Текст книги "Triple Play"

Автор книги: Sloan Johnson

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Текущая страница: 16 (всего у книги 17 страниц)

“Then get your ass home so we can do it,” Eric suggested. “Between my money and your experience, we can do this, Bryce. I’ll keep saying it until you believe me, but I’m willing to do whatever it takes.”

If not for the fact that Eric was driving, I’d have climbed on his lap and kissed him senseless. He wasn’t going to let this go. He wasn’t going to give up on the guys at the center. He was determined to make sure that anyone who didn’t feel safe at home had a place to go. For the first time since he’d mentioned quitting baseball, I understood why. Life was more than a game. As much as I still loved that game, I was a bit jealous that he’d have something more in his life while I crisscrossed around the country all summer. They would have something they shared, and I’d be on the outside.

“There are loose ends I’d have to tie up here,” Bryce protested weakly. I smiled, knowing Eric was stubborn enough that he wouldn’t give up until Bryce walked back into our home and our lives, this time for good.

“Then start doing whatever you need to do. Just get it done and get your ass home. There’s work to be done.”

“Look at you, getting all bossy,” Bryce teased. Since we’d gotten past the issues with Pot of Gold in record time, the mood had lightened significantly. “I like it.”

“Yeah, well someone has to take the lead and it can’t always be you,” Eric retorted.

“Hey, when’s it my turn?” I asked, pretending to be offended when they both laughed. “What? I think it’s only fair that we all have a chance.”

“Drew, there are many reasons for us to love you, but your ability to think under pressure isn’t one of them,” Bryce quipped.

“Oh, so I’m just a pretty face to you?” I sulked. Yeah, it stung a bit to know that neither of them thought of me as a decision-maker. To me, the feeling mirrored some sort of personality flaw.

Eric ran his hand along the inside of my thigh. I shifted in my seat because the higher his hand climbed, the tighter my pants felt. “Babe, we love you for a hell of a lot more than your good looks, although those are a nice bonus. What Bryce is saying is that you’re much more content to have someone tell you what to do and then you go do it. You’re not a planner, you’re a doer. And you do very well.”

“Not helping,” I grumbled. Eric cupped my dick, trying to take my mind off everything but him.

“Eric, are you jerking him off right now?” Bryce asked. Eric laughed. “Stop that. When you get home, fuck his brains out, but I’m not comfortable with the thought of you fooling around when you should be paying attention to your driving.”

“Was that a suggestion or a demand?” Eric teased. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to the way he could easily slip from doing what he wanted to following whatever Bryce demanded. It was hot as fuck.

“How long until you’re back at the house?” Bryce’s breathing was stilted and I closed my eyes, picturing him sitting in his car along the side of the road, stroking his cock as he thought about what we were doing.

“Fifteen minutes if we skip lunch.”

“Skype me,” Bryce insisted. And no, it wasn’t a request. “Our plans the other night fell through, but I still want to watch you fuck him.”

“We could wait until you get home,” Eric offered. I slapped his upper arm because that was the worst idea I’d ever heard. It wouldn’t be quite the same with Bryce only watching over the computer, but there was no way in hell I could live through blue balls for however long he was gone.

“No,” Bryce demanded. “We’ll celebrate my homecoming when the time comes, but today, you’re going to set up the computer on a chair in the bedroom. I need to see the two of you almost as much as Drew needs to get off.”

I furrowed my brow, confused because I didn’t think I’d been that obvious about my need. Perhaps it was just another reminder of how well Bryce knew me. We said our goodbyes and Bryce disconnected the call. My stomach growled in protest but I ignored it. There’d be time for eating later. Right now, I wanted Eric to break the land speed record so we could be naked in bed.

Chapter 26

When Bryce mentioned wanting me to set up the laptop in the bedroom, I’d figured it would be easy. Chair, computer, done. Nope, it turned out it was a pain in the ass to get the laptop where it needed to be so Bryce had an unobstructed view of what was going on.

Making it even more difficult was the fact that he’d suggested that Drew strip and lie down on the bed while we made adjustments. You know, so he knew when the angle was just right. Then, he suggested that Drew start stroking himself and I wanted to say fuck it.

