Working Love

14

"Let's hear it for the grooms!" We were at our bachelor party. James insisted we have one, and even invited some of Ethan's friends too. I looked over at him and smiled, I was happy to see him having fun.

"Hey Carter!" I looked behind me to see some of my old friends taking shots. "Come on, let's have a drink." I looked back at Ethan who was talking to some of his friends. I had talked to a few of them earlier, and they all seem like pretty cool guys. It was nice to hear some stories of ho Ethan was like in school. I gave him one last look before turning around to face my own friends.

"I'm coming!" They handed me a shot, and by the fifth one I needed air. "I'll be right back." I went to the nearest exit and opened the doors. The cold night air hitting my burning face. They rented a small room at a local bar for us. I was about to head inside, when I heard movement coming from the back. It sounded like someone was getting mugged.

"Come on, stop struggling!" I turn the corner, and what I see makes my blood run cold.

"Carter!" Ethan was being pinned to the wall by some of my old friends. Two had both his arms pinned to the wall, while the other had his hand around Ethan's throat. I ran up to them, and pulled them off of him, punching each one in the face for having laid their hands on him. The second he was free, he ran to my side. My chest was rise up and down quickly do to my heavy breathing. My head was spinning, and my vision was red. I was heated, I wanted to kill someone.

"What the fuck is going on?" My voice sounded even and calm, but you could don't miss the subtle tone of venom that dripped from my words. I could feel Ethan tense up in my arms. He has seen me angry only a few times, and has told me he hates it when I act like this. Saying that I become someone else when I am mad, and that it freaks him out. But at this moment, I don't care how I look. I am pissed beyond words.

"Carter you can't possibly be marrying a guy! We know you're not a faggot!" I hate that fucking word! Not even I have ever said that word. I pull Ethan behind me and walked up to him. My footsteps almost echoing in the now quiet street. Almost as if the whole world was holding it's breathing, waiting to see what I would do. I picked him up by his throat, the same way he has dared to do to Ethan, and pull him towards me. 

"Listen to me. very. closely." My voice was becoming colder the longer I had to look at them. I could feel my body shaking from how much I was trying to control myself. "Ethan is my fiance, and I am marrying him tomorrow. If that bothers you then tough shit. No one touches Ethan in any away, especially worthless homophobic pieces of shits like you!" I tossed him towards the nearest wall. They got up quickly and ran off. I could feel Ethan staring at me, so I took a few deep breaths to try and calm down. When I felt like my breathing was normal I turned to face him. "Ethan." My eyes drifted down to his neck. His usually light skin was now a shade of red from how hard they gripped his throat. I walked up to him, and gently touched the abused skin. I couldn't help but hang my head in shame. I was friends with those guys, and they hurt him."I'm sorry."

"No." He lifted my head and made me look into his warm gray eyes. He kissed the tip of my nose, and wiped away a tear I didn't even know I had shed.  "This will heal." He touched the now slightly bruised skin on his neck. "But the thought of almost losing you, that would have left  behind a scar I don't think would ever heal." He leaned forward and connected out lips. I held his waist and drew him closer to me. As close as I could possibly bring him to me. After a moment, he pulled back and looked up at me. His same smile on his precious face. "Thank you Carter, for finding me."

For the second time since my mother's death, I cried. I could tell Ethan was surprised, because he has never seen me cry. He didn't say anything, just held me in his arms as we sat in the dimly lit ally way of the bar. The light music and cheering in the background the only sounds now, helping to hide the few sobs that I could no longer hide. After a while, my tears stopped, but we remained seated on the lightly damped street. Him now on my laps, with my face buried between his shoulders. I could feel them shake from the small chuckle he let out.

"I guess this proves one thing. My god-like fiance, is actually still human too." I couldn't help but laugh at his silly joke. I reached my hand up to his cheek, and turned his head to face me. Reaching up, I placed a chaste kiss on his full pink lips.

"If I'm a god, then you're an angel." We laughed at the situation we were in. Sitting behind a bar ally, with tear stained faces. We must be quite a sight right now. "Come on, everyone must be wondering where we ran off to." After dusting ourselves off, and making sure we didn't look like complete messes. We went back inside, and pretended like nothing happened. No one noticed that Parker, Abraham and Jeffrey were gone. I handed Ethan my scarf so no one would be able to see the marks on his neck. The rest of the night went by without a problem, and Ethan seemed to be doing better after he stuck to my side. And that was just fine by me, because that's were he belongs.

*********************

"Tonight was interesting."

"That's one way to put it." I walked him up to his door and waited for him to open it and head inside. "Get some rest, we have a long day tomorrow."

"Yeah." He pulled the scarf further up with his right hand, as he held on to my hand with his left. I could tell he wanted to say something.

"Ethan." He turned slowly to look at me. I cupped his right cheek with my hand, and kissed him with all the love in my body. I pulled back and touched our foreheads together. I couldn't help but smile. "I love you."

"I love you too." He looked down for a moment, but I could feel his shoulders shaking. This time I pulled him towards me and held him in my arms. I know what happened today actually freaked him out, and I don't blame him. But he was trying to be strong for me at the time. "I've never experienced anything like that in my life."

"Ethan look at me." I pulled him back a little. His gray eyes standing out more because of how red the whites of his eyes were. "I know you hate violence, and that's one of the things I love about you. But if something like that ever happens again, god forbid, I want you to fight. We both know you could have kicked the shit out of them, so why didn't you?"

"Because, they were your friends." I stared at him for a moment, before letting out a small breath of air. I grabbed the back of his head, and pulled him towards me. His head resting on my shoulder.He was willing to let them hurt him, just because they were my friends. He really is something else.

"They aren't important to me. Okay, James may be up there, but that's besides the point. I don't care who I lose, as long as I have you by my side." He seemed to be thinking something over in his head. I saw his face turn a bright red, so I was curious. "What's going on in that handsome head of yours?" He didn't look at me. He simply opened the door, take my hand and led me inside, and up the stairs. Once we got to his room, and he shut the door. His back was to me, and I watched as he took off his coat and my scarf. I think I know what he was thinking. I could feel my face becoming red at the thought. "Ethan, you don't have to. We can wait until the honeymoon."

"What?" He turned around to look at me, and he seemed confused for a second. until realization kicked in. "No! I mean, I want to, but not yet." His face was now as red as mine.

"Oh." I cleared my throat. "So what did you have in mind?"

"I wanted to know, if you wanted, to sleep over." He was scratching the back of his head. I could tell he's never asked anyone to slept in the same bed as him, and it was really making him nerves. We've slept in the same bed together a few times, but I was the one who always initiated it. This was the first time for him. Not wanting to make him feel discouraged, I did the only thing I could think of.

"Okay." I took my jacket off, and pulled my shirt over my head. I saw him staring at my body with lust in his eyes, and it made me happy to know he found me as attractive as I found him. "Come on, Let's go to bed. Tomorrow's a big day, for both of us."

"Y-yeah." He finally snapped out of it and smiled. Taking my hand we both fell asleep wrapped in each others arms. This was only one night, in many to come.