Catalyst (Connectivity Book 2) Read online

  Swiping open the screen, he tapped his messages app and had a text message waiting from Jersey. He smiled. He could probably get used to wake-up messages from his boyfriend. He’d never had anyone in his life that would think of him right away and be anxious to talk to him first thing in the morning. He tapped the message and was pleased to see a picture of Jersey, looking sleepy on his stomach and tangled in his bedding. His hair was rumpled, and Travis itched to reach out and tuck the wayward strands behind his ears.

  He lay back in his own bed and artfully arranged his covers so most of his form was hidden from view. He left just a hint of his chest hair and the tip of his right nipple showing. When he was satisfied with the angle and look on his face, he snapped a few selfies, and after choosing the best one, he replied to Jersey’s text with a tease of his own.

  His grin returned, imagining the look on Jersey’s face. Would he like what he saw looking at Travis’s picture? Would he ask for more?

  His phone chimed and he checked it right away.

  Jersey was looking all kinds of sexy laying on his back with his left hand resting across his chest and both his nipples on full display. As he’d suspected, the man had very little chest hair, but what was there, was dark and gathered between his pecs with a small trail running down and disappearing from view under the covers. He looked back at the camera with the edge of his bottom lip pulled up and held between his teeth. He looked coy and tempting all at once. And the tease was definitely working for Travis.

  Deciding to step things up and see what Jersey would reply with, he shoved his covers down so just the band of his boxers was visible and slipped the tips of his left fingers just under the band, then angled his phone from his shoulder, taking a blind shot of his chest, abs, and his left hand. He checked the image and took two more just at slightly different angles, then sent one off, grinning at the naughtiness of his first sexting encounter.

  He squirmed a little thinking about what Jersey would reply with and tried to plan out his next shot.

  Jersey didn’t disappoint.

  Travis almost swallowed his tongue as he stared at the image of Jersey’s tented lower half. He’d drawn all his covers off except for the thin white sheet, that was barely covering his tight red briefs, that were doing a valiant job of containing his tented arousal. Travis felt himself thicken in response to seeing the image, knowing that was his boyfriend he was looking at.

  He wanted to run his nose along the dark hair that led down under the band of his Andrew Christians, see what the man smelled like, and feel how warm he was first thing in the morning. He wanted to snuggle against Jersey, feel that warm body pressed against him, while he wrapped his arms around that slender frame.

  His chest ached at the thought, and he felt the same sensation he’d felt that first night he’d met Jersey when he’d first laid eyes on the man. Almost like déjà vu, but not quite. Like some sense of the other man was exactly what he needed and almost felt familiar in some way. He thought about the fact that Jersey had been the first person to really get to him, to create this feeling inside him and he wondered if others felt that way about their significant others as well. Maybe it was just the newness of their relationship and him having a major first crush, but staring at that image of Jersey, did things to Travis’s insides.

  He must have been staring too long because another text came in. He chuckled and replied that, no, he hadn’t been scared off, quite the opposite in fact. He tapped the call icon.

  “Hey.” Jersey’s voice sounded pleasant through the phone.

  “When can I see you?” Travis responded without preamble.

  Jersey laughed. “Any time you want, remember. I’m not particularly busy.”

  “I miss you,” Travis said fondly, settling into his bed. “Thank you for the pictures, by the way. They made me miss you more. I don’t know if that was your intent, but it definitely worked.”

  “Not at all. Just a little good morning from me to you.”

  “Mmm. I liked it. It was nice to see you first thing.”

  Jersey was quiet for a moment. “Do you work today?”

  “No. I never really got weekend hours since I was always needing them off for baseball. Okay, well sometimes I’d work a Sunday shift, but almost never on Saturdays. Did you want to hang out?”

  “Yes.” Travis smiled. Jersey’s quick answer gave him a warm feeling in his chest.

  “Do you want to come over or I could go to you. Um, if that’s okay? I mean, if you’re fine with me at your house. Or we could meet up somewhere.” Jersey paused and cleared his throat. “Okay, Travis?”

