Love Me Tomorrow (26 page)

“Um…” Levi strained to remember the last place he put them. “My back pocket, I think.”

Jake looked down at the bottle of beer Levi clutched in one hand and the half empty six pack in the other. He rolled his eyes when Levi shot him a touch-my-beer-and-die look that unequivocally said,
figure something else out, bee-otch
.

Jake reached around, patting Levi’s ass, finding the keys in his back right pocket.

Levi’s eyes widened and a grin soon followed as Jake shoved his hand in, fishing out the keys. “Least you could buy me a drink first, pal.” He glanced down at his beers and let out another laugh-snort. “Too late! Self-sufficient Levi bought himself a drinky.”

He started laughing, but Levi got the impression Jake wished he hadn’t.

“You don’t approve of drunken-Levi Goode, huh?”

Jake unlocked the outer door, holding it open with one foot as he grabbed Levi up once again. “I don’t approve of
why
you’re drunken-Levi Goode.”

“Ohhh.” Levi pointed at the elevator at the end of the hall. “Hey, that’s my elevator!”

“Thanks for clearing up that mystery, Sherlock.” Jake grunted. “Come on jelly-legs.”

“Wait, what you mean?” Levi asked.

“Well, jelly-legs—”

“Nuh-uh, not that one, further back,” Levi said cutting him off.

“Sherlock?” Jake asked.

“Nope,” Levi said, laughing as they nearly collapsed to the floor in front of the elevator.

Jake gently placed Levi on the ground, exhaling dramatically as he stood back up and punched the button. “You’re very high maintenance this evening.”

The doors immediately opened and Levi started dragging himself across the floor, attempting to get into the elevator.

Jake threw his hands in the air, but went with it, standing back to watch Levi. The elevator dinged and the doors started to close, hitting Levi in the butt before reopening.

“Ow! Stupid door just bit me in the ass!”

Jake sighed, planting his face in the palm of his hand. “If you put down the beers you might be able to go a little faster.”

Levi looked up at him like he was nuts before scooching in another foot or so.

The elevator dinged again and the doors started to close, this time hitting Levi in the legs before reopening.

“Never noticed how pushy these stupid doors are, sheesh.”

“I can’t believe what a lightweight you are with the booze.” Jake stepped over him, getting inside the elevator and pulling Levi all the way in.

“Whew!” Levi exhaled as if he’d truly done most of the heavy lifting there. “What was I saying before all the butt stuff?”

Jake punched the fourth floor button. “I think you wanted to know why I didn’t approve of your state of intoxication.”

“Yep, yep, that sounds right to me. Out with it, Jakey.”

Jake bent down, getting Levi back up onto his feet before gently shoving him back against the elevator wall. He stood directly in front of Levi—so close he could feel Jake’s breath on his face.

“It pisses me off you find Dan Cain to be drunk-worthy,” Jake finally said.

Their lips were only inches apart and Levi found it difficult to concentrate on anything else.

“It does?” Levi asked, his voice sounding soft all of a sudden.

“Fuck yes, it does. That asshole isn’t fit to wipe the shit from your shoes.”

“Oh, I see… Wait…
ew
!” Levi attempted to look down at his feet. “When did I step into the shit?”

“That’s a loaded question,” Jake muttered, drawing Levi’s attention back up from his feet.

Jake was shaking his head, visibly disapproving and Levi got lost in those bluer-than-blue-eyes momentarily, before retreating back to Jake’s thick, silky, soft-looking lips.

Wanna suck on your Jake lips… kiss me, already.

“Wait. Oh… Did I say that out loud?” Levi asked.

“Did you say what out loud?”

“Nothing… never mind?” Levi cleared his throat. “Hey, don’t be mad at me for keeps, ’kay?”

“’Kay.” Jake bent over, tossing Levi over his shoulder as the elevator doors dinged, opening to the landing outside Levi’s loft.

Levi frowned, seeing some of the beer slosh out of the open bottle he was still clutching.

“Hey, I’m upside down!” Levi announced, the sound of his voice reverberating off the cement and brick. “Your butt is so free-gin’ sexy.”

Jake grunted, and Levi continued to stare at Jake’s ass, momentarily distracted by the squeaking from the front door of his apartment opening.

“I totally wanna touch it… your butt.”

He could hear Jake laughing again.

“But my hands are full. I hate it when that happens, don’t you?”

“It’s the worst,” Jake said, sarcastically.

Levi got a bit dizzy, being spun around several times as Jake shut the door and managed to get some lights turned on.

“Um, I think you’ve been robbed.” Jake bent down, getting Levi upright, but holding onto him until he managed to get his bearings.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have any more of these,” Levi said, looking around his living room and feeling a little sick to his stomach. He shoved all the beers into Jake’s hands.

“Your apartment?” Jake asked, nudging his head toward the living room. “There’s nothing here.”

“That’s ’cause I’m too busy to go buy myself stuff, ya know?”

Jake placed the beers onto the countertop of the island. “You have a couch, at least. Maybe we should get you onto that and I’ll make you some coffee… assuming you have coffee to make?”

“I
do
have coffee, gotta have that to get my go-go on.” He stumbled over to the sofa and flopped down, grabbing a hold of Jake’s hand when he turned to head for the kitchen. “It’s not that I’m in love with him anymore… Dan, I mean. I know I’m not. We weren’t right together… bad fit. But the main reason I assumed we weren’t right for one another isn’t what I thought, that’s all. Dan wasn’t incapable of commitment, he just didn’t wanna commit with me. He didn’t love
me
enough, you know?”

“No, can’t say that I do,” Jake said, softly, before pulling his hand away.

Levi was fairly certain there was some sort of hidden meaning in what Jake had just said, but he couldn’t make sense of it just now. The world around him was all woozy and he seemed incapable of focusing on anything except Jake’s exceedingly hot ass as he walked away from the sofa.