“Suck on your finger, Drew,” Bryce instructed. I turned my head just in time to see Drew swallow his middle finger to the third knuckle. I knew where that digit was going, and fuck if it didn’t make me hard as steel. I couldn’t help the groan that escaped my lips. “Yeah, you like watching that, don’t you? When I get home, maybe I’ll have him show you how good his fingers feel buried deep in your ass. Make him get you ready for me. Now, turn it a little more to the left.”

When I glanced down at the monitor, I noticed Bryce had adjusted his own laptop so the camera focused on his chest and his very erect, very naked dick. With his hand curled around the shaft, stroking as he told Drew to play with his ass. If they weren’t careful, I was going to blow my load before I even got over to the bed.

“You can really be a bastard when you want,” I complained. I reached down to ease the pressure behind my zipper, but Bryce stopped me, telling me to be patient. That was easy for him to say, he wasn’t the one stuck watching both of the men he loved jerking off while he fucked around with setting up a damn computer.

“I know.” Bryce chuckled. “That’s just about perfect. Now, why don’t you go and join him on the bed?”

I practically tripped over my own feet as I raced to Drew’s side. With one finger still buried deep in his ass, Drew pushed up and wrapped his hand around the back of my neck, pulling me down for a searing, passionate kiss.

His hand trailed over my shoulder and down my still clothed chest, tugging the fabric higher. While he went to work on the button of my jeans, I pulled my T-shirt over the back of my head and threw it somewhere across the room. Drew pulled away, biting down on my lower lip. I gasped and he seized the opportunity to tease me with his tongue.

“God, you two are fucking perfect together,” Bryce praised from across the room. “Eric, take off your pants and turn. I want you to fuck his hand while you get him ready for you.”

Both of us shifted on the bed to make sure our bodies weren’t blocking Bryce’s view. Drew curled his fingers around my shaft and began slowly stroking while I wrapped my lips around him. I teased the head, savoring the salty taste of him on my tongue. He bucked his hips, shoving more of him into my mouth than I’d been prepared for. I pressed down on his thigh to hold him in place.

The entire time, Bryce sat halfway across the country telling us what he wanted next and we willingly obliged. Drew groaned when I ran the tip of my tongue across his taint. Moaned when I circled his entrance. Gasped when I shoved two fingers deep inside.

“Get the condom,” Bryce urged. I wanted to appease him but I wasn’t ready to break my connection to Drew. I should have known he’d sense my hesitation. “Now, Eric.”

I hurried to get a condom and the bottle of lube out of the nightstand. It seemed to me it would have made better use of our time if he’d told Drew to set that up while I’d been fucking around with the computer.

Drew rolled onto his stomach and stuck his ass high enough in the air to give Bryce a good view. I envied how carefree he was when it came to showing off his body.

“Not like that,” Bryce informed us. I wondered briefly if this was how making porn felt. We knew what we wanted to do and we were both more than ready to do it, but at the same time, we were at the mercy of someone who was only indirectly involved in what was happening. And yet, Bryce’s interaction didn’t feel indirect at all. It felt as though he was doing what he needed to do to be fully involved with us. “You’re going to ride him, Drew. I want to see you burying that long cock deep inside your tight ass.”

It took me no time at all to comply with this suggestion. I laid back on the bed and handed the foil packet to Drew, then folded my hands behind my head. If this was Bryce’s way of allowing Drew to take control in some way, I was going to bask in the feelings of him wrapped around my dick.

Drew leaned forward and sucked my cock deep into his throat. I may never understand how he did so without gagging, but I was grateful as hell he could. He swallowed around me and I nearly lost the ability to think. Hell, I almost lost my entire fucking load down his throat. He pulled off and opened the packet, rolling it down my length at a painfully slow pace. He was enjoying the show he was putting on for Bryce. He laughed at the look of combined anguish and bliss on my face.

“Fuck me, Drew,” I begged him. This had gone on long enough I couldn’t guarantee I’d last beyond the initial entrance into his body. I wanted, more than anything, to fuck him until night fell, but I was too fucking close.

“With pleasure.” He straddled my body, squatting over me until I nearly flipped him onto the mattress. Then, I felt it. I looked up at Drew as he lowered himself onto me. He bit down hard on his lip to keep from screaming out as his body stretched around me. The pressure stole the words of praise, kept me from telling him exactly how perfect he felt, how beautiful he looked.