  “Yeah, babe?”

  “Mmm. I like that.” Travis chuckled. “Um, does your family know you like guys, or that you like me, anyway? I’m trying to be more direct and just ask what’s on my mind instead of leaving things unsaid.”

  “I appreciate that. And, no, probably not. But I’m not hiding anything from them. They might be surprised, but also maybe not. Since I’ve never dated anyone, they wouldn’t know one way or the other who I’d choose to date. But they’re completely supportive of our choices and probably won’t even blink an eye. Would you like to come over and I can introduce you? You know what you’re getting into with them being a Connective couple, so it will be really easy to understand my family dynamic.”

  “You’re sure it will be fine? I’m not sure I’d be comfortable meeting them if they might take it badly. I’m sorry, Trav, but after my dad’s reaction, I just don’t think I could handle another freak-out.”

  “You’re right. I’m sorry. I didn’t think of that. I’ll go talk to them right now and explain, okay? I’m sorry, babe. That would have been putting you in a really uncomfortable position and that wouldn’t be fair to you.”

  “Thank you for understanding. Text me or call me back, though. As long as they’re cool with it, I’d love to meet them. And your brother and sisters, if they’re around.”

  “Of course. Thank you for the pictures.”

  “You’re welcome, Trav. And thank you for yours. I’m assuming you’ve never sexted before, but you wouldn’t know it from what you sent. God, you had me so hard. You have an incredible body and if it looked that amazing in a picture, I can’t wait to see it in person.”

  “You should talk,” Travis returned. “Damn, that last picture was hot. Is that all you’re wearing right now?”

  “Mmm hmm,” Jersey rumbled and the sound did things to Travis’s insides.

  “Okay. I’m going before you start in with any of that. I’m not talking to my parents about my sexy boyfriend with a hard-on.”

  Jersey laughed. “Sorry, not sorry? Good luck, babe, and call me back, okay?”

  “Okay. Talk soon.”

  “Bye.”

  “Bye.” Travis waited a second before he hung up, but pulled the phone off his ear to check if the call was still connected. “Are you still there?”

  “Yeah. I was waiting for you to hang up first.”

  “I was waiting for you to hang up.” Travis chuckled and so did Jersey.

  “Then we hang up together, okay? On three?”

  “Okay.”

  “Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  “One, two, three,” Jersey counted, and Travis finally hung up, smiling the whole time.

  ~

  “Morning, Mama. Hey, Dad,” Travis greeted as he entered the kitchen.

  “Mornin’, baby. Didn’t hear you come in last night.” His mother was pouring creamer into her coffee and she held up a mug in an offer to him. Travis shook his head. He definitely didn’t need any more stimulation after the pictures Jersey’d sent. They had been pretty effective in waking him up, thoroughly.

  “Where’d you run off to after work yesterday? Hanging out with the guys?” his dad questioned as he flipped sausage patties and stirred what looked to be grits.

  “Well, actually I kinda wanted to talk to you guys about that.” Both sets of eyes focused on him.

  “Everything alr
ight?” his dad asked, looking concerned. “Something up with one of the guys?”

  “No. I wasn’t with the guys yesterday.” Travis knew his parents wouldn’t care if he liked boys, or more specifically, Jersey, but still, the confession of it, gave him a tiny niggle of anxiety. Would they be surprised?

  “What is it, baby? You look like you’re thinkin’ too hard,” his mother said.

  “Um… I have a boyfriend. I had dinner at his house last night.” He figured it was best to just lay it out there. No point in dilly-dallying. He wasn’t ashamed of Jersey.

  Both his parents blinked. His mother set her coffee down, a huge grin forming on her face. His dad stirred the grits.

  “My baby,” his mother cooed and came over, cupping his cheeks. Of course she would embarrass him. “His first little crush. Mmm. Can you believe it, Mark? Nineteen and finally feelin’ the love.” She hugged him and then stepped back, giving him an assessing look. “When were you planning on tellin’ us, hmm? And what is this boy’s name? I need to know who to thank for drawing you out of your sainthood.”

