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I.
Holden tightens his tie and looks at himself in the mirror. “Carrie!” he calls. “Come tell me if I look pretty.”
His personal assistant lets herself into his room and looks him over with a critical eye. “You look as lovely as always, Mr. Bristow. If you don’t come home with a boyfriend, I will be severely disappointed.” She strengthens her accent a bit on the last words with her usual flair for the dramatic. “Now come here, your tie is crooked.”
“I don’t know how I ever got along without you,” Holden says as she neatens his tie with quick, efficient motions. “Now into the fray.”
Carrie snorts and accompanies Holden to the door. “You’re acting as if you’re marching off to battle.”
“You’ve met Charlotte. Do you really think that’s so far off?” Holden strides out of his room, Carrie keeping pace beside him. “If anything, though, it will be mind-bendingly boring.”
“You are being so pessimistic,” Carrie sighs, opening the door for him even though he’s told her at least a hundred times that she shouldn’t do that for him. “You never know, boss man.”
He rolls his eyes at her and heads out to where Liam is idling in the car. Carrie shouts, “Don’t do anything too terrible!” as the door shuts behind him.
Liam drops him off at the front entrance of the Ritz Carlton. He heads inside, trying not to be annoyed by the paparazzi staking out the place. The charity dinner isn’t exactly high profile, but there are enough celebrities in attendance that the press has an interest, and he hasn’t gotten used to them yet.
He’s escorted by a porter to the grand ballroom, where he’s greeted by the hostess. Charlotte is wearing a floor-length red dress and looks extravagantly wealthy, as is her wont. She seizes Holden into a hug, kissing his cheeks enthusiastically.
“Holden, darling,” she trills brightly. “Thank you so much for coming! Please, your seat is over there.” She indicates the table towards the right of the ballroom. “Just look for your place card.”
“Thank you, Lotte,” he says, kissing her cheek in return. “You look beautiful, as always.”
“Such a charmer,” she teases. She lets him go and shoos him to his seat as someone else comes through the doors behind him.
Holden heads to his table and finds the card for his seat. He sits down next to an older woman with smooth, dusky skin, and introduces himself. She, as it turns out, is a producer, and he’s actually seen some of her films, so he compliments her and they talk a little bit about film while the other guests trickle in.
Someone takes the seat to Holden’s right and Holden gets a whiff of expensive aftershave. Holden turns to look, and sees Sean Jackson, football legend, settling into the expensive chair. “Hi,” Holden says.
“Hey,” Sean says, holding out his hand. “Sean Jackson.”
Holden just manages to refrain from saying, “I know,” and instead says, “Holden Bristow.” Sean’s grip is strong and sure and they both hold on for a beat too long. Holden drops his hand first, smiling sheepishly. Sean just smirks, somehow looking even more attractive in person than in the NHL promotional photos.
Sean asks, “Holden. Really?”
Holden laughs, more genuinely than usual. His name often gets that response. Usually he finds it quite irritating, but, likely because Sean is good-looking, he doesn’t mind so much. He kicks himself for being an idiot, but he still can’t resist smiling dopily as he explains, “MY mom was a big Salinger fan. I’m just lucky she didn’t name me Zooey.”
Sean bursts out laughing, showing perfect white teeth. Holden smiles helplessly in return. “I got landed with a boring name,” Sean remarks with a rueful grin. “Just a normal Irish name.” Holden finds himself staring at the little collar of skin exposed by the open collar of Sean’s shirt and forces himself to look away.
“How do you know Charlotte?” blurts out Holden before he can do anything stupid, like ask Sean if he wants to go make out in the coat closet.
“Went to school with her second husband,” Sean says with an easy smile. “She’s quite a handful, isn’t she?”
“A little,” Holden answers, smiling.
Sean takes a sip of water. “What about you? How did you meet her?”
“Went to school with her third husband,” Holden quips. Sean laughs again and Holden wants to press his thumbs to the wrinkles at the corners of Sean’s eyes. “She’s an old friend and a client.”
“A client? What do you do?” Sean has turned in his seat, angled towards Holden now. “Let me guess – lawyer?”
Holden snorts. “No.” He flips out a business card from his pocket. “BD Industries. We work in alternative energy.”
Sean takes it and raises his eyebrows when he takes in Holden’s title. “Impressive. Who’s the D in BD?”