Bryce once again began chanting his praises through the computer as Drew rode my cock. I wondered how it looked from Bryce’s view, my dick disappearing into Drew’s body, the flex of his ass as he lifted off of me.

“Faster,” Bryce urged. “Fuck him like you mean it.”

I wasn’t certain which one of us that instruction was meant for, so I began bucking my hips off the bed, plowing fast and hard into Drew’s body every time he lowered himself. Within moments, the room was filled with Drew’s screams as cum jetted over our bodies. I kept fucking him, chasing my own release, moaning as I finally let go.

Drew collapsed on top of me, gasping for breath. Sweat dripped from his forehead onto my chest and I pushed the hair away from his face.

“I love you.” It was the first time I’d said those three words directly to him. Before now, it had only been mentions of the emotion in passing, but I wasn’t about to let another minute go by without both of them knowing how I felt. “You too, Bryce. I love you both.”

“Well, that’s good, because I think you’re stuck with us,” Drew quipped. I reached around and swatted his ass. “What? It’s true! I already live here and I swear you’d jump on a plane and drag him back here if you could. See what I mean? You’re totally stuck.”

“I don’t see it that way at all.” I looked over to see Bryce still watching us, although now he was fully dressed. That was a damn shame because I loved looking at the sculpted muscles on his chest. Loved feeling them even more, but that’d have to wait. “Some people go their entire lives without finding someone to love them, and I’ve got two of you. Seems to me I’m pretty damn lucky.”

“We all are,” Bryce added. Drew and I both looked over to the screen and saw him watching us, a mix of longing and sadness painted on his face. “As much as I’d love sitting here watching the two of you all day, the sooner I get started, the sooner I can come home.”

“What all do you have to do?” Drew asked.

“Well, to start, I have to write a letter of resignation. I’m sure it won’t be a surprise to him, but I have to do this the right way.” I knew he’d say that, but I didn’t have to like it. Hopefully, the right way only included giving the asshole two weeks’ notice. That was about fourteen days longer than he deserved, but I wouldn’t expect anything less from Bryce. In fact, part of me feared he’d tell us he was stuck out there until they found a suitable replacement. I’d support his decision if that’s what he chose to do, but it’d be hard to keep from telling him what I thought about the miserable piece of shit he worked for.

I pushed Drew off of me and laughed when he grumbled about wanting to stay where he was. Unfortunately, he wasn’t as light as he liked to think he was and it was getting hard to breathe. Plus, I had phone calls I needed to make and they couldn’t wait. We’d already wasted a valuable hour tending to our own needs when there was a group of guys depending on us to keep a roof over their heads.

“I’ll be home as soon as I can,” I informed him. “Pick up Cody after school, talk to the secretary about what we discussed earlier, and I’ll try to be home by dinner. If you want, offer to run by the center and pick up his stuff. While everything is up in the air, I’d rather he not be there.”

“What about the other guys?” Drew asked.

I kissed the top of his head. “I know you want to help everyone, but we have to start small. You take care of Cody and let me worry about the rest.”

“Okay.” I couldn’t believe how easily Drew backed down. That meant that either he was still in a post-fucking haze or he believed it’d all be okay. My money was on the former because the lines in his forehead spoke volumes as to how concerned he was about keeping the doors at Pot of Gold open.

By the time I walked out of my accountant’s office, I felt as if I were floating. The meeting had gone extremely well and while he had concerns about me buying out Pot of Gold, he thought it was a noble cause. I wasn’t sure about all that, but I smiled as he praised me and told me how proud my grandfather would be and thanked him for his time.

On the way home, life got even better when my agent called and gave me a quote that’d be fair to the other baseball players he’d lumped together for some joint investments. Essentially, once we figured out how to structure the non-profit, I would become a tenant in my own building. Even though I was leaving him high and dry by retiring, Sam had busted his ass to make everyone see why it was important for me to use the space.

All I wanted to do was go home and tell Drew and Bryce the good news, make sure Cody knew that it wouldn’t matter for him because he was staying with us for as long as he wanted, and fall into bed. The day had been one hell of an emotional roller coaster, and that wasn’t the type of thrill I loved seeking. I felt more drained than I did after a double header which meant I was nearly dead on my feet.

