Sleeves Chapter Seven

Sorry about the previous formatting issue, have no idea what happened there! Enjoy.

JPOV

Stretching idly and rolling to my back I brought one hand down to scratch my blunt fingernails lazily through the hair under my navel. The ache in my bones and the grin unconsciously taking over my face were a welcome reminder of last night and of the last few days spent with Edward. I sighed contentedly and let my eyes fall to the side to see him stretched out on his stomach, his head turned to face me and his feet still tangled with mine despite our distance. It was as though even when we got too hot wrapped up together under the sheets and had separated to the cooler outer edges of the bed he still needed to be connected to me in some way. I could understand that. His plump lips puffed with every exhale and his thick lashes cast shadows over his cheekbones. He looked like an angel.

Squinting my eyes at the little clock on my dresser, I groaned inwardly when I saw it was barely past six. The room was filled with a muted orange glow, the winter sun breaking through the haze of cloud and smoke to shine meekly down through my window. I buried my head more deeply in my pillows, closed my eyes against the morning light, and let my thoughts become filled with all things Edward.

This weekend had been the very best of my life; I felt such a weight lifted from my shoulders as soon as my fingers had laced with his at the bar. The guilt I had carried with me for so long eased from my chest, allowing me to breathe more easily for the first time in years.

I can't explain the pull I felt towards Edward as soon as my eyes fell on his bowed form at the bar. Walking out of the staff side door and heading quickly towards the exit, I had intended to walk the few blocks home as soon as I finished and get some rest. It had been a long day between working almost religiously at my easel and dealing with drunk customers at the bar for hours; my neck and shoulders ached from the tension I'd been carrying around with me since starting my shift with James.

The guy was a sleaze. He'd hit on anything that moved and I was exhausted trying, yet again, to ward off his advances. He just put me on edge and I couldn't be happier when my shift was over and I could go home for the night. Only, I didn't make it home. I saw him.

He was sitting alone at the bar, a shock of bronze hair still bright in the dim room hung low between his shoulders. He looked defeated and I couldn't understand the fierce protective instinct I felt growing in my chest the second I saw this stranger. I stood off to the side of the bar, lurking in the shadows, and watched him like some kind of creep, hoping to catch a glimpse of his face, or hear the melody of his voice in quiet conversation. His head lifted slowly and he turned to allow his eyes to roam over the room as I swallowed thickly at the sight of him.

His jaw was strong and chiselled and his bright eyes glowed even through the fog of smoke lingering in the air. He was beautiful, and when he turned back towards the bar and lifted a glass of amber liquid to his mouth I found myself transfixed by the way his full, pink lips curved around the glass and the way his tongue peeked out to taste the biting liquor. I couldn't look away and my body reacted instantly.

It was when I saw James make his move, winking and grinning, and the beautiful stranger's shoulders tense in obvious discomfort that I was propelled into action. Hardly giving it a second thought I shot a glare at James and leaned down to press my lips against the skin of the man's forehead. It was soft and cool and it took every ounce of strength I could muster to pull away.

Something sparked deep inside me when he followed me, without hesitation, to a booth in the corner and again when he allowed me to lead him out of the bar and toward my apartment. I hadn't spoken more than a few words to Edward but before we had even reached my home I had determined he was gay, he was attracted to me in some measure and he was drowning in some emotion that threatened to overtake him. The attraction I, myself, felt towards this man was so intense it shook me to my core and knowing something was hurting him had my chest aching in a very real, very sharp way.

I struggled to get a hold of the torrent of feeling he was evoking in me. Lust was causing my body to ache to be close to him; my hands were begging to be tangled in his wild hair and my dick was twitching to be buried deep inside him. My heart pounded in my chest at the thought of this beautiful man feeling any kind of sorrow and the protectiveness I had felt earlier kicked in full force and caused me to tighten my grip on his fingers as we rounded the corner onto my block.

When I closed the door to my apartment and we pushed and pulled against each other I was sure I'd never felt as turned on in my life. I thought I would explode when his tongue wrapped around the steel in my nipples and then I just about came undone watching his reaction to my pierced cock. Seeing Edward fall to his knees before me and take me deep within his mouth had me trembling with need.

When Edward stripped before me, exposing inch after inch of inked flesh, I couldn't help but wonder what had inspired him to cover himself so fully in the thick, black bands. His pale skin peeking out between the markings was one of the most erotic things I'd ever seen on a man. I had my own art and could definitely appreciate the creativity and absolute certainty that was required when getting inked. I had always liked seeing men with art. But there was something more about Edward; he looked so clean cut in his dress shirt and slacks, clean shaven and professional but was hiding away all this ink, this dark and beautiful art. It had me whispering how I thought he was made for me before I'd even given my mouth permission to speak. I couldn't doubt the truth in my words.