“Sarah Darbi, my business partner. She’s more the scientist than I, so she takes care of that side while I sweet-talk clients.” It’s a little bit of a lie; Holden isn’t particularly up on his engineering, though he knows enough to keep pace with Sarah. “I’m flying out to Australia in two days, actually.”
“Australia, huh?” Sean makes an impressed noise. “That’s a long journey. You must be a big shot.”
“I’m not doing too shabby,” Holden understates, smiling at Sean. He doesn’t think he’s imagining that Sean’s smile is a little wider than what is considered normal for two men that have just met.
“Yeah?” Sean asks. “I bet that brings the ladies around.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Holden says mildly, watching Sean closely to gauge his reaction. “I don’t have much experience with women.”
Sean’s gaze sharpens and his smile grows secretive, knowing. “Is that right?” he practically purrs, but whatever he’s about to say next is interrupted by Charlotte standing up at the head table.
“Thank you ever so much, my dear friends,” she says loudly. “I am so glad you came…” She goes on, but Holden is too distracted by Sean’s hand landing on his thigh underneath their table. Holden sucks in a breath as Sean’s pinky traces distracting figure eights on the inside of his leg.
Sean slides a glance sideways towards Holden, as if he’s testing him. Holden smiles, a little shakily, and tries not to give away how turned on he is. Sean only moves his hand when Charlotte stops speaking and the hotel staff appears to serve them their food.
They talk about innocuous things as they eat – the latest George Clooney film, the mid-term elections, why modern music sucks so much – but Holden can feel a low buzz of anticipation between the two of them now and he’s under no illusions about how this night is going to go. He excuses himself to the bathroom when the dancing starts and sends a text to Carrie, telling her, I won’t be in the office until late tomorrow.
He gets a text back after he returns to his seat. Congrats boss ;)
Holden dances with Charlotte for a bit, then catches Sean’s eye across the dance floor. Sean grins and Holden leaves the ballroom with a quick goodbye to Charlotte, knowing Sean will follow him. Holden calls his driver on the way out and he only has to wait a few minutes before Liam is pulling up to the curb. Holden gets in and says, “Wait a moment.”
He’s barely finished speaking before the door on the other side opens and Sean is sliding in, smirking. “Never mind,” Holden says. Liam looks like he’s trying not to laugh, but he closes the partition to give them some privacy.
Once the barrier is up, Sean unbuckles his seatbelt and slides across the leather seats to kiss Holden. “I think it goes without saying,” he says as he’s undoing Holden’s seatbelt, “that this is something I don’t usually do.”
“Understandable, given your career,” Holden says breathlessly, sliding his hands under Sean’s jacket to press at his back. He feels a thrill run down his spine at the feel of the powerful muscles underneath Sean’s shirt. Holden’s boyfriends have been, if not numerous, at least various, but none of them have been as physically built as Sean and he wonders what it will be like.
Sean is obviously used to topping, if the way he manhandles Holden out of the car is anything to go by. Holden thanks Liam and dismisses him while Sean tugs on his belt loops impatiently.
Once inside the house, Sean shoves Holden up against the wall and Holden pushes back, grinding their hips together. Sean presses kisses down Holden’s neck, alternating with the occasional bite. Holden grabs Sean’s ass and hauls him in closer. He can feel Sean’s erection pressing against his thigh and when Sean’s mouth reaches his collarbone, Holden says, “Bedroom?”
“I like that idea,” Sean mumbles into Holden’s skin, rubbing against his leg as though he can’t help himself. “Lead the way.”
Holden pushes himself off the wall and grabs the lapels of Sean’s jacket, walking backwards as Sean bites at his ear. He leads the way down the hall and then up the stairs. Sean’s hands hook into his waistband the tips of his fingers stroke against the skin of Holden’s hips.
Holden gets them through the door of his bedroom before kicking it shut – his housekeeper comes around in the mornings – and pushes Sean onto the bed. He straddles Sean’s lap and starts working on Sean’s jacket and shirt.
Sean lets him work, grinning up at Holden. Holden undoes his own tie and waistcoat, throwing them aside to the floor. Sean untucks Holden’s shirt and then tugs him down for another kiss, hard and messy.
It turns out they don’t get around to the actual sex; instead, Holden goes down on Sean and tries not to relish the way Sean grabs onto his hair when Holden takes him in deep. He smoothes his hands over Sean’s shaking thighs and then slides his hand under Sean’s balls, pressing lightly.
