He was never asleep.
Frowning, Marc dropped his bag in the doorway and crossed the kitchen in two strides. He crouched by Jamie’s side, reaching to shake him, but Jamie jumped awake before Marc touched him, his eyes too sharp for someone who’d just woken up.
“Shit.”Jamie’s hand flew to his chest, and for a horrifying moment looked like he might throw up on Marc’s feet. “What are you doing creeping up on me like a serial killer? You scared the crap out of me.”
Is he kidding me?But there was no way Marc was about to admit that seeing Jamie asleep had provoked a wave of panic that he couldn’t explain. He helped Jamie sit up and noted his clammy palms. “You’re sweating. What’s up? Bad dream?”
“Actually, yeah. Weird, huh? I’m sure it wasn’t long ago that I told you I never had them.”
“You told me you didn’t sleep much either, but it’s pretty much all I’ve seen you do these last few days.”
“Easily fixed, mate.”
Jamie’s smirk broke the tension, for Marc, at least. Jamie still seemed shaken, though. Marc squeezed his hands. “What were you dreaming about?”
“I don’t know, but that’s a good thing, isn’t it? My mum told me the dreams that you can remember come true.”
“What else did your mum tell you?”
“That God would punish me for liking dick. I don’t think she’d counted on me doing that all by myself. Ugh. I don’t want to talk about my mother.” Jamie reclaimed one of his hands to scrub over his face. “I didn’t even mean to fall asleep. Are you hungry? I promised you breakfast.”
“I can do it.” Marc started to stand. His knees wobbled and needles danced behind the shinbone that was no longer there. He’d become a master at disguising his pain, but Jamie apparently saw something in Marc’s face that gave him away.
He curled his hand around Marc’s scarred thigh, the light pressure just enough to turn the throbbing in his leg into something else entirely. “Go grab a shower, then get in bed. I’ll bring you breakfast, okay?”
Marc wasn’t a fan of eating in bed, but then, he hadn’t been a fan of his bed at all until Jamie had graced it with his addictive presence. “You’re staying, right? Knackered as I am, I think I’d chase you down the road if you tried to leave.”
Jamie smiled shyly. “I’m not going anywhere, for as long as you want me here.”
That was good enough for Marc, though he was finding it increasingly difficult to envisage a moment when he’d ask Jamie to go.
He left Jamie to whatever magic he was planning in the kitchen and took the quickest shower known to man, before retreating to the bedroom and ditching his prosthesis. His stump pulsed as the pressure on it ebbed away, but the phantom pain remained. Marc growled and considered hurling his prosthesis at the wall, like it would help. Only the slim chance of getting a replacement as awesome as the one Glenn had swung for him reined his frustration in.
With a heavy sigh, he sank onto the end of the bed. Despite his renegade leg, he’d had a different vision of how this morning would play out. Finding Jamie asleep in the kitchen had derailed his mental equilibrium, and now all he wanted was to curl around Jamie and go to sleep himself.
Fat chance.Marc rubbed his leg and grimaced, but there was light at the end of his pessimistic tunnel. Staying awake meant longer with Jamie, and there was nothing bad about that.
Like magic, Jamie appeared and set a mug of coffee on the bedside table. “Why aren’t you in bed?”
“Because you’re not. Don’t fancy it without you.”
“You’re sweet,” Jamie said drolly. “Let me just finish up in the kitchen and I’m here, okay?”
It was beyond okay. Jamie gone, Marc heaved himself up the bed and under the covers. Out of sight, his lower body hurt less, but he was cynical enough to suspect it wouldn’t last. He tried to focus on the pleasant buzz that came from the knowledge that Jamie was bustling around the kitchen, carried through the house to him by the scent of grilling bacon. Hunger tickled his empty stomach, and yearning warmed his veins.Hurry back, Jamie. I need you.
A few minutes later, Jamie reappeared with loaded bacon sandwiches, piled high with bacon, tomatoes, and avocado.
“That looks suspiciously healthy.”
Jamie grinned. “You shouldn’t complain about that in your job. And trust me, they’re fucking good.”
“Oh, I believe you. You haven’t fed me anything that’s not cracking yet.” Marc claimed his plate. “Just hadn’t figured you for an avocado guy.”
“Because I haven’t put it in a noodle bowl?”
Marc chuckled. “Probably.”
They ate quickly and quietly. Marc finished first and set his plate aside, sipping his coffee as he ogled Jamie, who disappointingly had left his underwear on when he’d crawled into bed.