As I watched him suck me off and come all over his stomach I thought nothing could be better than that moment. When I felt his warmth wrap around me as I slid in and out of his tight hole, his muscles clenching around my aching dick so exquisitely, his gasps and moans filling the air with my every deep thrust, I decided that nothing had ever felt so perfect. And as I held him tightly to me as he cried into my chest and told him about my life and my torment, I knew with utter certainty that I'd never felt closer to a human being in my whole life.

I hadn't intended to tell him about my momma and Ben so readily; I simply wanted to put him at ease and I found the words tumbling from my mouth before I could think to stop them. I'd do anything to ease his pain, it seemed. His shaking sobs were tugging at my heart causing an ache to tighten my chest and a heavy sickness to settle in my stomach.

It was the first time I'd told anyone about the responsibility I felt towards my family. My father had up and left, leaving me with the responsibility to my momma and little brother as the man of the house. My guilt at leaving them seemed to ease as Edward listened with rapt attention to my story. I was beginning to see that I was truly doing the best I could for them and it was thanks to Edward that I allowed myself to let go of some of the burden I'd placed on my shoulders from such a young age.

I'd only known Edward a matter of hours and yet with one touch of his fingers to my chin, lifting it gently and forcing my eyes to meet his, he seemed to break through the walls I'd put up when I first moved to the city, The absolute conviction that shone there had me rethinking everything I'd previously believed about myself and my family.

When the tables turned and he relayed his own tale to me I clenched my jaw and grit my teeth as thoughts of that sick fuck laying his hands on an innocent child, innocent Edward, bombarded me. The protective side of me roared to life and I wanted nothing more than to hold Edward to me and promise him I'd never let anything hurt him again.

My heart broke for the child who lost his family in a horrible accident and my head reeled at the fact that, because of that monster, Edward believed himself to be responsible. As I held his hands in my own, his long fingers twisted with mine, I wanted to give him the reprieve from his pain that he had given me. I fervently told him again and again that he was good. I could sense it from the moment I looked into his sharp, green eyes, I could feel it in the way he touched me and told me I made a difference to the lives of my family. And when he spoke about his job and his eyes lit from within with a passion and an intensity that thrilled me I knew it; he was good.

We moved together that morning, slowly and meaningfully, learning every inch of each other's bodies and the sense of completion I felt when he lowered himself fully onto me made my heart crash in my chest and the blood in my veins sing for him. I never wanted him to leave. How did I make him see that I wanted him near me? For as long as he'd stay. I'd pulled him down to lay beside me and hoped like hell he didn't move to leave.

Edward seemed to read my mind and my heart thundered in my chest so loudly I wasn't sure I'd even heard him properly when he whispered into the clammy skin of my neck.

"I don't know how I'll find the strength to walk out of here when the weekend's over. I don't know how I'll walk away from you,"

"I'll never let it happen," I promised him, hiding the smile on my face in his mop of wild hair. "Remember baby, we were made for each other."

Hearing a soft snore next to me I shook my head of the thoughts of yesterday and rolled to my side to face Edward. His light purple eyelids were fluttering quickly and his breathing began to speed up from the long, low breaths of a deep sleep. I traced my fingertip ever so gently over his dark eyebrows, along the straight line of his nose and down to his full lips. They parted under my touch and a tiny puff of sweet air fell across my face. I inhaled deeply and moved my mouth closer to his, sucking in the air that he was finished with and relishing in the warmth of each exhalation as it enveloped me.

I watched, finding myself hypnotised by his beauty as his eyes opened slowly and blinked against the orange sunlight saturating the room. Running my hand across his jaw, enjoying the scratch and pull of his scruff against my palm, I brought my lips to cover his in a soft kiss.

"Morning, baby." I whispered, my lips still brushing his with every word uttered. The feeling was incredible and I wanted to list the name of every star in the universe just to prolong the sensation.

"Jasper," he sighed softly and my heart soared at the sound of his voice, husky and thick with sleep, saying my name. I wanted to wake up to that sound every morning. I felt my face pull into a happy grin and watched Edward's eyes come to life before me; a warmth and mirth shining from the beautiful pools of emerald green.

He pulled his body close to mine, pushing his knee between my legs and molding his torso to the shape of mine. His body still held the warmth of sleep and a sigh quietly fell from my lips as I allowed myself to cuddle into him. The intensity of the feelings I had for him terrified me. Complete adoration, desire, affection and trust overwhelmed me and had me feeling complete in ways I'd never known before

The only real relationship I'd been in had ended after two years and left me broken and hurt, having never felt the way I did right now. How much worse would it feel when Edward moved on and away from me? I had learned in life that everyone leaves eventually, whether after 17 years of paternal guidance, 22 years of marriage and commitment or 3 days of pleasure and hope. It would kill me when he left. It scared me to death how much I already cared for Edward, but it felt so right I decided I wouldn't dwell on anything past this moment, this perfect moment with his head in the nook of my shoulder and his heart beating steadily against my chest. I would take everything Edward was able to offer me.