Sean hits his shoulder, gasping, “I’m gonna – I’m gonna –” Holden pulls back and watches Sean’s face as he comes, feeling obscurely proud. Sean groans and doesn’t move for a minute. Then he rolls over onto his side and jerks Holden off while he presses long, lingering kisses down the column of Holden’s neck.
Holden comes as Sean is sucking a mark onto his skin and his hips jerk hard as he rides it out. Sean lets out a soft chuckle when Holden collapses next to him, boneless and a little tired.
“This is way better than what I thought would happen tonight,” he says comfortable, nudging over to be pressed up against Holden’s side. “I was sure I’d just be bored and end up jerking off at home.”
Holden huffs out a laugh and rolls over to press his mouth to Sean’s shoulder in a gentle kiss. Sean’s arm snakes around him – who would have thought he’d be a cuddler? – and Holden drifts off to sleep, satisfied.
They exchange lazy blow jobs in the shower the next morning, and then Holden calls Liam to take Sean home. He doesn’t really think about it until later, when Carrie comes by to drop off some lab results and says, “You usually don’t loan the car out to people.”
He opens his mouth to protest that claim, but he realizes that she’s right after only a moment of thought. It’s not that he doesn’t trust people with the car, it’s just that it’s not something he thinks of. Holden is a possessive guy; he aggressively vets Carrie’s boyfriends to see if they’re good enough for her and he’d punched a guy who’d tried to talk up his last boyfriend. (It had ended up hurting his hand more than the guy, and his boyfriend had broken up with him two weeks later. It hadn’t been one of his best moments.)
He says, “It was just a one-time thing,” because although they hadn’t agreed on that, as such, neither had they made any promises to each other. Holden’s fine with that; he doesn’t have time for a relationship, especially now that they’re gaining more clients at an almost exponential rate. Carrie just nods and tells him that Sarah wants to talk and that she’s waiting in his study.
Sarah lays the reports down on his desk as he sits down across from her, but instead of talking about business, she says, “Sean Jackson? Really?”
“I think we need less gossipy employees,” he grumbles, yanking the papers towards him. Alicia, the head of R&D, has left a note on the side of the paper congratulating him on the success of the new chip. “Are you going to scold me now?”
“You’re much too old to be having one night stands,” she says.
“I’m thirty-three,” he protests. “I’m not ancient.”
“I’m thirty-four and I’m married with children,” Sarah points out. “For the past ten years, mind.”
“You’re a unique case.” Holden leans back in his seat. “This has nothing to do with the new chip.”
“Forgive me for caring about the love life of my oldest friend,” Sarah says dryly. “If you’re so desperate to talk about work, then fine. We’ve been contacted by some clients in Abu Dhabi. They are interested in sustainable architecture and they want to know if our chips will be of value to them. So guess what?” She beams at him. “We get to go on a joint business trip, isn’t that exciting?”
“Dreadfully,” he says. “Goodbye now.”
Sarah ends up staying for lunch despite his best efforts, and she wheedles enough information out of him for some very useful blackmail, should the occasion arise. If she weren’t his best friend, he would be worried. He tells her as much and she laughs.
“I probably shouldn’t find it charming, how much you don’t trust me,” she says, amused.
“You told Mikhail I was infatuated him, and it all went downhill from there,” he informs her, scowling as convincingly as he can.
“That was more than ten years ago,” Sarah protests, indignant. “You can’t honestly still be upset about that.”
“I’m not, really,” Holden admits. “I did get a year of dating out of it.”
“See?” She thumps his arm. “Look, it’s not that you aren’t entitled to live your life alone. I just don’t – it’s been three years since Ian and I know you were crazy about him and all, but.” She lets out an aggravated sigh. “You know I just want you to be happy.”
“I am happy,” he says, wrapping her in a hug. She rests her forehead on his shoulder and lets out a heavy sigh. After a moment, she looks up.
“Okay, I only came by to give you the reports and wish you luck on your trip,” she tells him, stepping back. “I wouldn’t have stayed this long, only Carrie let it slip and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.” She leans up on her toes to kiss his cheek. “Good luck in Australia. Call me if anything comes up.”
“I will,” he promises, and he sees her to the door. She waves goodbye before getting in her own car – unlike him, she is perfectly comfortable navigating the freeways of Los Angeles and thus drives herself – and he waves back until she’s gone.