  Travis blushed. His father chuckled at his mother and winked at him, giving him a nod.

  “Ah, we only really made it official yesterday, but he’s Josh’s best friend. His name is Jersey. Well, it’s actually Michael, but he won’t answer to that if you use it. He was Josh’s best man at their wedding and we only met last week.”

  “And were you afraid to tell us that you liked boys, Travis? I sure hope you know we would never be upset by that.”

  “I know that, Mama, honestly. Until last week, I didn’t really know who I liked either. I’ve never really been attracted to anyone until him. I know that seems weird, but,” he shrugged, “it’s just him. Whatever it is about him, it just works for me. I’ve never felt anything before like what he makes me feel.” His dad stopped what he was doing and leaned back against the counter.

  Travis rubbed his chest as he remembered what it felt like the first time he saw Jersey. “It was so weird. The first time I saw him, we were at Chili’s, right? And he just walks up to the table and bam! I got this really weird feeling, almost like déjà vu or something. It totally threw me for a loop. But we chatted and then he invited me to lunch on Wednesday and I went back to his place and met his mom. But, I don't know, we kind of left things open-ended on Wednesday and we had some stuff to talk about. So, I went over yesterday and we talked some more, and yeah, we’re dating now.”

  His parents both had smiles on their faces. Travis didn’t really expect anything less but the air still needed to be cleared a bit.

  “Uh, I was going to have him come over to meet you guys and he wants to meet everyone else, but he wanted me to tell you guys first. Um, his dad didn’t approve of him being gay and actually kicked him out when he was thirteen. Anyway, that’s his story, but then his parents divorced, he moved here and just, you know, um, didn’t want to meet you until he knew you’d be cool about it. After hearing his story, I should have thought of that before suggesting he come over. But, he’s right. I needed to tell you guys before springing him on you. It wouldn’t have been fair to either of you or him, to just show up and announce we were dating.”

  “Oh, Travy. You know we wouldn’t have cared. But of course, if his father was unacceptin’ then, sure, I can see that he would be leery. I’m glad you told us and we really are so happy for you. I wouldn’t go so far as to say we were worried about you, but we did wonder when someone would finally catch your eye.” His mother patted his cheek and wrapped him up in her warm motherly embrace. “I’m excited to meet this young man who apparently has some sort of Travis voodoo,” his mother teased.

  His father came over and hugged him as well. “I’m happy that you found someone who makes you feel something, Trav. I know it might have seemed out of the ordinary for you to have gone all the way through high school without ever dating, but, I’m really proud of you for being you and doing what you needed. You’ve spent four years watching all your buddies and other friends date, and I’m sure you had to be curious yourself about why you never felt anything for anyone. But you didn’t force it. You didn’t go out and date whoever just to fit in or do what everyone else was doing. So whoever this young man is, I’m so pleased that he seems to be who you’ve been waiting for. I’m happy for you. And you know we don’t care much for labels, it’s what that person makes you feel that counts.” His dad smiled at him and Travis felt himself sigh with relief, not that he was worried they wouldn’t approve, but he was glad they seemed to understand what he was saying. Jersey was special.

  “Thank you, guys. I guess maybe we should have talked a little about this whole thing sooner, but I was honestly just so passive about it before. It never really mattered.” He smiled. “Jersey is different. I like it. I like him.”

  “Aww, baby. Look at you lookin’ so happy. Go get this boy over here so we can meet him already,” his mother said excitedly.

  “Alright, alright. I’m going.” Travis laughed as he left the kitchen. He was ready to get his cute little boyfriend over as well. Since the air had been cleared, he had no doubt everyone would love Jersey. If they could work out something as big as what they’d already overcome, Travis knew anything else that came up between them would be smooth sailing.

  ~

  He watched Jersey park his car an hour later at the curb in front of his house. He lived on a corner, and they actually had a second entrance to the house on the other street, but they mostly used that one for company and the daycare. He’d told Jersey to park on the smaller side street.

