Jay's Loelife Ch. 31

No point in denying it at this point, he has the hardware to prove it. "You knew."

"And now you know."

"I do."

He looks shocked. "You're not supposed to say that yet, not until we're standing in front of our friends and family. Don't you know how this stuff works?"

"I hate you," I tell him. "Give me the ring back."

He holds his hand against his chest protectively. "No take-backs."

I grab his hand, but instead of taking the ring, I examine his hand. The way it makes me feel is foreign as fuck. I did that, I put that ring on his finger.

"Do you like it?" I ask him. We never did talk about rings or anything like that. "I did my best."

He turns his hand over and studies the gold band. "It's better than I ever imagined."

****

I feel bad for stealing Seamus' thunder. Even though the trip has evolved over the last few years, it always lands on his birthday. This year is the added celebration of the legal battle. But now everyone is celebrating Jay...well, me and Jay, but mostly Jay.

And boy, is Jay on cloud nine. He's larger than life. I don't think there is a thing in the entire world that can bring him down. Every time I look at him, I smile. From my spot in the kitchen, I have the perfect view of all that happiness as the entire group congratulates him.

"Jay sure is happy."

"Fuck!" The cup in my hand bounces twice on the counter, spilling its contents everywhere before rolling onto the floor.

Seamus chuckles. "I didn't mean to scare you."

I grab the rag and clean the mess up. "I thought everyone was outside." As I get my heart under control, I refill the cup with ice and start over with the current drink of the week: one can of Fresca, one tropical peach Body Armor, and one packet of raspberry-flavored True Lemon.

Seamus walks to the window and looks outside. I don't know if he's thirsty, but I make an extra drink in case. As I finish up, I glance at him. He hasn't said a word, just stared out the window. I walk around the kitchen and hand him his drink.

He blinks, then smiles and lifts it toward me. "A congratulations is in order."

Olive branch acknowledged. Olive branch accepted.

I clink my cup with his.

Seamus takes a drink, savoring the flavor, then smiles. "I never know what I'm going to get with your concoctions, but this is good."

"You win some and you lose some."

I stand awkwardly. I should take the drink to Jay but I feel like Seamus came in here for a reason, so I should stay.

But he's not saying anything.

I struggle through another minute of painful silence before breaking. "Are you here to warn me off of him or threaten a beatdown? Because I have no intentions of doing anything to jeopardize what Jay and I have so you don't have to worry."

He looks at me and his eyes are crinkled. "I know."

"It's just, I know I'm not your favorite person."

His brows furrow. "What are you talking about?"

I scoff. "It's kind of obvious."

Seamus pauses, opens his mouth, then closes it. "I followed you on social media before I knew Jay was pursuing you. I was honestly impressed by you and all the things you could do, plus you were hot. When I found out you were the Loren he was ga-ga over, I panicked. You had heartbreaker written all over you and Jay was already half in love. In my eyes, it was a recipe for disaster."

"And once we were dating? It didn't feel like you warmed up all that quick."

"What can I say, I had my guard up. It was hard knowing you could break Jay into pieces by barely moving your pinky."

"And now?" I ask. "What's to say I won't do it now?"

"Any of us could hurt the ones we love. But I've seen the happiness you bring him and it seems like a fair trade. Plus," hey says with a casual shrug. "If you hurt him, I'll kill you."

I throw my head back and laugh. "Fair enough."

Seamus grins and I can totally see why Matt likes him. It's a good look on him. He nods outside where everyone is gathered in a circle laughing. "Let's see what they're gossiping about."

****

"When I asked Loren if he wanted to hold Mya, he said 'oh, no, that's okay. Thanks anyway', and I said, 'Dude, it's a baby, not a cup of coffee that you politely refuse', then I set her in Loe's arms before he could get away." Corey recounts my first visit with Ms. Mya after she was born. She was too tiny for her own good. "Ever see those cats that fall over when you dress them in a sweater?" he continues the terrible retelling. "That's what Loren looked like."

"I don't think he even held Carson until he was six-months old," Matt adds, not really contributing anything useful if you ask me.

"I don't like little babies," I mumble. "I hardly tolerate big babies." It's a lie...about the bigger ones. They're chill enough.

"Then why are you with Jay?" Matt asks. "He's the biggest baby I've ever seen."

Jay's mouth drops. "Hey! This is my engagement. You have to be nice to me."

I pull Jay into my lap and pat him on the back. "There, there."

He growls. "That's not helping."

I glance at my watch. It's kind of late and Jay promised to run me into the ground tonight. I push Jay off and stand up. "It's past someone's bedtime," I say, making Matt smile victoriously and Jay roll his eyes.

We leave to the serenading sounds of cat calls and suggestive teasing...and a 'no buddy, you can't follow them to their room tonight'."

Jay blushes at the last comment.

