Our Safeguard

Chapter 40

Chapter 40

~Jerome~

       "I'm telling you, someone is out to get you," Brandon said as I scanned his grocery items. "Going on your phone and intentionally deleting your boyfriend's message? No one does that for the fun of it."

       I sighed. "It happened weeks ago, Brandon. Also, why are you here?"

       "Wow, I guess I'm not allowed to go grocery shopping anymore," Brandon said. "I have to just starve to death or order out to eat from now on."

       "You know that's not what I mean," I said. "I meant why are you in my lane? You always go to the self-checkout whenever your grocery shopping. You claim it's because so you don't have to interact with anyone."

       "Yes, but there's a difference between interacting with a stranger and interacting with my best friend," Brandon said. "Now about that text message..."

       "There's nothing to talk about," I said. "Nolan and I figured out what happened and moved past it. It's done."

       Brandon snorted. "Okay."

       I furrowed my eyebrows as I looked at my best friend. "What does that mean? There's nothing wrong with agreeing to move past it."

       "Yeah, but just moving past it allows whoever deleted the message to get away with it," Brandon said. "If anything, you should find out who did it and beat the living pulp out of them. Or I can beat the living pulp out of them since you're all about loving and not fighting now. Wimp."

       "Yes, I'm a wimp for not wanting to get arrested anymore." I showed Brandon the price of his groceries and waited for him to get out his debit card. "Look, even if I do want to find out who did this and ask why, I have no idea who it could have possibly been. No one that hates me was at that party. And how did they even know my password to begin with?"

       Brandon shrugged and slid his debit card into the machine. "I don't know. Maybe someone saw you enter the password."

       "Right, but I'm usually not standing or sitting close enough to anyone to be able to see my password. And again, no one that hates me was at the party. If I even had the slightest idea of who it could have been, of course I would do something about it. But there's nothing I can do."

       "If you say so," Brandon said. The machine accepted his payment, so I handed Brandon the receipt as he started to put his groceries in the bag he brought. "Look, just be careful. I know you and Nolan are, like, the strongest couple ever, but someone clearly has it out for you two. I don't want them to end up doing something that will actually tear you two apart."

       "They won't be able to," I said. "I love Nolan and nothing is going to change that."

       "Alright. Just... Let me know if you have any idea of who did that. Or if they do something like that again."

       "I will. Thanks."

       My shift ended about an hour after Brandon left, so I went to the break room to grab my stuff from my locker before clocking out. As I headed to the parking lot to get into my car, I checked my phone for any messages I might have.

       No surprise, but Nolan texted me a few times to ask if we could have sex when I got home from work. Honestly, it would be more surprising if he didn't message me that.

       But the message that stood out to me the most was the Nolan said he got his acceptance letter from the university's art program. He hadn't opened it yet because he was waiting for me to get home, but he sent a lot of texts telling me how worried he was.

       I got in my car and started it up. Once my phone was hooked up to the console, I called Nolan on there. He answered it almost immediately. "Thank goodness you called," he said. "I-I'm freaking out right now. What if I didn't get in? What if they thought my art was the ugliest work they have ever seen."

       "Hey, don't think like that," I said as I pulled out of the parking lot and started driving home. "Your art work is amazing. The mayor wouldn't have commissioned you not once but twice if she thought your art was ugly."

       "Yeah, but it's not like she has an art degree or something."

       "Nolan, you're going to get in. I'm on my way home right now, but if you're too anxious, you can open up the letter now while we're on call."

       Nolan hesitated before he sighed. "No, I'd rather you be here in person when I open it. That way, when it says I was rejected, you can give me a big comforting hug."

       "Or when it says you were accepted, I can give you a congratulations hug."

       "Okay..." Nolan sounded a bit unsure still, but I didn't think there was anything I could do to change his mind. "How long do you think it will take for you to get home?"

       "Probably... Five minutes? Traffic's not bad right now, so it shouldn't take me long."

       Thankfully, it really didn't take me long to get home. As soon as I got inside, I saw Nolan pacing the living room. He noticed I was home and hurried over to me, wrapping his arms tightly around me in a hug. "I'm too nervous to open it."

       I looked around the living room, seeing that no one else was here. "Why didn't you get comfort from your family?" 

       "They're all busy and I didn't want to disturb them," Nolan said. "Daisy tried comforting me, but then she fell asleep. I wish I could sleep right now."

       "Well, how about we have a celebratory nap when you get accepted?" I asked.

       Nolan pulled away and shook his head. "No, it has to be celebration sex. Or comforting sex. Either way, sex."

       I laughed and ruffled his hair. "We'll see. Alright, open your letter."

       Nolan opened the envelope and took out the letter, but he didn't look at it. In fact, he unfolded it while keeping his eyes closed.

       "Nolan," I said, resting my hands on top of his. "You're going to have to open your eyes to read it."

       Nolan nodded and took a shaky breath before he opened his eyes. He read just the beginning of the letter, but I could tell immediately what the results were the moment I saw his eyes light up. He then burst into a smile as he looked at me. "I got in!"

       I smiled back as I hugged Nolan, slightly lifting him up as I spun him around the room. "See? I knew you were going to make it! You're way too talented for them to even consider rejecting you." 

       I set Nolan on the ground and he immediately went on his tiptoes to press his lips onto mine.

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so the next book will be nolan and jerome both in university hehehe. we also got a big surprise before the end of the book though. i wonder what it is??????