“You better fucking believe that’s a promise, baby,” Xavi near-growled, and like always, this newfound possessiveness overwhelmed him, but not in a bad way. Only good. He was allowed to be possessive now. Lulu was his fucking boyfriend.His. That brought forward unprecedented feelings in Xavi, and images of things he suddenly wanted for himself, things that were now within reach. “You ever thought about it?”
“What?”
“Getting married?”
“You askin’?” Lulu stuck out his tongue, and Xavi nearly blurted,‘What if I were?’“I don’t know,” Lulu frowned. “Not exactly like I had the best role model, you know?”
“You’re not him.”
“I know. Maybe if the right person asked. Yeah, then maybe I would.” There was a rare wistfulness in Lulu’s voice that told Xavi he wasn’t the only one with secret dreams. That he wasn’t the only one perhaps afraid to voice them, afraid they’dpulverize and disappear right in front of him. Or at least, Xavi used to feel that way, but not so much anymore.
“Yeah, me too.” Xavi smiled, brushing a stray lock of hair out of Lulu’s eyes. Lulu shivered, then slung his thigh over Xavi’s stomach, his skin hot and smooth. They were both only in their boxer briefs, Xavi’s body on full display in the soft glow from the night lamps. Lulu’s fingers wove through Xavi’s chest hair, then circled his nipples teasingly. A hiss fell from Xavi’s lips, then Lulu’s hand disappeared, and he stretched on the crisp white sheets, his golden skin glowing.
“It was beautiful, wasn’t it?” Lulu smiled, his eyes swimming with fatigue. “The wedding.”
“It absolutely was. Beautiful.”
Lulu chuckled lowly. “I can’t believe how much he cried, though.”
“Joe? Nah, I always knew he had it in him.”
“Yeah, him too. No, I meant Noah. The way he almost collapsed at the end of the aisle.”
“I know. That was… relief. Like pure fucking relief.”
“Yeah.” Lulu paused, then leaned in, his lips hovering against Xavi’s. “You got all misty-eyed too, big guy.”
“The hell I did,” Xavi grunted, then closed the gap between them, kissing Lulu fast and hard.
“You so did, but that’s okay,oso. We all fucking cried. The entire wedding was one longtelenovela,” Lulu snorted. “Even Monroe and Aidan had to pretend they suddenly got acute allergies. Fucking gold.”
“Yeah, it was.” Xavi brushed his lips back and forth against Lulu’s, and Lulu hummed, his body emanating heat and building lust. Thrusting his hips forward, Lulu’s fingers dug into Xavi’s shoulder, almost like he had to steady himself, too overcome with desire.
Xavi thrust back, their movements so in sync by now, just like they’d been all their lives without noticing, a silent push and pull, a careful touch here and there, a few stolen looks all leading to this one moment. Xavi realized every defining moment for the past two decades had been tied to Lulu in one way or another, from adolescence into adulthood. From friendship to now being lovers, boyfriends.
Lulu kissed along Xavi’s shoulder, his tongue teasing the skin, tracing the ragged scars and the outline of his tattoos.
“Tell me about your tattoos,” Lulu panted, his breath hot and moist.
“Which ones?” Xavi squirmed as Lulu sucked a particularly sensitive scar into his warm mouth. “Fuuuck,” he hissed. “Fuck, baby, that’s nice.” It was. Xavi wasn’t lying. Lulu making love to Xavi’s scars—the most vulnerable parts of him—with his mouth, was fucking everything. It was cathartic, almost, like a sacred act, Lulu’s lips absolving Xavi from his painful past.
“Doesn’t matter. All of them, any of them.” Lulu leaned up on his elbow, then his gaze dipped to the skin just below Xavi’s clavicle. “This one.” Lulu’s fingers whispered against the lumpy skin covered in black ink. “Tell me about this one.”
Xavi sucked in a breath. The tattoo portrayed two large angel wings. The right wing had been devastated by flames, torn apart, the feathers burned into ashes. Only the outline was left—the skeleton—like a distant, painful memory. You could only tell it was a wing, really, because it was accompanied by the other perfect one on Xavi’s left side, untouched by the fire. The feathers were intact, reaching all the way across the left side of Xavi’s chest, the ends wrapped around his pec, like they almost cradled his heart.
“It’s… they’re—” Xavi’s voice broke, but Lulu was there instantly, offering Xavi his.
“It’s him, isn’t it? Yourpapi?”
“Sí, mi alma.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Yeah?” Xavi turned his head toward Lulu’s, his eyes connecting with two pools of warmth.
“Sí. The way the fire tried to take him away from you, but his soul stayed behind, forever wrapped around yours.Para siempre.”
Xavi’s chest squeezed, his heart racing, because that had been his exact intention when he’d gotten the tattoo when he was twenty-one.
