Coda 05 -Paris a to Z

always came down to this for him—not a wild fuck, but wanting me to make love to him, slowly and passionately. That was the thing hed never had before me. It was what he craved the most, and I was ever happy to oblige him.
    I kissed him, reveling in the feel of his skin against mine and his arms tight around me. I loved him so much, but even now, I often felt that I was walking on thin ice with him. I was so afraid of losing him. What I wanted more than anything was to marry him, but I had never mentioned it to him. Id thought about it many times, but each time I would flash back to that day in the motel room in Coda, two and a half years before, when the mere mention of living together caused him to have a panic attack. I didnt want that to happen again. So I waited, loving him, hoping that someday hed really, truly be mine.
    For tonight at least, he was, and we proved to each other one more time that we really were absolutely perfect together.

Matt…
    W HEN is a free trip to Paris not worth the trouble? I know what youre thinking: when its actually a scam to sell you a time share. That might have been bad….
    But this was worse.
It was early Sunday morning when the phone rang. Jared of course was still sound asleep. I wondered who could possibly be calling before seven a.m. Angelo was the only other person I knew who made a habit of waking up as early as I did, but he would have called my cell, not our landline. It seemed like it could only be bad news, and I debated not answering it at all.
I should really learn to trust my instincts.
“Hello?”
“Well hello , lovey. How are you this morning?”
The voice was light. Feminine. Mocking. And just hearing it caused my hackles to rise.
Of course it was Cole.
“Im fine,” I said through clenched teeth.
“Im so glad to hear that, sweetie.”
“My name is Matt.”
“I know . Is Jared available?”
I fought back my irritation at him. It was a knee-jerk reaction I had to everything he did. And everything he said. And everything in the world that reminded me of him. It was completely unjustified, I knew. It wasnt his fault he had met Jared years before me. It wasnt his fault he had shared Jareds bed more times than I cared to think about.
Or was it?
“Hes sleeping,” I said. The stupid thing was, I knew Jared would want to talk to him. He would want me to wake him up. But I hated to do anything for Cole.
“Thats too bad. If you could just give him a message, sweetie—”
“Its Matt !”
“It actually concerns you and Zach and Angelo as well, so it would be terribly helpful if you could just pass the info on to all of them. Jon and I have decided to get married.”
“Really?”
“Well, its not legally a marriage since the state wont recognize it, but just a little commitment ceremony. Symbolic really—”
I interrupted him to say, “Im really happy for you,” because I knew that I should be happy for him. Even though I wasnt. Not really. “Ill let Jared know—”
“Honey, you havent let me tell you the good part!” Oh shit. Anything Cole thought was good was bound to piss me off. “Ive decided to fly all four of you out here for the wedding—”
“What?”
“Because we dont have any family at all you know, except George, and it seemed silly to have a ceremony where he was the only guest. So we talked about it, and we decided that the four of you just have to come. Its the first weekend in February, and Ive already reserved the rooms—”
“I cant just drop everything and fly to Phoenix at the drop of a hat!”
“Oh, honey, its not in Phoenix! Were doing it in Paris of course—”
“ What ?”
“And you might think the City of Love would be more open-minded about gay marriage. Honey, theyre not , but weve decided to do it there anyway. I was going to book the flights for you—”
“Wait a minute!”
“But then I realized I dont even know your last name, or Angelos for that matter, so—”
“Stop!”
“If you could just ask Jared to e-mail that information to me, I would really appreciate it, sweetie. And then well get the tickets reserved, and everything will be all set. Now I know Zach might think its odd, coming to see Jonathan get married, but just tell him—”
“Im not telling him anything!”
“That its all water under the bridge and wed really love for him to come. Listen honey—”
“No, you listen—”
“Im on the plane, and the stewardess is just glaring daggers at me. I have to turn my phone off now.”
“ Wait