“That was not an embarrassing story. It was sweet.” Kali wobbled her pancake at me. “Andnotboner-related.”
“I’ll show how it’s supposed to be done.” Zion licked his fingers clean. “I think I was nineteen and you were twenty at that time. Or something like that. We were in our training rings for a routine session, and you lunged at me?—”
“And almost kissed you?” I interjected, sensing the direction he was going in.
“Yeah.” Zion presented his palm to Kali, and she plopped another pancake on it.
“Wait.” I picked out one of the chocolate muffins Kali had surrendered to me, the brown shade as rich as my confession. “I was on top of you. I would have felt your hard-on.”
“I thought so too. I was scared shitless. But you didn’t react and looked at me so seriously, I feared I was going to explode.”
Chuckling, I ripped a piece of the pastry, the buttery texture melting on my fingertips. “I can’t believe I didn’t notice it.”
“Well…” Turning the round cake into a roll, Zion asked, “Does that mean you’ll let me fuck you now?”
“No.” I popped the piece into my mouth. “I’m claiming your ass first.”
“At least tell me when.”
Rich sweetness usurped my tongue as sugar and fat assaulted my taste buds. “That’s part of the game. The anticipation.”
Zion groaned. “I should’ve stuck with Kali and not bothered with your dick. You’ll kill my own before it can get hard again.”
Oh, I planned on getting him hard. Now granting him a release was a different question.
I tore off another clump of the muffin. “So what’s the rest of the story?”
His jaws wrenched off a third of the roll. “After you walked away, I sat in the middle of the square for…I don’t know how long. My sweatpants did nothing to help me hide the state I was in.” His munching distorted his voice. “That’s why I didn’t go to Damia and Conall waiting on the side of the training rings to say goodbye. Everyone would’ve noticed.”
Snapping the lid off the yellow container, I fished for another baked good. “So that’s why Conall couldn’t stop laughing after he went to you himself.”
“He practically pissed his pants once he realized why I wasn’t moving,” Zion said, and kissed Kali’s thigh. She huffed, but handed him another pancake.
Snacking on my second muffin, I remarked, “I can’t believe you have so many memories of me causing you to get an erection.”
“It’s all your fault.”
“One I’m damn proud of. It means I’m the king of your boners. I’m the only one who can get your dick down for you to rest.”
“I shouldn’t have told you the last story. You’ll turn this into a game.”
“Oh, I already did. I just need a day or two to iron out the rules.”
“You’re incorrigible.”
“As if you’re better.”
“This is amazing.” Kali’s gaze darted back and forth between Zion and I, our breakfast forgotten on her lap. “Do you have more?” Her excitement faltered. “Memories, I mean.” Tracing the edge of the transparent container, she added, “They’re so different from life in Ilasall.”
Her ask sliced at my ribs. Such an easy request, but trepidation at the possibility of us requesting something in return still lingered. The inevitability of cost had implanted its roots deep inside her.
“I’ve told two.” Zion stabbed the shred of a pancake at me. “Now it’s your turn again.”
Conceding, I scanned the horizon. Dew graced the foliage of the forest encircling the ruins of the city our ancestors had settled in. Or how our people preferred to call the location—our compound, despite the fact we had expanded to half the size of Ilasall.
But like our predecessors, I needed to tell a story of a promise.
For two reasons:
