleb. This means I need today to be okay so that we can have just that.  Caleb's room.

As I stroke my hand over the hand resting on his chest, Jake stirs, his fingers shifting to link through mine. When his eyes finally flutter open, framed by those long thick lashes, he smiles. But then he casts a look down my body and frowns.

"Why are you dressed?" He croaks, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"I went for a run. Got croissants on the way back, they're warming downstairs, coffee's brewing too."

"Jesus, not those chocolate ones?" he asks and I nod. "You really fucking want me to move in, don't you? Pulling out the big guns." He smiles, wrapping an arm around me to pull me down onto him.

"Damn, you saw through my plan. Note to self. Get a new plan." I smile, kissing him again.

"Mmmm, can the new plan be you walking around naked all the time? Oh and a promise that I get to fuck you wherever and whenever I want within these four walls? That'd probably do it, to be honest." He states.

I shake my head. "Do you ever think of anything but sex?"

"Course I do, I think about those fucking croissants," He gazes off into the distance behind me. "I think about them a lot."