{ #4 } The Darker Side Of The Moon (MxM || 18+)

Chapter 42 - Re-Connecting...

The Darker Side Of The Moon
Book 4 of The Black Moon series
Chapter 42: Re-Connecting

Jeremy's POV – Wednesday 2 December 2015

"Are you sure you don't want to tell him yourself? He's your best friend after all..." I argue as Gary and I take a seat in the newly rearranged living room.

I finished redecorating this room yesterday and I'm pretty proud with the result. The light-gray walls provide a lot of brightness and with the new black furniture Gary bought, it looks much more modern than it used to be. Even the leather couch is more comfortable and the way I set up everything feels like there's more space too. It took me a bit of time to make up all the flaws on the walls, paint them and do all the finishing, but my best reward was Gary's praise when it was all over. The next room I'd like to renovate is the kitchen and I'm also thinking about building a veranda or maybe a pergola in the backyard.

"Jer, I'm sure. He'll love that you announce it yourself and... it'll give you a nice topic to broach too if the conversation gets a bit awkward at some point," Gary reassures me, handing me his phone. "In any case, we'll put it on speaker and I can take over if you need me to. I'm not going anywhere, Baby, and I'll be around throughout the whole conversation."

"I'm still a bit... scared. I feel bad for having shut off everyone for so long..." I mumble, fumbling with the ring on my finger.

I can't believe Gary proposed to me...

Well, I had guessed it might happen at some point after I discovered the jewel in its box hidden among Gary's clothes, but I wasn't expecting it so soon, and above all, I wasn't expecting something so romantic and intense. Who am I trying to fool, though? This is Gary I'm talking about! I could say that nothing surprises me anymore with him after all he has done for me, but the truth is that he still manages to amaze me.

What I thought was going to be another wonderful date with a lovey-dovey ride across the Thames to enjoy the beautiful sight of London by night turned out as a wedding proposal and I can't begin to describe the emotions I felt in that moment. When Gary left my side to kneel in front of me, I thought it was only to soothe my fears for hanging from a cable – I don't trust all these cable cars and chairlifts! – but he crushed me with the most overwhelming speech I'd ever heard. The light blush on his face, the intense emotions in his voice, his eyes brimming with tears... These were so overpowering and yet, his words quickly processed through my mind and I didn't even let him finish his sentence before I accepted.

Of course, I wanted to become his husband and him mine! Who would be stupid enough to reject such a saint of a man? Certainly not me! And it wasn't out of compassion or gratefulness for all the patience and love he has been proving through my healing process. I didn't accept because I felt like I owed him this much. No, I accepted because this is what I truly wanted; because I had realized that my love for him was endless and the one thing I knew for sure was that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.

"Jeremy, don't...," Gary says firmly enough, grabbing my hands within his. "Like I told you, Aaron has been missing you a lot, but he understood that you needed time to build yourself up again before you'd be able to reach out to him, and I assure you that it's the same for Liam or whoever else among all your friends in Chicago. No one's going to hold a grudge against you, trust me."

Still, I can't help feeling a bit anxious making this call. It wasn't really nice of me to clam up from all my friends across the Atlantic when all they wanted was to help. Aaron has always been some sort of big brother to me and I'm sure he could have been full of good advice and someone I could trust with my worries. Oh well, at least he was there for Gary throughout all these months and it's already a lot.