Halfway to the room, I tug impatiently. The bastard is lumbering along like we're on our way to grab a snack of rice cakes and peanut butter from the summer camp cafeteria. Hell, he might even move faster if that was the case.

The door isn't even shut behind us and I'm peeling off my clothes. I start unbuttoning his funky tropical shirt that looks stupid good on him. I tug it down his shoulders so I can toss that baby across the room when Jay lays his hands over mine.

He gives me a forced smile. "I want to talk."

"You wanna talk dirty?" I ask, waggling my brows. "Sounds hot."

Jay laughs and pushes me towards the bedroom. "I'm serious."

I stop tugging on his shirt and try to gauge what's going on. He was smiling when we got to the suite but now he looks a little stressed, which has me a little stressed.

"Okay...you got me in the bedroom and my boner is completely gone so...what's up?"

He puts his hands on my shoulders like he's calming a spooked horse, which I resent. "I just want to talk."

"Well, we came up here so you could 'rail me good' and now you're looking like that might not happen."

"That's kind of what I want to talk to you about." He nudges me towards the bed. I follow, reluctantly. He corrals me where he wants me, which is on my back with him on his side next to me. His eyes follow his fingers as he traces them over my arm muscles. I really don't know what the fuck is coming but Jay looks like he's about to vomit which has my stomach twisting like a hoodie string in the spin cycle.

His hand stops moving. "I-don't-want-to-have-sex-until-we're-married," he says in one breath.

I blink. I think. I might not blink, I can't be sure. Nothing is real.

"What?" This time I know I blinked.

"I've never been interested in waiting until marriage or anything like that, but I always thought abstaining while engaged would be kind of sweet, like a grand gesture of sorts. I never brought it up because I never thought we'd get married, but here we are."

My jaw drops. "I think I'd rather get unengaged..."

Jay laughs. When I don't join in, his smile falters and he pulls his ringed hand away from me. With his hand hidden behind his back, he leans down and gently nudges my neck with his nose. "We only have one honeymoon and I think it would be a sexy build up if we couldn't touch each other until then."

My breath hitches. "I think it sounds like torture."

"It will be, but it will be awesome, too. Just imagine what it will be like to finally have me on my knees in front of you, as your husband, taking you in my mouth."

"I imagine it will not be all that romantic because I will cum all over your face before you even touch me."

"C'mon," he pleads. "Tell me you get where I'm coming from?"

I let out an exasperated breath. "I get it. You want some romantic bullshit."

"Yes," he deadpans. "You know how much I love all that romantic bullshit."

I close my eyes and give myself a moment to come to terms with what's about to happen. I'm obviously going to say yes because it's Jay and he's so fucking earnest and pure as shit. I think it might even be worth it to see his reaction on our wedding night.

"What if we're engaged for like, two years?"

He laughs. "I don't think that would happen."

"Yeah, probably not." He'd likely get married next week if he could. I open my eyes. "When you say abstaining, what exactly do you mean?"

"No sex—of any kind."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing."

"And you don't think you'll cave?"

"I know I won't," he says with conviction. I believe him. Jay has a crazy kind of willpower.

I frown. "I'm kind of offended."

"I didn't say it wouldn't be hard. It's going to be the most difficult thing ever, but I waited a long time for you and I can abstain for a few months if it means making our wedding day and our honeymoon that much more special."

"So...you're not going to rail me tonight? Like you guaranteed?"

He has the decency to look a little guilty that we're not getting down.

I roll out of bed and get dressed. Jay sits up. "What are you doing?"

"I need reinforcements."

I'm pretty sure Jay thinks I'm on my way to get alcohol. I'm not. I need something stronger. A lot strong.

I step outside. "Jay wants to be a born-again virgin on our wedding night," I tell the group. Because why the hell not? No secrets here.

I grab Mya's, Wyatt's, and Carson's diaper bags and sling them across my chest like I'm a pack mule heading down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, then steal the kids from their parents. With an armful of babies, I whistle for Aidan.

He comes galloping over like a horse from pasture. If I had an apple, he'd eat it right out of my hand. I look at the slack-jawed parents. "Might as well put this new celibacy to good use. Y'all should enjoy your night. I know I won't."

Jay tries not to laugh when I get back to the room with the cast of Kindergarten Cop. He takes Mya and Carson so I can offload the diaper bags. "Dramatic much?"

"Har har har," I laugh humorlessly. Then I give him a are-you-fucking-serious look because he's the one that wants to put my dick in abstinence jail for who knows how long. The only get out of jail free card is marriage. Do not pass Go, do not collect two-hundred dollars. I'm not complaining.

Okay, I'm kind of complaining.

I used to do whoever I wanted whenever I wanted. Now I'm some goddamn sap begging for a goodnight kiss on the front porch. The worst part? I'll fucking do it because it's Jay Petermeyer and if he wants to be treated like a gentleman, then I'm going to treat him like a fucking gentleman.

Then I pray for the shortest engagement ever.

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