His cum decorated my face, splashing across my nose, cheeks, and right onto the middle of my tongue. When his moans died down and his hand left my head, I opened my eyes to look at him.
From below, Elio truly looked like an angel. Water ran down his chest, dripping off his stomach. There was a gleam from the vent light above the shower, accentuating the shape of him. When he first came home with me, all that was there were bruises and hints of his ribs and hip bones.
Now? He was softer, with a slight curve to his waist. There were still scars from a life he never should’ve endured—just small, almost completely white things that reminded us of his past. A past he’d never have to go through again.
In another life, Elio must’ve had wings and maybe even a halo. He’d soared through the skies, his wings stretched out for the wind to catch, the feathers there shifting withthe air. I just hoped I was there in the sky with him. No matter the lifetime, no matter the universe, I knew I had always been there. Hand in hand with my angel. My Sunshine. My everything.
Elio swiped his thumb over the mess he’d made on my face, staring straight into the soul that burned only for him. He placed his thumb right onto my tongue, and I closed my lips around it. I could feel how swollen they were, my bottom lip tingling, bordering on a slight burn. I loved it. I loved him.
One side of his mouth turned up into a smile, his canines peeking through. “You look so beautiful, my crescent moon.”
“So do you, Sunshine. So do you.”
The chicken wasready to shred, and Elio was having a fucking blast. He held up the two forks, a wide grin on his face. “This is the fun part, isn’t it?”
Nodding, I moved out of his way. “Oh yeah, the best part.”
We were making shredded chicken tacos, one of his favorite recipes from when we were teenagers. It was one of the first things he’d learned how to make when we were in high school, and he’d make it at least once a week. Sometimes, he’d make enough for the whole family, but it was usually just for us.
I watched as he got to work, shredding the chicken into small pieces. After making sure he’d be okay, I turned my attention to the bell peppers sitting on the counter beside him.
Honestly, I thought he’d have a harder time with this. But it seemed cooking with me, rather than for someone else, was helping him.
“Oh, do you know when Moon will be here?”
I paused, my knife hovering over a bell pepper. “Well, next Tuesday, probably after I get off work. He’s bringing Mom and Dad’s RV, so that’ll be fun to park.”
Elio snorted. “Yeah, can’t wait to see that. At least we’ll have a lot of room to cram our shit into. Ugh, that’s going to be such a pain in the ass.”
“If we have to come down again, I’ll hire a moving truck. Mom and Dad were just very excited to help us. How could I say no to them?”
“Eh, you’re right.” He scraped some of the chicken off the forks, picking up the plate to dump it all into the pan on the stove. “You think we could convince Star to come help us unpack?”
I joined him, taking over the chicken while he washed his hands to grate some cheese. “I may have to bribe her, but yeah. All of them will help us. I’m just surprised the buying process has gone so smoothly.”
“You know the moment we get the keys, I’m picking you up and taking you on every surface of the house.”
Raising an eyebrow at him, I huffed a laugh. “Oh, we believe in christening, now?” I shook my head. “You know Mom will want to burn a hundred different types of incense and put up all sorts of stuff for us before we spend too much time in there.”
I could hear him snickering before he cleared his throat. “Yeah, I know. I say we let her—and then put all the incense out. That’s one thing I don’t think I could bring from our childhood. I’ve got you, and that’s all I need.”
Remembering to take the chicken off the hot stovetop, Imade my way over to him. I pulled him into a hug from behind, kissing the side of his head. “We’ve got each other.”
He turned in my arms, wrapping his around my neck. “You bet your ass we do. I’m never letting go, Crescent Miller. Just like you never did, either.”
I kissed him, smiling against his lips. I loved him so much, I didn’t have words for it. Not back then, and not now. There were thousands and thousands of them I could try to string together, but they all fell flat when it came to how I felt in my heart.
Nothing could ever accurately describe how lucky I felt. How at peace I felt. This time, when I started fresh, it would be in a town we used to love, around the people we loved the most. There were no therapists chastising me for a poor decision, or the worry of my entire family. It was just me, his crescent moon, and him, my ray of sun. Me and Elio against the world for the rest of our lives.
Just how it was always meant to be.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Packingup an entire apartment along with a whole bunch of paintings was truly a huge pain in the ass. I hunched over the last box after taping it up, sighing. I’d been packing the rest of the kitchen while Crescent worked his last day at the bakery.
The only other things left were the bed, bookshelf, and coffee table. We’d told Sarah she could keep anything we left behind if she wanted it for herself. Otherwise, we’d donate it all when we came back to turn in our apartment keys.
Moon would be helping us load everything else up, thankfully. Without him, I didn’t think we’d be able to do it ourselves.