"What are your plans for today, Jasper? Do you have to work tonight?" Edward whispered quietly into the skin of my neck, placing tiny, wet kisses as he spoke and making it increasingly difficult for me to focus on anything other than the sensations he was causing in my body.

"Yeah, just for a few hours tonight." I replied after a second, my voice still husky from misuse this morning, and slightly distracted from the feel of his tongue running over my Adam's apple. "You could...if you wanted to...you could come and hang out at the bar? There are a couple of bands playing tonight, it might be fun," I trailed off nervously, unsure of what his reaction might be.

I waited with bated breath for his answer. Had I crossed a line inviting him to spend more time with me after having not left his side for 48 hours? Shit, Jasper. I needed to calm down.

"I have some things I need to do at home. I need a shower and a fresh change of clothes."

I exhaled loudly at his polite dismissal. It would be OK. He would go home and I would go to work. I would try to forget the beautiful man I'd spent my weekend with. I'd be OK. My heart felt heavy at the thought. I wasn't fooling myself; the pain was already working its way through my veins and I struggled to look Edward in the eye when he lifted his face to mine,afraid that he would read my distress too easily. Afraid that he would realise how dependant I'd become on him in such a short time. I didn't want to lose him.

"Jasper?" he paused, confusion marring his perfect features. "You could come by my place with me after we grab breakfast? I could, uh, pick up some stuff for tomorrow too maybe?"

He sounded as uncertain as I was, shy and exposed. His eyes flashed to mine and away again, hope and doubt the warring emotions behind the deep green. My heart thundered in my chest when the meaning of his words finally clicked. He wanted to stay with me.

An hour and forty-five minutes later we were huddled into a window booth of the greasy diner on my street. Edward was wearing his creased slacks and wrinkled white shirt for the first time since he'd followed me into my apartment the other night. He looked deliciously rumpled and handsome as he slouched down into the warmth of the sweater I'd loaned him, blowing out warm air into his hands and rubbing them frantically together. The short walk in the brisk November air had stained his cheeks and nose pink and I couldn't tear my eyes away from him.

We'd lain in bed as long as we could this morning, touching and kissing innocently. I had kissed my way slowly across the rises and dips of Edwards muscled stomach and raised my eyes, watching in amusement, as his cheeks and ears burned red at the sound of his stomach rumbling loudly. The slight twinge in my heart as I watched Edward dress to leave was only lessened at the promise of him returning this afternoon. With me. To spend the night.

"What can I get you boys?" A sickly sweet voice interrupted us as my eyes roamed over Edward's face, mapping every angle I found there. His eyes caught mine, indicating that I should order first, and I felt a little embarrassed at being caught staring. The crooked smirk that pulled at his lips let me know that he didn't mind at all.

I cleared my throat and lifted an eyebrow at Edward, ordering my double stack and bacon without raising my eyes to the waitress.

"I'll have scrambled eggs and bacon. Thank you." Ever the gentleman, Edward looked up to our server and ordered his breakfast politely. Maybe too politely I wondered while growling under my breath as the girl trailed a blood red fingernail along Edwards arm before she walked away.

"Shit," he muttered rolling his eyes at her display. His disregard for the girl settled the jealous beast inside me and I almost rolled my eyes at myself. I chuckled thinking that if I were in her position I would be affected by him too.

"When do you go back to work? I can't believe a hot shot surgeon like you could have more than a few days off at a time." I teased, aware that I had been lucky to get these last few days with him. The timing seemed perfect. I had lucked into two nights off from the bar on Friday and Saturday- something that hardly ever happened- and Edward apparently had three days off from the hospital, which was surely unusual for a surgical resident. Ideas of fate and serendipity flitted through my mind. I'd never invested much thought in them before.

"Yeah," he shrugged. "After Peter on Thursday I was told to take some time. I'm on call from six tomorrow morning and start my shift at noon." As he spoke his voice turned sombre and I could almost see his beautiful green eyes replaying the scenes that had haunted him since Thursday.

He shifted in his seat and his eyes darkened and fell to his lap where his fingers were fidgeting idly, playing with the hem of his sweater, then with the cuff. I leaned over the small table, grabbing his hand from his lap and tangling my fingers around his. Edward looked up and smiled apologetically at me while I rubbed tiny, soothing circles over his knuckles with my thumb. His palm was soft and warm pressed against mine, the heat from the diner finally ridding him of the chill from outside.

"Sorry, baby," I whispered lowly, my chest aching at the thought that I'd reminded him of his demons, causing him this discomfort. His fingers squeezed my own and he shot a grateful smile at me as our waitress slid our plates in front us, not noticing our hands joined on the tabletop until I loosened Edward's to pick up my fork.

The look on her face was comical as her sticky looking, red lips twisted into a tiny 'o' and her eyebrows lifted to her hairline. She mumbled something about coffee and scurried off towards the register, an embarrassed flush appearing on her chest and neck. Chuckling quietly into my coffee I looked up over my cup to watch Edward's reaction. His gorgeous blush made an appearance and his eyes were fixed on his plate as he cut his bacon meticulously. Huh. Was he embarrassed to be seen with me? Or with a man in general? Both ideas were unwelcome and left me feeling ill at ease. How long had he been out? He hadn't seemed to mind holding my hand at the bar or on the walk to my apartment afterwards. What had changed since then? I made a mental note to ask him about it later and distractedly began eating my pancakes.

We ate quietly and I made sure to leave a decent tip for our waitress, shooting her a sympathetic smile as I followed Edward out into the cold. We had decided to walk to the hospital, a few blocks from the bar, to pick up Edward's car and head back to his place to get his things. We walked closely together, our shoulders brushing as we kept our hands warmly in our pockets and matched each others' strides.

As we rounded the corner to the employee parking lot, Edward pulled out a key and hit a button before promptly stuffing his hand back into his pocket. It was turning out to be one of the coldest winters I'd experienced since moving to New York and I briefly longed for the hot, dry sun of Texas. Blinking lights to the left alerted me to the fact that Edward had found his car in the busy lot and I followed him to a vehicle covered with a thick layer of ice. Yeah, a little sunshine would be perfect right about now. The car was beautiful, all sleek lines and undisguised power.

Paling slightly, I tried not to think of my beat up truck, rusty and worn. I'd had it six months and it was already on it's last legs. How had he been able to buy a sixty thousand dollar car on the savings from a few after school jobs and a surgical residency? There was more to Edward than he'd told me, but that was OK; I'd take anything he was willing to share with me and could be patient and wait for the rest. I was hoping he'd want me to stick around.

We went to work scraping the car and panting out smoky gusts of air. As I sank into the warm leather seats and felt the warmth from the heater on my frozen fingers, I raised a questioning eyebrow at Edward.

"My mom left me the contents of her savings account," he told me on the drive to his apartment. "I've only ever used the money on this car, when my old Volvo broke down, and my condo." He looked guilty for a second and I guessed he didn't like the thought of spending his mom's money at all.

I nodded at his explanation and moved to rest my hand on his knee. As we connected I heard him sigh a breath of relief and saw his tight grip on the steering wheel relax some. I felt it too; the second we touched my whole body felt at ease. I felt at peace and wondered if he felt it too.

The car pulled smoothly into the underground parking garage of a gigantic high rise, all glass and steel. Edward cut the engine, stepping out and rounding the car, and pulled me towards him as soon as I'd done the same. His fingers linked in my hair and his lips parted, sucking my bottom one between his and nipping it lightly with his teeth.

"Fuck, I've missed that." He almost whimpered, pulling away before I could even respond. He led me towards an elevator at the back of the building and hit the button for the 83rd floor when we stepped inside. I was glad I wasn't scared of heights.

He kept his hand linked with mine the whole ride up and pulled me down an immaculate hallway when the elevator stopped. Fishing his keys out of his pants pocket he opened the white, wood panelled door and led me inside. I closed the door softly behind me and turned to face Edward. He was watching me with such passion that my heart skipped a few beats. I felt light headed but moved towards him all the same. His eyes shone with affection and desire, and fluttered closed as I pushed my body against him, letting my lips kiss his sweetly. A calm settled over me as the tip of my tongue slid out to meet his and my knees felt weak at the intensity of it all.

"Seeing you standing in my living room makes it real, Jasper. It makes you real." He moaned as I let my mouth move over his throat and his hands came up to hold me to him, one firmly planted on each hip. "Welcome to my home."

The intensity of his voice made me pause and look up into his eyes; passion and rapture burning in them. His hands tightened their hold on me and I nodded my head and moved my mouth back to his throat, his jaw, his mouth. Welcome to my home, he'd said. All I had heard was, "welcome home."

The song I had in my head for this chapter is Welcome Home by Radical Face. Go listen to it, you'll love it.

Thank you so much for all the reviews and alerts for the last chapter. You have yourselves to thank (or blame) for me continuing to write this story.

Thank you so much to harrytwifan, my incredible beta. I couldn't have finished this chapter without your support and I'm so glad to have you on board. Thank you!

Hope you enjoyed Jasper's POV. Leave a wee review and let me know what you thought.