Coming from Roly, I believe it.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Nick
Roly and I get Elijah up the stairs, and Roly bags up the layers of blankets and layers of clothes that he’d been wearing for the last few days.
“Roly-man, I got it from here. Thank you so much, brother.”
“Anytime, bro. You know I’d do anything for you.”
“More than you should, Roly. More than you should.”
Roly stands toe to toe with me and looks me in the eye, even though he has to tilt his head back to do it. “No, brother. Exactly as I should. I have never, ever regretted walking into the fire with you. I have never regretted staying with you that day. I’ll never regret it. It is a privilege to stand with you, and you don’t deserve this guilt that you carry like a noose around your neck. These last three days, these last three years, it’s been weighing you down. Time to let it go. Time to let that man love you.”
“You think he can?” I ask, my voice fracturing.
Roly nods and pats my cheek. “Well, if you stop your blubbering and go in there and take care of him, you might have half a chance.”
I wipe away the tears in my eyes. “Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Roly winks, then walks out the door and turns around to salute me before he closes it. I hear the shower turn on.
* * *
Elijah
The hot shower pouring down around me loosens the icy cold grip on my muscles, and my joints begin to relax. Dirty water pools around the drain, and it reminds me that I hate how dirty living outside is. I completely hate it.
The other thing that really sucks about not having a place to call home is how much you realize that everything is temporary, and that sense of impermanence fucks up your mind and makes you think that everything is transactional. I know that, while what Nick said was not great, I’d overreacted. I thought he was judging me, looking down on me, and I couldn’t stand it. I’ve been working so hard, trying to keep my head above water, try to keep my attitude right, and it felt like he was shitting on all that hard work, but the emotion he showed in the truck told me I’d had it wrong.
As I’m trying to let my overthink flow off me down the drain, gentle, strong arms wrap around me. I turn around and face him for the first time. He lets out a heavy sigh, as though he had been holding his breath. “You have the most beautiful eyes. Every time I look into them, I get lost.”
I don’t have any words for him. I swallow, attempting to replace some of the moisture in my mouth. His fingertips are at my neck, following the path of my Adam’s apple, up and down, up and down. He then places his full hand on my neck and tilts my head back, and I let him. Iwantwhatever is coming next.
Slowly he lowers his lips to mine, and the touch is electric. Electric and… sweet, sensual. He groans and wraps his arms around me, pulling me in tighter, deepening the kiss. I open my mouth for his questing tongue, and our tongues play with one another as we drink in the taste of each other. We kiss like that until our bodies demand oxygen, and we pull apart, breathing heavily, wide-eyed, a little wobbly, but still wrapped around each other.
“Fuck, you are so dangerous to me.”
I open my eyes and… giggle. “I’m dangerous to you? I’m guessing you could kill a man with your thumbs, and I can barely take care of myself. You are in no danger from me.”
He makes a tutting sound as he taps my nose. “Stop talking down about yourself. I don’t like it.”
“Bossy,” I say, not complaining.
“Damn skippy.” He crashes down on my lips again, devouring me. His hard cock finds mine, and fire licks its way through my body as we grind against each other. I’m ramping so quickly that I have to pull away or come in an embarrassingly short amount of time.
He grabs his crutch from the hook and steps back, his body stiff. “Shit, I’m so sorry. You’re in a vulnerable place right now, and I don’t want to be the dickhead who takes advantage of your vulnerability. I mean, I do… I really do. But it’s not right.”
“I appreciate your concern, but the only thing I’m feeling right now is horny.” I take his crutch and hook it back up on the wall, letting him hold my hips for balance. “About a second more of you grinding against me and I would have blown my load. You are welcome to take as much advantage of that as you’d like.”
He groans and presses down on my lips, this time pulling me to him, crushing me against his chest. He’s got his arms wrapped around me, and mine are wrapped around him, and I want to hold on to that feeling because it’s the safest I’ve felt in almost a year.
He growls against my lips, and I pull away, wordlessly searching his eyes for answers.
“These tattoos of yours are so fucking sexy,” he says as I press myself against him. He groans again and takes my mouth with his.