Unfortunately, Drew seemed to have other plans for the night. One side of the driveway was lined with cars and the house was lit bright enough you could have seen it from space. After parking, I walked to the back door and was hit by a wall of sound coming from the great room. It was the type of scene I expected to see on Super Bowl Sunday, but this was just an average Monday.

Drew rushed over to me when he noticed that I’d walked in. “Hey, I hope you don’t mind. I called Cam to vent about what’s going on with the center and he insisted on coming home to see how they could help. Apparently, that led to him calling and ratting me out to my parents, who called my sisters. Oh, and Jason called Sean and Mason, who then called their parents.”

My mind swirled as he pointed to everyone, as if I’d be able to keep them straight in my mind. The support Drew had unknowingly been able to garner in one afternoon warmed something deep inside of me. I looked around the room and felt something I hadn’t felt since before Pa died. Family. Unconditional love. True acceptance.

I spotted Cody sitting off to the side, looking as overwhelmed as I felt. He offered me a weak smile and tried to focus on the textbook in his lap. That wouldn’t work. I could barely hear myself think over the women who were already plotting fundraisers and trying to con Cam into telling them if they could tout a Bon Vivant Network star as the chef for whatever it was they had up their sleeves. To his credit, he was getting much better at not giving away too much about his success or failure on the show. The bastard. After the last episode, I felt confident that he’d done well, but I wanted confirmation.

I left them to their scheming and made my way over to Cody. “Hey, did Drew show you your room?” He nodded. “So why aren’t you there? It might be easier to work without all the noise. And I thought you’d appreciate the privacy.”

“Oh, I do,” Cody assured me. “It’s nice knowing it’s there if I want it. Just having the ability to close a door behind me and know no one will bother me means more than you’ll ever know. But right now, this is nice.” He shrugged. “It probably sounds stupid, but it reminds me of when my family used to get together. I miss the chaos sometimes, too.”

“That doesn’t sound stupid,” I promised him. “Crazy, yes. But not stupid. Well, I’ll leave you to the noise. Just remember, tomorrow’s a school day and finals are coming up.”

“Yes, Dad,” Cody teased. Those words stopped me dead in my tracks. I knew he didn’t see me as a father figure, but it made me wonder if that might be another piece of my future. Then, it just made me feel old.

“Don’t start that shit, kid,” I chided. “I may be retired, but I’m still not old enough to be your dad.”

Cody laughed and pulled out his laptop. He turned it toward me and I saw my headshot staring back at me. “Actually, this says you’re thirty-six. That means that if you had me when you were my age, you are old enough to be my father.”

Fuck, the kid knew how to cut deep. Luckily, I knew how to fire back. “True, but when I was your age, I was busy trying to find guys who didn’t mind sucking my dick and staying quiet about it after the fact. What’ve you done lately?”

I seriously needed to quit hanging around Drew so much. His immaturity and horrible timing were rubbing off on me, as evidenced by the gasp from one of the mothers and the giggles from one of Drew’s sisters.

“That’s just harsh.” Cody slammed his textbook closed, gathered his stuff and smirked at me as he walked by. “Remember, I know where you sleep. Paybacks are a bitch.”

It seemed I wasn’t the only one being corrupted by Drew. I gave Cody a friendly pat on the back and told him I’d knock on his door when dinner was ready.

And now that my mind was able to take in everything going on around me, it looked as though that wouldn’t be too much longer. With Cam and Drew’s mom in the kitchen, I turned my attention to the brainstorming in the living room. If they wanted to help, I wasn’t about to turn them away because as excited as I was, there was still part of me terrified that we wouldn’t be able to make this abstract dream a reality.

Chapter 27

My mother used to tell me that the start of a new year was something to celebrate because it was a chance to start over. I had no clue how the guys had managed to pull it off, but we were certainly ringing in the New Year with style.

By the time I’d sublet my apartment in Portland and picked through what I wanted to bring back to Wisconsin with me, Drew and Eric had been well on their way to opening a newer, better center to replace Pot of Gold, which had only stayed open twelve days after my meeting with Mike Borgwardt. The minute he heard that there was a contingency plan in place, he’d sent someone over to lock the doors.

