Story Orgy Presents: Take Time part 14 FINAL CHAPTER

Good morning all! Welcome back to Story Orgy Monday, and the conclusion of Take Time. Next week I'll be beginning a brand new story, not sure what it'll be yet. Guess we'll have to be surprised, hm?

Take Time Part 14 

copyright Lee Brazil

2014

Apr 14th - His feet were already numb. He should have listened.

 Embry ignored all the aches and pains of his accident. They were nothing to the pain in his heart anyway. His feet were already numb. He should have listened to the doctors and taken the meds they prescribed. He just needed to stay coherent long enough to make his point to Wats. "I want one thing and it's non-negotiable."

Watson looked up from bowls of creamy white yogurt, and Embry immediately tumbled headlong into the depths of eyes that had captured his soul in junior high. "One thing? That doesn't leave a lot of…"

"There will be no negotiations." Em frowned at Watson, letting his displeasure show. "I'm not willing to compromise what I want. I'm not giving you an ultimatum," he clarified as Wats's eyes narrowed. "I'm telling you I have one goal, and I'll do whatever it takes to make it happen."

Sweat beaded on Wats's brow, and Em was secretly pleased that he seemed to take this discussion so seriously. Maybe it wasn't kind, to tease like this, to keep Wats thinking their future was at stake, but he'd always been a bit perverse, so …

Watson brought a plunked of berries glittering with water droplets from the sink and set them on the counter. He rolled out a few sheets of absorbent paper toweling on a plate then poured the berries on them. Em's gaze was caught by the deft fingers rolling the deep purple berries on the white towels, drying them with excessive care. He knew what that meant. Wats was hiding something, trying to present a placid exterior. It probably worked beautifully in the boardroom at meetings where people hadn't known him forever.

It just made Em suspicious.

Wats started talking, "You like blueberries, right? You should. Blueberries are probably about the most healthy fruit you can eat. They're full of antioxidants. Good for your memory and cognitive functions. These are organic, no pesticides, so they'll-"

Amused, Em watched for a moment, curious to see what else Wats would say, and nearly got fatally distracted by the movements of those plump, tempting lips, then cut off the health food lecture with abrupt crudity. "Fuck, Wats. I don't care what you have for breakfast. You could give me frozen waffles-"

*"I would never—" Wats finally stopped moving, stopped talking and just stood, looking at Em with wide eyes and unsmiling lips.

"They're good for you memory, huh?" Em pointed at the blueberries as Watson scooped a handful of the fruit onto each bowl of yogurt. "Maybe if you'd been eating more of them you'd have come home more often?"

Wats drew a breath so sharp, Em knew it had to be painful. Hell, it nearly cut him. "Low blow Embry." He shoved a bowl and a spoon across the counter to Em, who barely managed to stop the bowl form ending up on the floor.

"Elephant in the room." He countered. "I'm tired of the beast, and we need to address it. I want one thing, I'll do whatever ti takes to get that. Tell me what you want."

Watson's lips moved, but no sound came out, his eyes darted around, finally landing on a slip of paper. Em reached for it at the same moment that Wats did, but managed to get it first. "Hey!"

He ignored Watson's protest as he read the paper. IT had been crossed out, and rewritten and it appeared that Wats had pared down what had once been a fifteen item list to just three things.

1.      He wanted Embry to love him.

2.      He wanted to be with Embry.

3.      He wanted to punch Embry for leaving him.

"Number three is going to have to wait a while. Maybe a few months. The rest is doable." He crushed the list in his fist and then crammed it into the pocket of the sweat pants he'd found in Watson's drawer. They were a little tight, and a little short, but he hadn't planned to be wearing them for long, so it didn't matter.

"What's your one thing?" Watson glared at him, but Em could see the softening, the openness as his posture relaxed.

"My one thing is you, Watson. You should know that. I want you. I'll do whatever it takes for you to be mine. I'll move here, sell the B&B, open a new studio. They drink coffee in Denver, right? I can even open a a new coffee shop. Just as long as we're together, that's what's important."

Watson's mouth fell open comically, and Em sighed. He reached over the counter and tapped his lover's chin. "Come on…You can't be that surprised. I can paint anywhere I choose. Last time, I chose to hide at home. This time, I'm choosing you."

"But I quit my job and I hate this apartment."

Blinking, Em cupped Wats's jaw, enjoying the prickle of stubble against his palm. "You quit your dream job for me?"

"No. I quit my dream job for me, because it wasn't. Well, it was, but not anymore. My dream is being with you."

"I don't want you giving up what you worked so hard to achieve. I can live here." He looked around the stainless steel and white kitchen, soul-less but for the vibrant man who stood in it. "If you really hate this place, we'll find a new one. Maybe a house."

"No!" Watson shook his hand off and rounded the counter in a few swift strides, crowding Embry against the marble top. "I don't want to stay here. I want to go home."

Wincing at a twinge of pain form one of his many bruises, Em drew his arms up between them and pushed Wats back just enough so he could make eye contact. "You are my home, that's what I'm trying to say. I thought it was Turtle Neck creek that was home, but it never felt like home until I crashed into you that day in junior high, and it didn't feel like home unless you were with me in all these years."

He drew in a breath and let it all rush out. "I was miserable without you, and that proves that Turtle Neck Creek isn't my home. Wherever you are, that's where I want to be."

"I sent out some resumes, and I have every expectation that I can find employment somewhere within a sixty mile radius of our home, Embry."

He brushed a soft kiss over Em's lips, then went on, "And our home is Turtle Neck Creek, your grandma's B&B, the coffee shop, my sister, the guys we went to high school with, housewives with babies drinking coffee at two in the afternoon, and you painting. All of it, it's part of us."

"What about professional development and a career?"

"I’m not a nobody intern straight from school anymore. I don't have to take what's offered and wait for promotion. I expect I'll have plenty of future employers who are willing to negotiate terms that we find amenable. Like working from home, minimal travel and if they don't well, then I'll go into business for myself."

"You really are serious." He could have the life he'd dreamed of? Turtle Neck Creek, art, coffee, and Watson?

"I have never been more serious. I love you, Embry."

"I love you more." Embry tossed out, smiling as he felt Watson shaking with gentle laugther.

"You're going to have to prove that."

"I flew to see you, would have done it twice if not for the stupid bus."

Watson sobered immediately, meeting his eyes. "I know. I'm so sorry you had to do that."

"Don't be. It was a fear I had to face, and it was only right for me to do some of the traveling. You should have insisted on it a long time ago."

"You're never traveling without me again." Watson growled. "In fact, I'm not sure I'll let you out of my sight for a while."

If you enjoyed my post, click on over to the rest of the Orgiasts and read more! 

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