Under the Texas Sky

CHAPTER 42

TRENT

16 years old

Kian’s hair is a mess of blond curls against my dark pillowcase. He tends to fall asleep on my bed while we hang out, his soft snores lightly carrying across the room and embedding themselves in my heart.

I hate that he has to go home every night. The preacher is an asshole to him, and I wish he could be here with me so I could protect him.

It’s been two weeks since that first day I brought him home with me and we laid in my bed while he told me about the many different towns he’s lived in. He talked about how hard it was to be the new kid, time and time again, and I couldn’t help thinking about how strong he was.

Kian is the brightest ray of sunshine that cuts through the clouds.

I want him to be my boyfriend. I want to be able to hold his hand and know that I belong to him. I want to know him better than anyone else.

Leaning over from my side of the bed, I carefully place a kiss to his forehead before brushing a stray piece of hair off his face and tucking it behind his ear. His nose scrunches, and I have to bite back a laugh so I don’t wake him up. I hope he never realizes how loud his emotions are on his face. Kian doesn’t have to say a word, but how he’s feeling will absolutely be on display, whether it’s from his nose scrunching or his eyes lighting up with different emotions.

He’s still shy, but he’s slowly coming out of his shell, and I love that he feels comfortable enough with me to do that. He doesn’t hesitate to tell me when he wants to hold my hand. Not at school, of course, but walking down the sidewalk or in the four walls of my house.

My mom has been passed out on the couch more times than I can count when Kian comes over, but he never asks me about it. He trusts me enough to know that if I want to talk about something, I will.

He already knows about my piece of shit stepdad, but I haven’t gone into details about my mom. Not because I don’t trust him to keep it to himself. But because saying it outloud makes it real, and the last thing I want is to admit the truth.

“What time is it?” he mumbles, smacking his lips. His eyes don’t open, and I keep staring down at him taking in every inch of his face.

His smooth forehead, with a slight divot in the center that came from an accident when he was a kid, leaving a small scar behind. His eyebrows, perfectly shaped and slightly darker than his hair. Bright green eyes that I adore, surrounded by dark eyelashes. His freckles across the bridge of his nose and the apples of his cheeks. His pouty lips, the shade of a ripe strawberry, the prettiest color I’ve ever seen. People pay lots of money to get their lips this color, but Kian’s are all natural.

My favorite part about his face… okay, they’re all my favorite, but this is my most favorite, is the dimple in his chin. I rest the tip of my pointer finger in the dimple, feeling the soft skin of his face and the bone underneath. Feeling the need to crawl under his skin and embed myself inside him, so I never have to be without him.

We’re young, but that doesn’t matter to me. From the moment I saw him, I saw our lives tethered together.

His eyes crack open, and the doe-eyed look makes my heart thunder in my chest.

“Will you be my boyfriend?” I blurt out.

As he stares at me, his gaze bewildered, my pulse beats to its own rhythm and I start to panic. He can’t believe I just asked that and honestly, neither can I.

“You don’t have to say yes. I don’t know what–”

He stops me, his lips pressing against mine. His mouth is firm, and I don’t know what to do. I’m frozen, waiting for his guidance. When he leans back, our eyes are both wide.

“Don’t–don’t take it back. Please,” he pleads.

I nod stupidly.

He leans back in, and this time when our lips touch, it’s a gentle caress. His mouth moves over mine, and he swipes his tongue across my bottom lip. I gasp, not prepared for the onslaught of emotions coursing through my body. Kian takes that cue and pushes his tongue in my mouth. The slickness of his tongue against mine is so hot, I groan into his mouth, and he matches my pace with his own. We’re panting into each other’s mouths while our lips stay glued together. He could swallow me whole, and I would say thank you.

“Yes, yes, yes. I’ll be your boyfriend.” He pulls away from my mouth barely enough to speak the words. But I hear them loud and clear.

My laugh is one of relief and joy, and he joins in with his own. The two of us with kiss-swollen lips, laughing our heads off in my bed, as boyfriends.

I’ll be the best damn boyfriend ever. That’s a promise I’ll swear to the world. He’ll never know a day where he can’t count on me. I’ll be by his side for as long as he’ll have me.

His smile is wide and contagious. “Wow, I have a boyfriend.”

I nip at the dimple in his chin, not hard enough to break skin, but enough to satisfy my craving to nibble on him. He shrieks and laughs, trying to fight me off while I bury my head in his neck and smell the fresh scent of his body wash and something that is only him. Flowers.

“You’re my boyfriend,” I reply, making sure he knows that he doesn’t just have any boyfriend. He has me as his boyfriend.

“And you’re mine.”

“And I’m yours,” I agree, wholeheartedly.

???

My mom knocks on the door a little while later, and I sit up so quickly in the bed, I make myself nauseous. I chance a look at Kian, and his eyes are wide. Oh no.

“Trent, get up. I’m hungry,” my mom calls through the door.

“Be out in a minute, Mom.” I stand up, raking my fingers through my hair and trying to untangle the mess that Kian’s hands made. “Come on,” I urgently whisper to him. and he snaps out of his frozen state.

He snaps out of his frozen state and pulls his hair back into a ponytail, the curls barely being tamed by the hair tie.

“Get your bag, I’ll take you home after dinner.”

He shakes his head quickly.

I know he’s worried, but he’s my boyfriend now. I’ll protect him at all costs. So I reach out and thread my fingers through his hand. I tip his head up with my other hand, leaving my fingertips pressed underneath his chin. “Do you trust me?”

His eyes answer before his mouth does. “Of course I do.”

“Then let me take care of this, okay? I’ll take care of you.”