He returns to his room to find Carrie packing his luggage, apparently dissatisfied with his own attempts. “Are you going to call him?” she asks without any preliminaries.
“I don’t even have his number,” Holden answers matter-of-factly.
Carrie shakes her head sadly. “Now, that is just pathetic,” she remarks and she snaps his suitcase closed. “I never figured you for a coward, boss.”
“Look, not that it’s any of your business, but we didn’t exactly make any promises.” Holden folds his arm. “I don’t need you judging me.”
“Yes you do,” Carrie says amiably. “That’s what I’m here for.” She slaps his shoulder as she passes. “Call him when you get back. I’ll get the number for you so you won’t have that excuse.”
“Fine,” Holden says, not really believing her. “Sounds great.”
II.
Sean would like to tell himself that it’s perfectly normal to be thinking about Holden Bristow all the time. Thanks to being a gay man in the sporting world, Sean doesn’t often have sex, and then it’s usually hurried affairs in a bathroom or a hotel. He doesn’t spend the night as a general rule, and he certainly doesn’t think about them afterwards, unless his imagination fails him while he’s jerking off.
But it’s been almost a week and Sean keeps thinking of Holden at inconvenient moments. He would understand it if he was having sex flashbacks – the sex had been pretty good, after all – but instead he finds himself remembering Holden’s diatribe against Justin Bieber or the way his eyes seemed almost too pale for his face.
He is almost hit in the face during a normal practice because he gets distracted thinking about Holden’s laugh and how Holden claimed he could quote Monty Python and the Holy Grail line for line. The guys tease him, asking who the girl is. Sean waves them off, embarrassed.
He gets home after practice and waves to his neighbors as he passes. His house is empty and silent. Even though Holden obviously lives alone, his house had somehow seemed more lived in and lively than the beachfront home Sean had shelled out for. Sean’s bed seems equally barren and lonely and he stares at the messy sheets for a long moment before going back into his living room to watch television.
He gets bored halfway through the second episode of Criminal Minds on A&E. Sean pulls out the business card from its place in his wallet and looks at it for a long moment, tracing his fingers over the letters of Holden’s name. Before he can talk himself out of it, he takes out his phone and dials the number.
Holden, when he picks up, sounds harried, and Sean belatedly remembers that Holden is in Australia. “Shit,” Sean says. “Sorry, is this a bad time?”
“Sean?” Holden asks, sounding surprised. “Oh, um. No, actually, I’ve just had lunch so I have a bit of a break. Why, what’s up?”
“Just – I was gonna ask if you wanted to get dinner or something, but obviously –” Sean chuckles nervously and is relieved to hear Holden’s answering laugh on the other end. “I completely forgot that you were in Australia.”
“I was supposed to be home already, actually,” Holden says, sounding long-suffering but still upbeat. “But we successfully manufactured a new type of chip before I flew out and once I mentioned that, all the negotiations went up in the air.”
“Sounds complicated.” Sean is a little dismayed to find that he’s already half-hard, just from the sound of Holden’s voice. “Aside from that, are you enjoying Australia?”
“I almost got hit by a kangaroo last night,” Holden says and Sean blinks, startled.
“Surely you mean you almost hit a kangaroo?” he asks.
“No, a kangaroo almost hit us.” Holden sounds amused again and Sean can almost see the smile he has on his face. “We were driving out towards the site where they’re planning on putting some solar panels and it came out of nowhere. Luckily, our driver accelerated in time, otherwise it would have smashed right into the passenger side window.”
“Jesus,” Sean says involuntarily. “I’m glad that didn’t happen.”
There’s a short pause on the other end. Just as Sean is starting to feel self-conscious and awkward, Holden says in a soft, caressing sort of voice, “I didn’t think you were going to call.”
“Neither did I,” replies Sean honestly. “I just – I would like to see you again.”
“I would…be fine with that,” Holden says, voice still low and intimate. Sean sucks in a breath and lets it out again, slow and shaky.
“Good,” he says, trying not to let his desperation creep into his voice, though he’s pretty sure he fails since Holden lets out a low, sexy chuckle.
“I’ll give you a call when I get back in town,” Holden promises. “I have to go now, I’m sorry. But feel free to call.”
Sean says goodbye and then drops the phone on the couch and jerks off furiously without even taking off his jeans, remembering how Holden had gone down on him in the shower. He comes hard and bangs his head on the back of his couch painfully, but he’s so dazed from the force of his orgasm that he can’t bring himself to care.
