Chapter 22 Torin #2
But I know there’s a parachute, too.
That I will be able to safely land.
It’s him.
Noah isn’t someone who pulls me away from my freedom. He’s someone who’s with me in it.
And I’m breaking every promise I’ve ever made with this kiss. He sighs into my mouth and I want to clutch against him like this forever, joining my body with his.
This feeling.
I promised I’d never want one person only.
Broken.
I promised that no one could ever mean enough to me to make me consider upending my future.
Broken.
And I promised myself, when I met Noah, that nothing could ever make me lose this game with him. But the game isn’t something I want to win. It’s something I want to fucking play forever.
“You’re allowed to be scared,” I tell him, wrapping my arms around him to keep him close. “But I want this. I want you so fucking badly, all of the time. And you know it’s real.”
“I’ve been hurt too much. I can’t believe anything is real.”
“Then I’m going to show you.”
Noah’s smile is like light breaking through a storm.
His lashes flick downward, and when he looks back up at me, he’s in disbelief. “Is that right, Torin?”
I stand up, reaching down an arm to help him up. “Yeah. Watch me.”
I walk toward the edge of the roof, not close enough to fall, but enough so that I can get a complete, sweeping view of all of Red Row below and everyone on it.
I take Noah’s hand beside me, holding it firm, and I give him a nod.
“Torin…” he says, confused.
“Get ready, baby,” I whisper to him.
He glances down at Red Row.
“Torin,” he repeats.
And then I fucking scream.
“Everybody listen the fuck up!” I shout at the top of my lungs, cutting through the sound below. Heads start to turn, and I do it again, even louder this time. “Up on the roof! I need every single person on Red Row to get your eyes on me, right now. Look. Up.”
Group after group of people turn their heads to finally locate us.
Noah’s squeezing my hand like he’s holding on for dear life, and I love how it feels.
Once I have everyone’s eyes on me, and nobody is talking amongst themselves anymore, I’m satisfied.
My heart pounds in my chest as I scream again.
“Noah Vancliff, this perfect man at my side, is my boyfriend. If anyone, literally any single one of you down there has a problem with that, you can take it up with me. Do you hear me? Loud and fucking clear? Noah belongs to me. Now go have fun at this block party and turn that fucking music up.”
I hear an excited roar from the side of the lawn and I look to see Oliver jumping up and down, pumping his fist in the air.
“Fuck yeah, Torin!” he screams back. “Say it from your chest!”
And then the whole goddamn street screams for us.
I get a rush that rock stars must get when they’re on stage in front of thousands of people, and I’ve never felt anything close to it in my life.
I turn to put my hands on either side of Noah’s face and kiss him, and the crowd claps and cheers for that, too, before everyone erupts into their own conversations again and someone turns the music up.
“I know you want to kill me right now,” I say against Noah’s lips. “Just save it. Hate-fuck me later if you have to, but God, I don’t regret doing that.”
“Torin, you are absolutely fucking crazy,” he says, pulling back to look me in the eye. “And that’s the most romantic thing that’s ever happened in my entire life.”
“Get used to it.”
“Holy shit.”
“I’m so into you, Noah.”
“I’m going to pass out. We need to get off this rooftop right now, because if I go down, I’m going down hard.”
I kiss him again. “Let’s head downstairs.”
“Holy fuck. You called me your boyfriend.”
“It felt weird for me, too,” I tell him as I help him through the window. “I never thought I would want to use that word for anyone, but I needed to make things crystal fucking clear.”
“Pretty sure you accomplished that.”
As we walk down the staircase in the house, I keep my hands on him at all times, clutching at his waist, his back, his shoulders. I’m always like this with him.
I can’t leave him alone.
And I don’t think I’d ever want to.
Right before we walk out the front door, I stop him for a second, resting my forehead against his.
“I think you should know that I probably have no clue how to be a good boyfriend,” I tell him. “I might be possessive. Tell me to fuck off if it ever bothers you.”
“No. I want to be yours.”
I grip his hips. “Fuck, that… is extremely hot, Noah.”
“And I’m glad the whole campus knows you’ve claimed me.”
The front door suddenly swings open.
Roman’s on the other end, and he nods at us.
“Yo,” he says. “Just wanted to come through and grab some more hot dog buns. Torin, you have to help me cook. Noah, you need to rest your broken wrist.”
Roman brings out a hand to rustle his fingers through Noah’s hair, and then through mine, like he’s some sort of old man calling two kids rapscallions.
“That’s it?” Noah says. “I’m finally in a relationship and you’re talking about grilling?”
Roman winks at Noah, and I see a tiny smile on the corner of his mouth. “I knew you two were going to end up together since the first day Torin walked into this house. This is just inevitable, really.”
Noah looks like he just saw a ghost.
I slide my hand over my hair, confused.
“But you acted like some sort of territorial bear when it came to Noah. I was ready to fight you if you tried to take him from me—”
Roman breaks out into a loud, sonorous laugh. “Take him from you? I was just ready to knock you cold if you ever hurt him. And that still stands now, Torin. Hurt him, and you’re going to get fucked up. Understand me?”
“Loud and clear.”
“Meet me at the grill,” Roman says, heading to the kitchen.
When Noah and I walk outside, multiple people give us high-fives. Most people down here are at various levels of drunkenness already, and people seem to have loved my impromptu declaration.
As we’re waiting beside the grill, Noah nods at me.
“You were afraid Roman liked me?”
“He does like you,” I tell him. “Maybe just… in a more brotherly way than I realized.”
“And how would you describe how you like me?”
I hook my finger through one of his belt loops. “Not like a brother at all.”
I tug him closer toward me.
“Very different from that,” he murmurs.
“I like you because you’re mine.”
I kiss him again and it feels like a small miracle doing it out here, in plain view of everyone.
I get to have you.
Anytime I want.
And nothing has ever felt more like freedom in my life.