HE WOKE up warm, which was kinda weird, but nice.
Jeremy snuggled into the blankets with a happy sound, the smell of coffee seeping in and waking him up.
Coffee?
He sat up, blinking over at the sight of Hollis—his Hollis—standing in the kitchen with a huge frown, hands on his hips.
Hollis turned, the frown deepening. “How am I supposed to make eggs, baby? You got no pans.”
“I don’t need any.” He was on a ramen and corn dog diet right now.
“Huh? The kind of egg white and sautéed shit you eat, you don’t need pans?” That voice had gone all growly, don’t shit a shitter on him. He’d missed that.
“I haven’t been….” He shook his head, levered himself upright a little more. “It doesn’t matter. You want a pizza?”
“No. You sit.” Shaking his head, Hollis turned back to the kitchen. “You got bowls, right?”
“Yeah. In the cabinet there.” He watched Hollis open one cabinet filled with pill bottles, another with nothing but ramen noodles. “The next one over.”
“Baby….” Glancing over his shoulder, Hollis gave him a look. Not a frown anymore, more concerned. “I. Damn. You need to take care of yourself better.”
“I’m fine.” He was still dealing with the whole therapy, metal in his leg, hurting thing.
“Uh-huh.” Metal clanged against glass, Hollis moving around the kitchen, starting to heat shit up. “At least you have coffee mugs. I got some of that creamer. You want some?”
“Yeah. Please.” He found his sweats, pulled them up over his legs. “How did Nashville go?”
“It went. I did what I was supposed to. Got a contract to do one of those duet things. Some crossover album.”
Clang. Bang.
“Cool.” He chewed on his bottom lip, trying to figure out what the hell to say. “Chris said y’all got along great. That things went well.”
“Shit. He was okay, baby, but he wasn’t you. And man, he flamed.” Hollis shook his head. “Too much of a drama queen.”
Now that? Felt good. Fiercely fucking good. “I fucking hate that he took my place. I wanted to be there, after you played the Bowl.”
“God, Jeremy.” Now Hollis was smiling, eyes warm and happy. “I was sore, and I was pissed as hell going into it, but I was sold-out. Sold. Out. And the crowd fucking rocked. You should have been there, dammit.”
“I should have. I was fucking proud.” He had been, whether or not he had any right to. Hollis’s career was on fire. “How long are you in town?”
“I’ve got some time off. I’ll be around a bit.” After breaking eggs into a bowl, Hollis added some milk before cracking open the microwave. “Did you know you can scramble eggs in the microwave? You got a blender?”
“Yeah. Mom bought me one for milkshakes.” He got up, headed for the kitchen with slow, careful steps. He had to think about it still, about making his muscles work.
As soon as he was in reach, Hollis grabbed him, arm sliding around his waist. “You could just point, baby.”
“Yeah. That would mean I knew where the parts are.” He was sweating bullets, just from the little trip. Shit.
“Well, what are you gonna do here? Hunt? You’re tottery. Here, lean.” Oh, okay, he could prop up on the counter.
“Sorry. I just got that brace thing off.” He reached for the dishwasher and tugged it open.
“Well, why didn’t you say so?” Before he could even get off-balance, Hollis was scooping him up and carrying him back to the couch. “I said sit. I’ll get some food made up and then go to the Walmart later.”
He looked at Hollis, shook his head. “Because, you know, no one is going to recognize your fine ass in Houston and mob you in the Walmart.”
“Well, so far I’ve been good. I mean, I went to that little corner grocery.”
Yeah, where the guy behind the counter was eighty and half-blind.
Jeremy shook his head, grinned. “Does Charlie know where you are?”
“He knows I’m on vacation, and I’ve got my cell.” He got a kiss, sweet and warm, before the microwave dinged and Hollis went to rescue the eggs.
Oh, that almost smelled good. He settled back, pulled the blankets around him, the action familiar as anything. He dozed, and before he knew it, there was eggs and toast and some kind of weird milkshake thing passing for a smoothie. He also had a Hollis, scooting up next to him and sharing his plate. “Hey, Sleeping Beauty. Eat.”
“Hey.” He sort of blinked at the food, reached for a piece of toast. “Sorry.”
“’S okay. I got you. I got jam, if you want.” Man, Hollis had thought of everything.
“This is cool.” It felt weird to be sitting here, having Hollis cook for him.
“Yeah? Excellent. Come on, you gotta have more than toast.” The eggs were a little tough from the microwave, but the rest went down well, even the weird smoothie thing. He actually felt full when he was done.
“Thanks for the food, man. It was good.” Jeremy didn’t know what to do now. Hell, he had thirty thousand questions, and he wanted a shower, and more than fucking anything, he wanted a goddamn kiss, but damned if he knew how to ask for it.
“No problem.” Staring at him a minute, Hollis reached up to stroke his cheek. “You want help with a shower?”
Look at the man. Almost reading his mind.
“I. Yeah, but I’ll take just having you sit and talk to me too.” He didn’t want to come off like a total loser. He didn’t.
A hard kiss pushed right up against his mouth, Hollis’s tongue sliding in, stunning him a little. “I can do that too. We got a lot to catch up on. But I’m kinda… crusty.”
Oh. Ew.
“Oh. Then yeah. It’s little, but we’ll fit.” He could so snuggle.
“Cool. Come on, baby.” Hollis got up, hoisted him up, and helped him to the bathroom, better than any brace or set of crutches.
The bathroom was little but nothing worse than they’d had on the bus, and the hot water lasted. There was a seat for the tub, just in case, and he got it out before getting the water going.
“There you go. That’s fancy, huh?” Hollis did kind damned well. It was enough to make him feel pretty weird.
“Yeah. It’s my I’m-a-gimp chair.” God, he hoped this wasn’t like a pity-fuck thing, He didn’t think it was, but….
“Don’t make me beat you, baby. I can. Your ass isn’t all scarred up.” Oh, now that was more like it. All wickedy.
“I’d like to see you try.”
“You would, huh? Let’s get clean, baby. Then I might give you what you want.” The water felt good, hot as all hell, but the sting was blocked by Hollis’s body.
Jeremy grabbed the soap, lathered up Hollis’s belly and chest, rubbing in lazy circles and just touching away. So fucking fine. He’d always liked the way that fuzzy chest hair matted up when it got all wet and soapy. Of course, this was where he usually joked about shaving and waxing. This time he just enjoyed it, jonesing on knowing Hollis was really here.
“Mmmm. Wrote you a song. For the new album.” Hollis’s hands slid over his back, his shoulders, that flat belly pressing against his cheek.
“Oh. Oh, wow. For real?” He blinked up, shocked, deep down.
“Yeah. That one I’ve been humming.” Hollis grinned down at him before going back to scrubbing, just singing for him.
“Oh.” His heart just sort of stopped, and he soaked it in, staring at Hollis like he’d been whomped.
That.
Wow.
He got an almost shy look when Hollis finished. “Good acoustics in here.”
“Yeah. You’re fucking amazing, you know that, right?”
Hollis kissed him, nice and hard, before stepping aside to rinse him off, letting the soap wash away. “You ready for that beating?”
“You can’t beat gimps, dork.”
“I can if they beg pretty.” Up again, with Hollis dragging him around like a sack of potatoes. A fluffy towel soaked up most of the moisture before they danced off to his little bedroom to find clean sweats.
He tugged them on, sighing as they got settled. “They’re all a little big because they had to fit over the braces and shit.”
“We’ll have to get you new ones, baby.” Stroking his belly, Hollis settled next to him. “Want a little nap?”
“I do.” He was becoming a world-champion napper.
Gold-medal class.