I take his hand, lace our fingers and kiss his knuckles.
Literal gold stars dance in his eyes as he sits up and straddles me. I grin when he cups my face, pressing a kiss to one side of my mouth, then the other.
He whispers against my lips, “Is it weird I want everyone to know you’re mine?”
My little rollercoaster car takes the plunge. Images stream by at lightning speed: Remy ditched by his friends and the track team. Bullied and beaten. Ostracized and gossiped about. Demoralized and hollowed out.
And it hurts. It hurts more than anything I’ve suffered or inflicted on myself because I want nothing more than to scream from the rooftops that this beautiful ray of sunshine belongs to me. Even on his hardest days, he breathes life into my decaying lungs and I can’t publicly shower him in the affection he deserves. Hiding who he is to me feels wrong. More than wrong. It’s criminal.
Keeping us a secret will destroy me.
But going public will destroy him.
I wrap my arms around his waist, pulling him impossibly closer.
“We can’t, baby.”
He stiffens, eyes rounding.
I smooth a palm up his back to the base of his neck and squeeze, suppressing the tidal wave of agony swelling in my chest.
“Not everyone understands,” I explain and lightly graze his mouth.
“The people that matter will,” he argues.
I adore his innocence and I’ll protect it with everything in me.
Nipping his bottom lip, “Let’s give it a little more time, yeah? See where it goes… if you even like being with a guy in that way.”
Remy sits back with a frown. “What do you mean? I clearly do,” he insists, grinding on my lap to emphasize his point.
Damn him and his stubbornness.
“Yeah, dry-humping is one thing. Sucking cock is something else entirely.”
His dimple pops out. “Are you suggesting I give it a try right now?”
I’m so fucked.
Cradling the back of his head, I hold his gaze.
“What I’m trying to say is, there’s no rush. This is between you and me. Right now, everyone else and their opinions areirrelevant. We’re figuring this out forus,so let’s focus on each other first.”
He melts, dropping his forehead to mine and nodding.
Nausea rocks me, but I refuse to show how sick it makes me to deny him what he wants. Even if it kills me, I’ll sacrifice my sanity, my heart, my fucking soul if it means he doesn’t have to experience what I have.
But when it’s just the two of us, I can offer him everything.
Closing the centimeters between us, I kiss him slowly— reverently. He responds with a soft whimper.God, the sounds he makes drive me insane. I’m fucking obsessed with how needy he is— how insatiable.
“I should’ve kissed you that night,” he whispers as his drugging lips migrate to my jaw.
“What night?”
He nips my earlobe, grinning into my heated skin. “When you stayed over.”
My brain can’t keep up with the conversation while he’s exploring my throat with his tongue.
