Angelo groaned. “Oh God. Stop. Please. Of course I love you. I’vealwaysloved you?—been in love with you?—whatever. I’ve just been too fucked up to do anything about it. How can you not knowthat?”
Dylan had no answer because he did know it. How, he had no idea, but out of everything they’d been through in the last few months, the sudden certainty that Angelo loved him nearly sent him to his knees. “I love you too. More than that. I’m fucking crazy aboutyou.”
“Just plain crazy, more like,” Angelogrumbled.
But the joy in his tired eyes was unmistakable and did something to Dylan that he couldn’t describe. “Do you want to hear something elsecrazy?”
Angelo sobered. “Depends. That you love me back has pretty much done me in for theday.”
“Move in withme.”
“What?”
“You heard.” Dylan rose out of his crouch and climbed carefully into Angelo’s lap, straddling his waist and pressing their foreheads together. “Move in with me. Pay half my mortgage and use the spare room for your physio, and maybe, when you’re back on your feet, we can look to buy a new placetogether.”
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be well enough to do that. What if I relapse to the point that I can’t get out of bed for a year? Whatthen?”
“Then I’ll go back to paying the mortgage by myself until you’rebetter.”
“What if we get a bigger mortgage that you can’t afford on yourown?”
“I’m a debt advisor. Do you really think I’d let that happen? That I’d ever let us get into a position where I couldn’t look afteryou?”
“You shouldn’t have to look after me.” Angelo’s fingers tightened around Dylan’s wrists. “It’s notfair.”
“Nothing’s fair. But we’ve got each other?—weloveeach other. Surely we should embrace that and face whatever life throws at us together? Angelo, I want to live with you. I want to go to bed with you every night and wake up with you every morning. We can handle the rest?—you know wecan.”
Whether Angelo truly knew it or not was hard to tell, but he wore his crumbling resolve on his sleeve. “If we’re gonna do this, you’ve got to slow down. I can’t spend the rest of my life watching you worry yourself into the ground. That hurts me as much as me being ill upsetsyou.”
“But you can help me with that,” Dylan said. “Teach me to relax and break the cycle? I know you can’t see it, but you’ve done just as much for me as I have for you. If yesterday had happened to me six months ago, I’d be drunk now... and I’d stay drunk all weekend until I had to go back to work on Monday and pick up all thepieces.”
“You wouldn’t have taken the timeoff?”
“Nope. Not a chance. But being with you has made me realise that the quiet isn’t something to be afraid of. That I can take control of it and make it work forme.”
Angelo chuckled softly. “How you’ve taken all that from me constantly flaking out on you, I don’t know. I think you’re insane for wanting to live with me. Even without the ME, I’m a moodybastard.”
“You think I can’t handle a moodybastard?”
“I know you can handle me, Dylan.” Angelo’s voice dropped an octave. “Perhaps that’s what I’m afraidof.”
Hope bloomed in Dylan’s heart as Angelo’s humour returned. “Is that ayes?”
Angelo smiled like the rare winter sun hazing the park. “Of course it’s a yes. I know I’m shit at showing it, but you and me together, despite all the bullshit that got to the table before us, is everything I’ve ever wanted. Shit, didn’t evenknowIwanted.”
Dylan couldn’t argue with that. They still had much to learn about each other, but their love was real, and so were theirdreams.
Epilogue
Dylan staredacross the crowded rock club, his gaze drawn, as ever, to the graceful form that stood out among the sea of sweaty bodies. Angelo was dancing with Eddie, lifting her high above his head, his strong arms holding her firm as her laughter rang out over the thrashingmusic.
Sam watched them too, his expression hard to gauge. “Should I bejealous?”
“Of what? His moves? Probably. But if you’re worried he’s gonna crack on to your missus, don’t bother. We’re in the wrong club forthat.”
Sam laughed. “Don’t mention that bloody sex club to Eddie. You know she’ll want togo.”
“That a badthing?”
