Chapter 38 – Jack
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Jack
By the time it was dawn, we’d all worn one another out.
Zach was asleep against my shoulder, and Paco was propped up on an elbow, tracing a finger around the edges of all of my tattoos.
He’d done that a lot when we started going out—mostly because I’d keep showing up to our dates with new ones.
I used to think it made him mad, maybe he didn’t like the thought of strangers touching me, but eventually I realized it was because he just wanted to know me.
I grabbed his hand with my free one and brought it to my lips to kiss. “I honestly didn’t think getting tag teamed would involve so much bullying,” I whispered.
He laughed. “Only because you never do what you’re told.” He reached across me to pet Zach. “How come I don’t get a cute nickname?”
One of my eyebrows cocked up. “Did you want one?”
“No.”
“Well, there’s your answer.”
He snorted, and leaned up against me like a soft and warm brick wall, and it was almost the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life, lying there.
Being taken care of.
Just . . . being.
I turned towards Paco. “This is scarier than thinking I’m going to die, forgotten in the dark.”
He leaned down to kiss my temple. “Why?” he asked, then I felt his lips frown against me, as he tried to answer his own question. “Because you don’t want it with me?”
“No—oh, fuck no. Of course I do. It’s—” I said, shaking my head, trying to explain. “I’ve just never gotten to think about forever before.”
He pressed his lips against me again. “Tell me its forever, Jack,” he whispered.
I twisted toward him, and caught his chin, looking into his eyes and seeing not just my reflection, but all the rest of our lives, stretched out in front of us.
“It always was,” I told him, right before I kissed him.