Levi snorted. “I absolutely won’t make that fucking promise, Shiloh. Not ever. But that’s not going to happen. We won’t get to that point. I promise.”
They laid there in the dark, in the silence, listening to each other’s quiet breaths. Just when Levi started to think Shiloh was asleep, he said, “I need you to know that if anything happens to you, I will swallow a bottle of pills and find you on the other side before you’re even past the check-in desk. Don’t test me.”
“Don’t say that.”
“You’re the one bright light in this dark, ugly fucking world, Levi. I don’t want to be here without you.”
“What about Malachi?”
Shiloh shrugged. “He’ll adapt. He’ll be sad, but he’ll put that sadness in a box and lock it away then go about his life. He has art, music, and dance. He has boxing and cooking and a million other hobbies. He has a life. I have nothing. Except you.”
This whole talk was toxic. The worst kind of co-dependence. Shiloh needed therapy. He needed time to heal. Levi needed therapy, too, if he was being honest. A therapist would probably tell them they shouldn’t be in a relationship, and they’d be right.
But they belonged together. Levi could feel it in his bones. Shiloh was his reward for twenty-five years of hell and he had every intention of collecting. “Don’t say that. Your life is going to be so much more than it is right now. I just hope you don’t outgrow me.”
Shiloh put his hand over Levi’s. “Soulmates don’t outgrow each other. Right?”
Levi smiled against Shiloh’s shoulder. “Right.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about.”
Just as Levi’s eyes floated closed, his phone began to ring once more. “Ignore it.”
“What if it’s your mom?” Shiloh asked.
Levi closed his eyes again. “Then she’s someone else’s problem tonight.”
Shiloh rolled in his arms, resting his cheek on Levi’s bicep, pressing his knee between Levi’s legs. Then, pushing his face into his chest, his words muffled, he said, “Okay, baby. If that’s what you want.”
Levi grinned. “I like when you call me baby.”
“Yeah?”
“Mm.”
Shiloh pulled back to meet his gaze. “Well, I like when you call me Dimples.”
“Well, good.”
“Good,” Shiloh agreed, a silly smile on his face.
“Night, Dimples. You better be here when I wake up in the morning.”
“Night, baby. I’m not going anywhere, I promise.”
Shiloh blinked open sleepy eyes, burying his head in the pillow beneath him and inhaling deeply. He bit back a moan as the scent hit him. Levi. He grinned, turning his head to find the older boy sprawled beside him, still sound asleep. He lay on his stomach, one arm and leg bent like he was climbing a mountain in his sleep.
Shiloh watched Levi’s back rise and fall, giggling at the way the older boy’s face was smooshed against the mattress, lips parted as he drooled onto his other own arm, which was trapped beneath him.
Shiloh sighed, resting his head on his forearm, staring at Levi with an almost dreamy expression. He was being so cringe but he couldn’t help it. This was the first time Shiloh had ever woken up beside someone. And Levi was the most beautiful someone. Even drooling. And especially naked.
Levi was almost completely bare, except for the sheet tangled around his leg. It did nothing to hide the planes of his back or his perfectly rounded ass. Shiloh bit his lip as he let his gaze followthe path downward. One thick thigh and muscular calf were also on display. He reached out, tracing the swell of Levi’s ass, the dip of his back, up, up, up to his shoulder blade. Last night, he’d felt those muscles shifting beneath his fingers as Levi fucked him.
He would happily sit there all day staring at Levi, but his bladder had other ideas. He sat up a little, taking in his own appearance. He grimaced as he noted the ugly green and yellow bruises from Micah’s beating. But now, there were others—fingerprint-shaped bruises on Shiloh’s hips from Levi holding him tight while he drove into him, and pink marks with little red spots on his chest from Levi biting and sucking at his skin. He wanted a lifetime filled with those marks…only those marks.
His nose wrinkled when he moved, realizing he was both gross and sticky despite Levi’s hasty clean-up. Shiloh needed to get clean before he clawed his own skin off. He gently leaned forward, pressing his lips to Levi’s ear. “Can I take a shower?”
“Mm,” Levi mumbled. “Towels under bathroom sink…extra toothbrushes in the drawer.”