“Really wanna touch it,” he whispered.

Levi took in a deep, cleansing breath, attempting to flush the dirty from his mind. Settling into the sofa, he listened as Jake moved around in his kitchen while he took to staring out the windows. He liked hearing that, having Jake here with him.

He closed his eyes, wishing they could be together like this always.

“Me and Jake—Jake and Levi.”

“What was that?” Jake asked.

Levi didn’t respond, laying down onto his back and stretching out instead. He wanted to tell Jake what he’d just said, but knew that wouldn’t be right if he did. He was so tired of being so sad all the time and wondered when or if there was ever going to be a time when he no longer would be.

* * * *

Levi’s eyes fluttered open to find Jake jerk upright before glancing down at him. He was confused for a moment, not sure where he was until he tried sitting up. The weight of Jake’s hand on his chest weighed him down.

Jake apologized, pulling away.

Levi’s head was already aching and the fuzzy-euphoric-feelings that accompanied all the alcohol earlier had evaporated. He’d apparently passed out on Jake’s lap.

“Sorry, you’ve been trapped under me?”

Jake shook his head, pointing at the water and aspirin lying on the old bench that had been doubling as his coffee table for months. “I didn’t feel comfortable leaving you, is all. My choice to stay.”

“Oh…” Levi felt awkward all of a sudden. “…thanks.”

He grabbed the water and swallowed down the aspirin, settling back into the sofa. He noticed the wet spot on Jake’s pant leg and cringed, realizing he’d drooled all over the poor guy.

Jake smiled, noticing what Levi was staring at in horror. “Now I can honestly say you’ve made me wet.”

Levi’s eyes widened and he laughed nervously. “You most certainly cannot say that.”

“Right,” Jake muttered. “Right, of course not, was just kidding.”

Levi knew he was only joking, but his head was pounding, which is the excuse he gave himself for jumping all over Jake. “Sorry, didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“It’s been a weird day,” Jake said, nodding that he understood. “Happy Thanksgiving to us.”

Levi had actually forgotten about the holiday after downing multiple shots of tequila.
Too bad it couldn’t erase any and all memories of my feelings for Jake
.

“You okay?” Jake asked, motioning toward the bottle of water. “May I?”

“I’ll be all right.” Levi handed him the bottle, watching Jake take a drink and thinking that was the closest he would likely ever get to kissing the man he was in love with. “Just embarrassed.”

“Thanks.” Jake passed the bottle back to him. “You talk in your sleep by the way.”

Levi’s eyes widened, panicked over what he might have said, which only made his head throb more. “Oh, hell, that can’t be good.”

Jake grinned, reaching over to place a hand on Levi’s knee. “You didn’t say anything to be embarrassed about, mostly sounded like work stuff.”

Thank the baby Jesus for that miracle
. “That can’t be a good sign, the inability to turn off work? I really need to find a hobby.”

“But you enjoy what you do, don’t you?” Jake asked, shifting in his seat so he was facing Levi on the sofa. “You find it rewarding—the party planning?”

“I do,” Levi said, cringing slightly. “It’s nothing heroic, like what you do, but—”

“You do realize that I don’t judge other people based upon whether or not they happen to work in healthcare, right? I do understand there are a multitude of ways one can be a useful and helpful part of society?”

Levi laughed, then wished he hadn’t as his head began pounding harder. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to insinuate that you were a job-snob.”

“Well that’s good to know, but I’d still like to find out what led you to this career path?” Jake asked. “From everything I’ve heard, you’re very good at it.”

Levi stared out the windows for a moment. “I guess, if I’m being completely honest with myself, it was Ruby.” Jake continued staring at him without commenting, and Levi decided that meant Jake expected him to expound upon the topic further. “Birthdays were the one thing Ruby always did really well.”

Levi smiled, remembering that he could always count on his mother to make that one day special for him.

“She never failed to turn each one into an event—making me the center of the universe.”

Jake was smiling at him which inevitably brought the now familiar ache in Levi’s chest to surface.

“Growing up in Vegas back in the eighties wasn’t exactly as cool as it might seem these days. I went back several years ago for a long weekend with Dan and some friends—talk about an extreme makeover. I barely recognized the place.” Taking another sip off the bottle of water, Levi went back to staring out the windows into the night sky. “But Ruby had a knack for making things seem more exciting than they actually were, especially when I was little.”

“I don’t find that difficult to imagine,” Jake said.

“She actually was pretty famous, you know. Not so much outside of Vegas, but locally she was very well-known—one of the only dancers to have an entire review built around her.” Levi smiled, finding it odd how he still took so much pride over that fact despite his own darker memories of their life in Nevada. “But I never forgot how wonderful she made me feel on my birthday. They’re some of my happiest memories. I guess I always liked the idea of being that person for other people—to be able to make someone’s birthday or anniversary, their wedding or even something as banal as the holiday office party into an experience that would stay with them the way Ruby had done for me.”

“You really do live up to your name, Mr. Goode,” Jake said, smiling yet looking a little sad at the same time.

“It is rewarding and it fulfils me, planning parties, I mean. They’re typically happy occasions, a celebration of… something. What’s better than that?”

Jake nodded, but again said nothing and the silence made Levi feel naked. The longer they stared at one another, the more Levi’s thoughts drifted back to kissing Jake.

Thoughts of kissing the man led to fantasies of slowly removing Jake’s clothes, and things quickly transgressed from there to naked bodies rubbing and thrusting... hot and wet…

Levi abruptly stood up from the couch. “I should go to bed or something.”

Jake looked confused.

“Alone, I totally meant alone.”

“I know, of course!” Jake was visibly defensive. “I didn’t say otherwise.”