Gio turned on his side, his thick arms bunching as he tucked a hand under his head. “My hand over your mouth?” he asked, reaching out to gently touch Hudson’s puffy lips.
“Yeah. Like that.” Hudson smiled.
“You are one kinky guy, Blondie,” Gio said, grinning back. “Who would ever have thought? And me, I’m the luckiest man around.”
EPILOGUE
One night stretchedout into three, then five. Gio warned Hudson that if he got word, he’d have to go work with his crew, no notice given, but his phone stayed silent. Privately, Hudson wondered if Finch might have had something to do with that.
They did go out to Gio’s apartment in the Bronx once early on, to get him some fresh clothes and make sure his small houseplant, Violet, was okay. Gio had a thing about Violet, even insisted on bringing the plant back with him to Hudson’s place. He spoke to it like it was a pet, cradled it like a baby on the subway the whole way back, and Hudson thought later that maybe that moment was it, the moment he’d lost his heart to this man.
Because lost it he had. The longer they spent together, the more Hudson recalled small things Gio had done for him at Kismet. Like the warning glance he’d given Dino once for teasing Hudson about being too skinny, and Dino had never said anything about it again. The way Gio ran to hold the door open for him when Hudson went in or out of Finch’s office. The way he’d always nodded respectfully to Hudson on entering orleaving Kismet behind Finch D’Amato. Hudson felt stricken with guilt that he’d always ignored it or glared back.
“Yeah, you sure were a hard nut to crack,” Gio said contentedly after Hudson apologized for that one morning. “But boy, when those nuts crack, theycrack.” He ran a finger through Hudson’s cum, cooling on his pecs again. “You got a thing about my chest?”
“Yes,” Hudson said truthfully.
“I gotta get back to the gym soon,” Gio yawned. “Vacation’s almost done, right?”
The new year had established itself almost without Hudson noticing. He and Gio spent a lot of time in bed, and not always joined by their junk. They took walks in a frozen Central Park, enjoying the blankety, silent whiteness. They had late breakfasts at the local coffee shop, where Gio always insisted on the waitress adding extra marshmallows to Hudson’s hot chocolate. They passed hours just talking, getting to know each other better. This morning, before they’d fooled around, Gio had even confided in him about his childhood bullying by cousins, the same ones who later joined Families like the Clemenzas and the Vicarios. They’d picked on Gio as kids because they’d known, even then, that he was different.
“Guess that’s why I spend so much time at the gym,” Gio had said, sounding surprised at the self-revelation. “Won’t ever let some asshole get the jump on me again. And I hate bullies. Hate ’em.”
Hudson had thought about Brady’s nose exploding and nodded.
“Don’t you…” he began now, but trailed off.
“What?”
“The bully thing. Don’t you think Luca D’Amato…”
Gio rolled on his side, his pecs squeezing together the way Hudson loved to watch, and rubbed a thumb across Hudson’s lips. “He ain’t no bully. That’s not how he operates.”
“You said he was going to line us all up on the dance floor and blow our brains out.”
Gio chuckled. “I guess I did. But I didn’t really mean it. What’s that word? It was hyper-bowl.”
Hudson gave his lips a quick kiss. “Hi-per-boh-lee.”
“Whatever. I was talking out my ass. Don’t get me wrong, the Boss is one scary fucker, but he’s fair. I wouldn’t be working for him otherwise. And I respect the way he took care of your sister after, well.” He stopped. “Sorry, Blondie. Didn’t mean to bring her up.”
“It’s okay,” Hudson told him, because somehow it was, now. Thinking about Connie didn’t stab into him in quite the same way. “It hurt for a long time.” He reached over to grab the hand towel they’d taken to keeping by the bed, and wiped his jizz off Gio’s chest, and the one small splatter on his chin. Sex between them tended to bemessy. “I’m starting to remember the good stuff, though.”
Gio grabbed Hudson and gathered him into his arms. Hudson could smell himself on Gio, but the familiar Gio scent was there underneath, too. It made him feel comfortable. Safe. “Tell me about your sister,” Gio said into Hudson’s hair.
And so Hudson did. The snow started falling again outside while he told Gio all his favorite Connie memories, about the timesshe’d made him laugh the most, the way she’d had his back against bullies at school who picked on Hudson for being a tall, skinny geek, and the way she’d stood up to their parents and made her own way in the world. “I know people think she was just a gold digger,” he said in the end, “but she really did love Tino Morelli.”
“She sounds like one incredible lady,” Gio murmured. “I would’ve liked to meet her.”
“I would’ve liked you to meet her, too. And she—she would have been wild about you.”
“Yeah?”
“Oh, yeah.” Hudson laughed just thinking about what Connie might say about Gio. “She’d call you a ‘fine slab of Italian meat’ and be completely inappropriate.”
“She sounds like my sisters,” Gio said, brushing his lips across Hudson’s cheekbone. “They’re loud.”
Hudson had learned that Gio was the youngest of six: four girls, two boys. His mom was important to him, though his dad had split years back. Hudson took a breath. “Maybe I could meet them sometime,” he said. “Your sisters. And the rest of your family.”