“I’m fucked,” he announces to his ceiling.
Holden returns to Los Angeles a few days later. Sean knows because he gets a text saying, Landed at LAX. See you for dinner?
Sean texts him back with his address and says, Bring Thai food.
Holden shows up around seven bearing a huge amount of Thai food, which promptly gets abandoned at the kitchen table when Holden hauls Sean in for a kiss.
“I promised myself I’d wait until we’d eaten,” Holden says between kisses, already fumbling with the knot of his tie, “but you look like sex on legs.”
“God,” is all Sean can say as Holden finds that one really sensitive spot underneath his left ear. He clutches onto Holden’s hips and allows himself to be bent back over the table as they kiss. Holden slides a thigh between Sean’s legs and presses up gently, a gentle pressure that teases at Sean.
“If we’re doing this,” Sean finally manages to get out once Holden stops distracting him, “we’re going to do it properly,” and he promptly grabs Holden by the tie and drags him to the bedroom. They have a brief quibble over who tops – Sean isn’t particular either way, but he’s been dreaming about Holden’s ass for a week and a half now – and Sean wins, so he pushes Holden onto the bed and yanks his pants off.
“Be careful with those!” Holden yelps as Sean flings them aside.
“You shouldn’t wear expensive clothes when you come to see me,” Sean informs him and sticks his tongue in Holden’s ass before Holden can comment on that.
Holden’s clean and makes the most amazing moans as Sean rims him. He pulls back long enough to fumble lube and condoms out of his bedside table and slicks up his fingers, which he presses inside. Holden squirms and says, “Motherfuck,” his voice hoarse and choked.
Sean smoothes his hands along the back of Holden’s thighs. “Ready for a third?” Holden nods and Sean eases his finger in, curling them until Holden jerks back, making a desperate noise in the back of his throat.
“Fuck me already, Jesus,” Holden moans and Sean rises up onto his knees, feeling oddly triumphant. He slides on a condom and slicks himself up. He presses in, slowly despite Holden’s impatient mutters.
Holden moves up onto his hands and knees as Sean tugs at his hips. Sean can see Holden’s arms shaking as Sean fucks into him, rhythmic and steady. Holden’s tan back glows almost golden in the light from Sean’s bedside lamps. Sean leans forward to press himself against Holden’s back, kissing the back of his neck, right where his hair trails off.
Holden makes a choked sound and says, “Sean,” his voice utterly wrecked. Sean loses it, then, and comes with his face pressed into Holden’s back.
He rolls off Holden once he’s recovered himself and goes down on Holden with shaking hands, rubbing his hands along the muscle of Holden’s thighs as Holden arches up, desperate. Sean doesn’t pull back when Holden comes – he kind of relishes the way come feels in his mouth – and Holden drags Sean up for a lazy, satisfied kiss.
They get lost in each other’s mouths quickly, necking like teenagers on Sean’s bed. Sean can’t remember the last time he spent this much time just kissing. Holden rolls over to be lying on top of Sean, his hands wandering aimlessly. Sean isn’t going to be able to get hard for at least a few hours, but he almost feels like he could, just for the way Holden nips at his lower lip and the way Holden’s fingers feel against the thin skin on the inside of his wrists.
Holden finally rolls off of him with a sigh and says, “I’m too tired to eat now,” and Sean laughs in agreement.
“It seems a shame to let it go bad, though,” Sean remarks. “I’ll go put it away.” He gets up and goes back to the kitchen without putting clothes on. He puts the Thai food away in his refrigerator, moving some containers around to make space.
When he gets back to the bedroom, he finds Holden asleep, curled up on his side. Sean slides into bed beside him and curls around him. It feels oddly familiar and comfortable, but Sean doesn’t have much time to reflect on that before he drifts into sleep.
In the morning, Sean wakes up and smells coffee brewing. He gets up, legs shaking a little from muscle exhaustion as he heads into the bathroom. He turns the water on as hot it will go and stands under the spray, staring at the tiles of the shower. His hands shake a little as he uncaps his shampoo bottle and he almost drops it.
After he gets out, he puts on a pair of sweatpants and wanders into the kitchen, where he finds Holden poking at a distressingly tough-looking omelet. Holden’s wearing just his briefs and his shirt from the night before, showing off the toned muscle of his legs. He looks up when he hears Sean’s footsteps and smiles sheepishly.