With input from Cody, Jacob, and some of the other guys who were either current or past residents at Pot of Gold, they’d leased the first two floors of a multi-use property. The first floor would eventually be a community center of sorts and the second would be converted into dorm style apartments, where the residents could have a bit of privacy, but there would be rules in place and staff on hand around the clock to make sure no one took advantage of their taste of freedom. All of that would take more time, but that didn’t stop anyone from celebrating tonight.

“I still don’t get how you pulled this off,” I admitted to Eric when he returned from schmoozing with some potential investors. As it turned out, Eric’s grandfather had been well connected and Eric knew exactly how to pull on both their heartstrings and purse strings. He was determined to find a way for the new, yet to be named, center to not only survive but thrive.

I reached up and smoothed the lapels of the tuxedo he’d bitched about having to wear. This may be my only chance to see both of them dressed up with their hair slicked back, so I hadn’t budged when he’d tried arguing that his suit would be dressy enough. I couldn’t wait until the crowd thinned so I could take them both home and rip them out of their tuxes.

That thought made me realize I hadn’t seen Drew in a while. He’d excused himself to check on something toward the end of dinner and hadn’t returned. As much as I tried, I couldn’t stave the building panic. Granted, everyone here had paid handsomely for the opportunity to have a meal prepared by the four semi-finalists of A Cut Above, which thankfully included Cam, but that didn’t mean his attacker didn’t have the means to buy his way into one of the few places where Drew’s guard was down.

Feedback screeched through the room, drawing all eyes to the dais at the front. I breathed a sigh of relief when Drew caught my attention and flashed a wicked smile. Next to him, Cody fidgeted with the cuffs of his button-down shirt. “Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention for a moment.”

The entire room fell silent. I looked to Eric, but he seemed just as confused as I was by what was unfolding in front of us.

“First, I would like to thank you all for coming tonight,” he began. This wasn’t the same goofy, somewhat self-centered man I’d met a few months ago. This version of Drew commanded the undivided attention of everyone within earshot. At the side of the room, I noticed Cam and his fellow semi-finalists step into the room and lean against the wall. “I know I speak on behalf of both Eric Sapp and Bryce Shaw when I say the support you’ve all shown over the past few weeks has been incomprehensible.

“When Eric first mentioned opening a new and improved center to help Milwaukee’s homeless LGBT population, I think we were all worried about how it would be received,” he admitted. That drew more than a few murmurs, both of agreement and dissent. “While it’s true that Eric and I have both faced challenges in our lives and have hid at the back of the closet so we could have what we wanted most, the past two months have taught both of us just how easy we’ve had it.

“Rather than sit here and tell you why your donations mean so much and try to express my appreciation that you all came together with such short notice, I’d like to introduce another man who’s become very important in our lives. To me, he’s the little brother I always begged my parents for and never got.” The crowd bustled with laughter and quickly quieted again. “But he’s more than that. In a way, Cody Marshall is the reason you’re all gathered here tonight. You see, when I was recovering from everything that happened to me last fall, Bryce and Eric shoved me out of the house. Bryce told me about this student athlete who’d have an amazing future, if only he had someone to push him to succeed.”

I swallowed hard around the lump in my throat. As Drew continued sharing bits and pieces of Cody’s story, I noticed I wasn’t alone in trying to keep hold of my emotions. More than a few women reached for napkins to blot their teary eyes and even some of the men had to clear their throats so they could breathe. Then it hit me. The majority of the men in the room were either baseball players Eric and Drew had met along the way or they were somehow connected to the sport. They lived and died by the game, and Drew made them see something many of them hadn’t considered before. He asked them to imagine what it would have been like to be forced out of doing something they loved, simply because of who they were. As he continued speaking, he made them consider what life would have been like if their passion had been ripped away. He made what Cody, what every gay athlete faced, very, very real.

The room erupted into applause as Drew pulled Cody in front of the microphone. He seemed shell-shocked, standing up there with so many eyes focused on him, waiting to hear what he had to say.

“Thanks, Drew.” He’d been standing too close to the microphone and another shrill screech of feedback echoed through the room. He cleared his throat and closed his eyes, likely trying to figure out what he wanted to say. When he opened his eyes and looked out over the crowd again, it was as though he’d just realized how many professional athletes were sharing this moment. He looked to Drew. “Wow, I need you to come over here and pinch me.”