  Getting up from the patio chair where he’d been waiting, Travis smiled at Jersey and hopped down the two steps, jogging the rest of the distance to greet his boyfriend with a hug.

  Jersey grunted when Travis wrapped him up and spun him in a circle.

  “Are we really going to do the whole rag-doll thing?” Jersey asked in a droll tone.

  Travis hurriedly set Jersey on his feet, worried that he’d overstepped his welcome. “I’m sorry. I was just excited to see you. I should have asked and not assumed it’d be okay just because you’re smaller than I am.”

  Jersey gave him a bored look.

  “What? I can’t help it if you’re adorable and I want to spin you around.”

  “Now I’m adorable? Great. Just what every man wants to hear,” Jersey said in a sarcastic tone and Travis couldn’t help feeling thrown off balance again. He scrunched his brow. What had happened to his fun little boyfriend who was playfully sexting him only an hour ago? Here he was excited to see his guy and feeling like they could really get started on their relationship, but then Jersey didn’t seem receptive to him at all. Had he really misread their time together so badly?

  “Travis?”

  He snapped his gaze up from the ground, meeting Jersey’s eyes. The boy broke out in a laugh and launched himself at Travis, throwing his arms around his neck and wrapping his legs around his hips. Travis supported him automatically and when Jersey pulled back, apparently satisfied that Travis wouldn’t drop him, he cupped the sides of Travis’s face and kissed him, right there on the street.

  Travis pulled back.

  “Silly boy, I was teasing,” Jersey giggled. “How could you think I meant any of that? I could hardly keep a straight face I was so anxious to see you.” He peppered Travis’s face with kisses and hugged him again.

  Hugging Jersey back, Travis closed his eyes. “I thought you were mad at me,” he said into the side of Jersey’s neck.

  Jersey pulled back. “I’m sorry, Trav. I was only teasing. I didn’t mean to upset you. How could I be upset that you were happy to see me?”

  Travis shrugged and set Jersey down, his good mood evaporating slightly.

  Jersey frowned. “Hey. Travis.” Jersey nudged his chin up again. “What’s all this? Did you really think I would get mad at you?”

  Travis shrugged again, looking down at the ground. “Not mad, I guess. I don’t know. I mean, maybe we just don’t know e
ach other’s sense of humor yet.”

  Jersey pulled Travis into his arms. “Aww, babe. I’m sorry. I really was just playing with you.” He stood up on his tip toes and kissed Travis behind his ear. “You know I actually think it’s kind of sexy that you can lift me up like that.” He nosed Travis’s lobe and whispered again. “Gets me kind of hot thinking about all your muscles and how you can use them. And that picture you sent this morning? I’m very interested in seeing more of that, in person.”

  Travis almost blushed at the insinuation but squeezed Jersey and spoke into his ear. “You started it, you know. Sending me that picture of you looking all sleepy and rumpled with your covers all messed up. I wanted to be right there next to you, keeping you warm and happy, and I wanted to wrap my arms around you, snuggling up with you in your huge bed.”

  Jersey pulled back and looked up at him with a soft smile on his face. “Aww. That’s so sweet.”

  “That’s why I was so excited to see you this morning. I know we only saw each other last night, but I wanted to hold you again. And then when you...” he shrugged, trailing off.

  “Well, just so you know I happen to be a major fan of snuggling. So how about we go inside and I can meet your family. Then we can snuggle the day away, okay?”

  Travis nodded with a smile.

  Jersey pecked him on the lips once more and grabbed his hand. Feeling grateful for the reassurance and the lead that Jersey was taking, trying to get them back on equal footing, Travis squeezed his hand and led him up the walkway toward the door.

  The kitchen was empty when they walked in, and Travis felt a moment’s ease at not having anyone pounce on them right away.

  “You want anything before we go hunt down my parents?” Travis asked.

  “No thanks. I just scarfed some breakfast in the car.”

  “You ate in the car on the way over?”