Dylan pushed up and kissed him. “That if youdidwant to explore kinky stuff together, you’d probably be a natural sub."
Callum raised his eyebrows. “Is that something you’d like to do?”
Dylan pursed his lips, pretending to be deep in thought. “Do I like the idea of you on your knees, doing what I say? Or of me pinning your hands to the bed? Mmm…yes, please.” He stroked Callum’s thigh. “Me liking to be praised…that’s a kink.”
“It is?”
Dylan chuckled. “Don’t look so surprised. Kink is like ice-cream—there’s a whole range all the way from vanilla to wasabi.”
Callum blinked. “Wasabi ice-cream is a thing?”
“Yes, you should try it sometime.”
Callum pulled a face. “No thanks.”
“We can work up to it.”
“Wasabi ice-cream or wasabi kink?”
Dylan chuckled. “Both?” He cleared his throat. “But that’s something we can talk about another time. I’m distracting you from something important.”
“Talking about usisimportant.”
“Well, yes, but what matters right now is whether or not you’re going to call your mum.” Dylan sighed. “I don’t want to see you get hurt, baby. Don’t call her because you think I want or need you to, because I don’t.”
“I know.” Callum stared into his eyes. “But Iambi. Iamwith you. I’m proud of that, and I don’t want to have to hide it from anyone.”
“You’re so brave, baby.”
Callum choked out a laugh. “Hardly. If I were brave, I’d visit and tell her face to face. But I’m a coward, which is why I’m going to do it over the phone, then I can hang up if she gets too nasty.” He dipped his chin. “Which she will.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “This will be the end, Dylan. Once I’ve told her, I’ll never be able to go back home.”
Dylan’s heart ached. He laid his head on Callum’s lap and held him tight. “Then don’t tell her, baby. Not until you’re absolutely sure.”
“Sure about what?”
“That you really are bi. That you really do want to be with me.”
The words hurt, but they needed saying. Callum needed to look inside himself to be sure that this wasn’t some experimental fling for him. Dylan hoped it wasn’t, but the danger was there. By spotlighting it, he knew there was a very real chance he’d lose the beautiful, fragile guy he’d fallen in love with, but if it were true, it would happen sooner or later anyway.
Sooner was better than later. Even now, if Callum woke up and realised it had all been a big mistake, Dylan’s heart would shatter into too many pieces to put back together again. It had been easy to risk everything these past few weeks because Callum was so damn amazing to be around. It had been easy to gift wrap his heart and hand it over to Tattoo Boy because he loved everything about him and, in many ways, he saw himself reflected in Callum. They’d both had hard childhoods, but they were both doing their best to turn things around and make their futures brighter. He only hoped they could do that together.
“I am, and I do, and I can’t live a lie.” Callum’s voice was faint and uneven. “Pretending I’m straight, and that I’m not with the greatest guy in the world, would be the most horrible, suffocating lie, and I just can’t do it.” He tipped his forehead against Dylan’s. “But telling her is going to be so damned hard.” He sucked in a sob. “And I don’t know if I can do it.”
“Then don’t do it today. Do it tomorrow.”
Callum shook his head. “There’s always another tomorrow, but there’s only one today. I’ll never feel brave or strong enough to tell her, so I just need to get it over with.”
“I’ll be here,” Dylan promised. “No matter how hard it is, I’ll be here holding you.”
“Thank you.”
He held his phone where they could both see it and thumbed through his contacts until he reached ‘Mum’. Dylan found it both interesting and sad that her number hadn’t been in Callum’s most frequent contacts. Then again, he didn’t even have a contact number forhisdad. He didn’t even know if the man was still alive. He stifled a sob with his hand. It wasn’t the right time to bring that pain up. He had to be present for Callum, not stealing the limelight by bringing up his own heartache. But he would tell Callum about it. Later.
Callum took a breath, hit the dial button, and held the phone to his ear.
