Fire and Freedom - Book One of the Café Latte Trilogy

Chapter Thirty - Ross

"Fine," Edward said.

Jasper came over, and said to me, "The doc says only one of us can stay at a time, just in case things go south and they need fast access to him."

"I'll stay," Edward said quickly. "I want to stay."

I wanted to argue, but I took one look at Jasper's exhausted face, and nodded. "Okay," I said, and put my arm around Jasper. "Let's go home. Ed, I'll be back in the morning, okay? Call me if anything changes."

"I will," Edward kissed us goodbye, and we headed out towards the car park. It was dark; we'd left the club almost immediately after Jenny had found us and it was nearing midnight now. We got into the car, and both of us exhaled as though we'd been holding our breath the entire time we were in there.

"You okay?" Jasper asked.

"Unsure," I replied, and looked at him. "You?"

"Unsure, also," Jasper nodded, and settled back into his chair. "I feel like I could sleep for a year."

I nodded, and started the car. "Me too." I pulled out of the parking space, and drove off. We drove in silence, too tired to think about talking. My head kept whirling around, thinking of Harper, thinking of Jasper, thinking of the future. It was overwhelming, thinking about how uncertain everything was right now, and how much they could all change if Harper didn't make it through the night.

I parked in the car park for the building, and we both silently walked into the building, waiting for the lift. I keyed in the code, and we zipped up to the apartment. It felt weird, too quiet, but I knew that neither of us really knew what to say. It felt wrong to be here, to be acting like any other night, while Harper lay unconscious in a hospital bed.

"You get ready for bed," I told Jasper. He nodded and went through to the bedroom, but he just sat on the bed and didn't move. "Jasper?" I asked, attracting his attention. "You have to actually get ready to go to sleep."

"Fine," he said, but didn't do anything. I finally smiled at his reluctant expression, and sat down next to him on the bed. I gently lifted his hands in the air and murmured to keep them there, before I pulled on his shirt and lifted it up and over his head. I softly kissed his bare chest, placing the shirt on the bed next to us, and then pushed him carefully so he was lying down. I unbuckled his belt, and unzipped his jeans so I could pull them off too. When he was in his underwear, I threw open the covers and told him to get comfortable.

"I'll make you some tea," I said, wondering how I'd gone from being a coffee-loving single man to making tea for my partner who was currently in some form of shock. I turned around, trying to keep my thoughts away from Harper, and then I heard him speak.

"Don't go."

I looked over my shoulder. "You don't want tea?"

"I don't want to be alone," he said, looking up at me with sorrowful eyes. I sighed, unable to resist them, and sat back down on the bed. He sat up and gently pushed my hair out of my eyes, and then kissed me gently, pressing his lips to mine.

"Jasper, you're upset," I said, pushing him away from me.

He frowned. "So?" When he caught my meaning, he said, "I want to be close to you. Do you want to be close to me?"

I hesitated, but I nodded. I wanted it more than anything else. I wanted to kiss him. "Ross," Jasper murmured, kissing me again. Everything flew away as his arms went around me in a familiar way, every other thought that was in my mind disappeared as he pulled me on top of him. I kissed his lips, his jaw, the base of his neck. I heard him sigh in content as I kissed his chest, and then felt his fingers running through my hair. I momentarily pulled back so I could take my clothes off, but Jasper stopped me.