It was like Jeremy was back. The real, sweet, playful Jeremy who'd gotten buried under a pile of coke so long ago.
Carter looked over some of the framed things Jeremy had on his shelves. He was surprised, since Jeremy had his own home in Austin, to find that he had so many recent photos up. There was even a framed printed out screen shot of when District & Wild's one song had gone to number 1 on an iTunes chart.
He smiled to himself when he noticed a photo of Jeremy, Sarah, and himself at a horse show when Carter was sixteen. He was a little surprised at how warmly then eighteen year old Jeremy was looking at him. It almost looked like a crush, but he dared not think it. He'd have noticed that, surely.
In the front of the frame, though, was also a single ticket for the show in Brooklyn Carter had been at. He tilted his head.
"I saw you."
Carter jumped and turned to find Jeremy right behind him. "How do you do that?" Bastard had always been too damned quiet.
"Sneak out as often as I did and you develop some mad ninja skills," Jeremy said, chuckling. He plucked the frame from Carter's hands. "I saw you in the crowd and tried to come say hello. You'd gone, though."
"Sorry," Carter apologized. "I didn't know what to say after … "
"After me being a huge dickhead? That's one reason I was so surprised to see you at the show. It, uh, felt like I'd really made it for the first time, seeing you there, knowing you listened to my music at a bar in New York fucking City."
"Sorry I didn't stick around."
Jeremy shrugged, but Carter could tell he was embarrassed by the conversation. Okay, maybe they were getting a little heavy. Carter didn't miss that Jeremy's tan cheeks pinked a little.
He also didn't miss the fact that Jeremy's bare chest was covered in gooseflesh, his nipples nicely pebbled. His cock gave a small show of excitement, but that was about all it had for now.
"I liked that one song. I have the whole album, but I'm lame like everyone else and only really know the one."
Jeremy feigned a wounded heart. "You didn't listen to my angsty melodies and swoon for me?"
Carter stilled. Was the guy just stoned or did he mean that? "Was I supposed to?"
Again, Jeremy's cheeks had a slight pinking to them, which was wholly unlike him.
"Actually, most of my angsting has been for Troy. But I just had my hand on your dick, so we probably shouldn't talk about this."
Carter didn't disagree. He did want to know more eventually, though why it mattered, he didn't know. For now, he definitely didn't want to talk about Jeremy's old hook ups. He was still smarting a bit from Jeremy spending his morning with one.
"So, what's it to be? More Downton? Upstairs, Downstairs?"
"Oh, Jem, you sure know how to woo a girl."
"I got everything you need, Red." Jeremy gave Carter a wink and squatted down to turn on his gaming console that doubled as his Blu Ray player.
Yes, you do. Carter could get on board with a change of pace. He'd gotten off, Jeremy was all smiley and cute-and deliciously shirtless, showing off his massive amount of ink on his torso, shoulders, and arms. He could go for some couch time.
They settled in on the couch, Jeremy being more affectionate than Carter thought he'd be, but he chalked it up to Jeremy being tired.
Then Jeremy slipped his cold hand in and held Carter's junk, making him jump. "Hey!"
"Warm up my hand, bae."
"Don't call me ‘bae', bae."
"Hush, the show's starting."
Carter sighed.
And he really tried not to focus on how much he enjoyed this, reminding himself that this wasn't his life and he wouldn't be here for much longer before getting back to reality.
He could enjoy it for now. There was no harm in that, right?
10
The next couple of days went much the same. Jeremy's dad hadn't hung around much, dealing with clients took up a lot of his time. But Carter enjoyed seeing Jeremy spend more time with his mom and Sarah.
Sarah and Carter had gone into Chattanooga to see old classmates a couple times, but for the most part, days were spent around the farm, working the horses and hanging out with everyone during the day, and Carter and Jeremy just shooting the shit and blowing each other when everyone else was in bed.
Carter thought Sarah and Daphne knew more than they were letting on, but given the smooth sailing lately, no one seemed to want to rock the boat by acknowledging anything.
Jeremy had taken to working out with Carter in the mornings, which was probably most telling. They didn't have any deep conversations about life or anything, but it felt like they were slowly getting to know one another as friends again. Although, Carter caught himself staring at Jeremy more than was necessary. Okay, mooning over him. It was hard not to, though. The man was physically amazing. And since his personality grew more open every day, Carter saw glimpses of the man he really admired.
He'd even heard Jeremy playing guitar a couple times, singing softly. He cursed the gods on those occasions because it was getting damn hard to maintain a "friend" distance when the man did such amazing things to Carter's body while also being someone Carter saw himself wanting to be around...a lot.
It was so much, but then so little. To an outsider, hell, even to Carter, there was nothing extraordinary about the time they spent together outside the bedroom. The times were quiet and platonic in so many ways. They talked of the band in essence and Carter talked about his travels. But no grand revelations were made.
Still, and maybe it was because Carter had always had a thing for Jeremy, he felt like it could be more in a different time or place.
Rolling into the end of Carter's first month of being back home, the elder Becks had gone to Nashville for a getaway and Sarah had a date, so Carter and Jeremy intended to make the most of having an entire afternoon without watchful eyes.
Unfortunately, it had been a long week with many early mornings after very late nights. So after feeding, their work out, and a heavy lunch that Daphne made to get rid of all the leftovers, they were mostly sleepy and ended up doing nothing but staring at the TV for several hours until they passed out without so much as a single orgasm between them.
Carter hadn't realized he'd dozed off until he woke to his phone buzzing. Jeremy was passed out with his hand down Carter's pants, which made him roll his eyes. He disengaged, trying not to wake Jeremy, and made his way to his phone.
The display showed a missed call from Ella, and three from his parents.
There was also a text from Ella. Call your mom. It's been days. She won't leave me alone.
He responded with a: I'll call her in the morning. Sorry, Ells. Really.
It's good. Hope you're enjoying your break. And he knew she meant it.
It was close to midnight. His mother would still be awake, but he was still enjoying his glow from being with the Becks and his night with Jeremy. Real life could wait until morning.
Carter sighed and ran his hands through his hair. He wasn't normally this person. He'd never been the petulant teenager. He'd never fought with his parents. He'd made as few waves as possible until he could get out on his own, but by then, his mother was a nationally known politician so he'd doubled down on keeping his head down. He'd gotten good grades, joined the Army where he'd sailed through because of his fondness for structure and just being glad he was doing something for himself-even if it looked good on his mom's resume for him to join the armed services.
He hated feeling like he was doing something wrong, but he supposed a late bit of youthful rebellion was due him, especially after acting like a sixty year old since he was seventeen.
Dropping his phone on his clothes, which he hadn't realized Jeremy had folded neatly in the chair until now, Carter sighed at himself again. He was being ridiculous if this was the great drama of his life. "God," he said, quietly exasperated.
A strong pair of arms wrapped around him from behind and Jeremy's sleep warmed skin pressed against his bare back. "Doesn't care about your petty stuff, there's starving kids in Africa," Jeremy intoned, mimicking Daphne's favorite phrase whenever any of them took the Lord's name in vain.
Carter laughed, but let out a moan as Jeremy ground his hard cock into Carter's ass and slid his hand from Carter's chest down inside his sweatpants to cup his hardening cock.
"Me, on the other hand, I wouldn't mind you calling out my name."
"Do those lines get you laid?" Carter teased, breathlessly.
"Seems so." Jeremy bit down on the muscle that ran from Carter's neck to his shoulder gently, but enough to probably leave a small mark. He started stroking Carter's cock. "You make me so hard with your shoulders. And that ass." Jeremy ground against Carter's ass again to make his point.