“This is no dream, kid, it’s your life!” someone yelled from the back of the room, causing everyone to break down into laughter once again. When it didn’t die off as quickly as it had when Drew was speaking, Drew shoved his fingers into the corners of his mouth and whistled loud enough they likely heard it in Chicago.

“Yeah, tell me that a thousand times and I still won’t believe you,” Cody called back. He scrubbed his hands through his hair, leaving him looking slightly disheveled, exactly the way a teen who had it all should look.

And compared to the beginning of fall, he did. He had parental figures who pushed him to be his best even when that wasn’t the same as being the best. He lived in a huge house on Lake Michigan rather than a crappy cot at Pot of Gold. He was on the honor roll and had signed his letter of acceptance to Marquette so he could stay close to home. Cody had been upset about wasting Drew’s time to guarantee his scholarship in Minnesota, but I think everyone was happier knowing he wasn’t running out of state for school.

“Drew asked me if I’d mind getting up here to share my story,” Cody let everyone know once it quieted down. “The truth is, I was your all-American kid. I grew up in an upper-class family and my parents were willing to do anything to support my dream of playing basketball. Unfortunately, there were strings attached. Big, heavy strings. I had to stay the epitome of all the stereotypes. When my dad asked me why I wasn’t getting into trouble with one of the cheerleaders, I always told him I was trying to keep my grades up so I had my choice of where I wanted to go to college.

“Unfortunately, the truth came out at the beginning of the second semester of my junior year. I won’t go into the details, but let’s just say I’d finally found someone who understood me. Who liked me just the way I was.” Even from a distance, I could see the subtle sadness overcoming Cody. He hadn’t talked much about the day everyone found out he was gay, but it seemed there was more to it than any of us, except possibly Drew, realized. “We let our guard down one day after school and our coach happened to walk in. No matter how much we pleaded with him, he said he had to tell our parents.”

Murmurs built around the room. That delighted me, not because of Cody’s pain, but because everyone here seemed outraged by what they knew was coming.

“When I got home, my Dad met me at the front door with one duffel bag,” he shared. “I wasn’t even allowed to set foot inside the house. I was called a disgrace and told I was dead to them. Even then, I’d convinced myself it’d be okay because Jeff’s parents were much more accepting than my own.

“Unfortunately, when they’d confronted him, he played it off as a misunderstanding and swore that I’d instigated everything. His father wasn’t upset that I was gay, only that I’d tried to coerce Jeff into doing something he didn’t want to do. And that’s when I hit rock bottom.”

He took a step back from the podium and Drew was instantly at his side with an arm draped over his shoulder. Drew whispered something to him and Cody nodded. Drew stepped back at the same time Cody moved back to the podium.

“I’d lost everything. I had no home, no family, my boyfriend had denied the love he swore he felt for me. It felt like the end of the line,” Cody continued. I couldn’t begin to imagine how painful that was. “I dropped out of school rather than face everyone. I gave up. And I spent the next few months wondering where my next meal would come from, what was to become of me, and sometimes, whether I’d live through to see the next day. But then, something amazing happened…”

He paused, whether for dramatic effect or because of how hard the story was to tell, and then continued. “One morning, I woke up and there was a guy standing above me. Okay, so at first I was scared shitless, but then he handed me a paper sack. Inside, there was a sandwich, a bag of chips, an apple, a banana, and a bottle of water. There was also a note. It said ‘There’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.’ and it had the address for the center where I met Bryce and Drew.

“That day changed my life. I was terrified when I walked inside, thinking I’d face the same judgment I’d been running from. Then, the guy at the front desk welcomed me and invited me to eat lunch with him. That night, I slept in a real bed and didn’t have to worry about my bag being gone when I woke up.”

This was the type of marketing you couldn’t pay for. Cody was raw and real, and everyone in the room felt his pain as if it were their own. “In a single word, that center became my hope. It became a symbol of everything I’d forgotten I wanted. And I thought I’d stay there until I left for college. That’s what I’d been told.” Cody shrugged. “But just like the time before, that hope was yanked away from me one Monday morning. I felt myself spiraling downward, but this time, I picked up the phone and called Drew. By the time we got home from him picking me up at school that day, all of this had been started. And for once, I know that I have two things everyone wants in life: security and hope.”

My fingers dug into Eric’s forearm. He looked over to me and I could see his eyes glistening. “That’s it,” I whispered to him.