“I’ve never been that great at cooking,” he admits. “I can make a kick-ass pot of coffee, but real food continues to elude me.”
“I can do it,” Sean says, walking over to him. He bumps his hip up against Holden’s. “Move over.”
Holden shuffles sideways and pours Sean a cup of coffee. Sean takes it and drinks it before he sets to cleaning the detritus of failed omelet from the pan. Holden hooks his chin over his shoulder and wraps his arms around Sean’s waist.
“If you want breakfast, you’ll have to let me move,” Sean points out, but he likes the weight of Holden across his back, the way Holden’s hands stroke gently against his bare chest. Holden mouths at the junction between Sean’s neck and shoulder and Sean shudders, his hands going slack on the handle of the pan.
“I like this better,” Holden says, rolling his hips. His erection presses into Sean’s ass and Sean groans, head rolling back. Holden bites at the curve of Sean’s ear.
“We should eat,” Sean protests weakly. “We didn’t eat dinner last night, remember?”
“I definitely remember that,” Holden teases, and he licks along Sean’s ear. Sean shivers and lets out a slow breath.
“Well, I’m hungry,” Sean says, twisting away. “Can you hold off until after we eat?”
“If I have to,” says Holden, leaning against the counter. He’s pouting attractively and Sean tries to ignore him, focusing on cracking eggs into a bowl. He rescues some tomatoes and mushrooms from the cutting board and throws them in the pan.
“You have no idea how attractive I find you right now,” Holden says as Sean expertly pours the egg into the pan. “I am such a disaster in the kitchen, you have no idea.”
“I have some,” Sean says, pointed looking at the ruined omelet in the sink. Holden laughs and presses another quick kiss to the side of Sean’s head before going through the cabinets, obviously looking for plates. “Third ones on the left from the refrigerator,” he says without looking around.
“Thanks,” Holden says and he grabs them before going to set the table. “You wanna eat some of that Thai food?”
“Sure, why not,” Sean replies, shifting the pan. “I trust you can use a microwave?”
“Oh, real funny,” Holden groans, and Sean hears him open the refrigerator. “Yes, I can. How do you think I got through business school?”
“I had wondered,” Sean deadpans. He takes a spatula and carefully slides it underneath the omelet. He folds it over and takes it over to the table. He cuts it neatly in half and splits it between their plates. “Done.”
“Excellent,” Holden says and he ferries the takeout containers to the table. “Ready.”
They eat in slightly awkward silence for the first few minutes, but then Holden asks a question about some of the art hanging around the house and they get deeply embroiled in discussion. Holden is, as Sean expected, incredibly knowledgeable on a variety of subjects. Sean can’t help but be awed by the way Holden deftly switches topics from politics to modern art to the exploits of Miley Cyrus.
Holden leaves around noon after a round of truly awe-inspiring blowjobs, but promises to call soon. Sean is left mostly feeling strangely light and desperate to tell someone about it. For lack of anyone else – the guys on the team still don’t know about him – he calls his sister.
“You sound happy,” she remarks after they talk a little bit about home and family. “Did something happen?”
“I met someone,” he admits and she lets out a soft noise of excitement.
“Oh, Sean,” she sighs, “we all thought that would never happen, what with…everything. But that’s great! What’s his name?”
“Holden Bristow. He’s a businessman.” Sean strips off the sheets from his bed, sandwiching the phone between his ear and his shoulder. “You’d like him.”
“If you like him enough to tell me about it, I’m sure I will,” Kate says. “Every other time, we practically have to put you under interrogation to find out anything about your boyfriends.”
“I don’t have boyfriends,” Sean protests.
“Exactly,” Kate says cryptically. “Hold on to this one,” she adds with a small smile. “He obviously makes you happy.”
“I’ll try,” Sean promises. He sits on the stripped bed and rubs his hand over the spot where Holden had lain the night before. He lies back on the bed and stares vaguely at the ceiling. “I promise you, I’ll try.”
“I love you, big brother,” Kate says. He can tell she’s smiling by the fond tone in her voice. “Call me more often, okay?”
“Okay,” he agrees. “I will.” He hangs up and lets his phone rest on his stomach while he daydreams a little. After a few minutes, his phone buzzes. He picks it up and reads the text from Holden.
See you next week?
Sean smiles and responds, Definitely.