Chapter 20 #2
But he hasn’t run yet, I tell myself.
Maybe…
“Yes, puppy,” he says softly, and I’ve never heard Peris so sincere before. So soft and demure and… fuck. My eyes snap to his to find him already gazing at me. His pupils are dilated, eyes half-lidded, face so open and exposed and damnit, damnit, damnit.
He fucking loves me.
He’s still in love with me.
How could I be this stupid? To have gone this long questioning this—and him? What does any of that trivial shit matter when Peris is here right now, looking at me like this? Like I’m the only goddamn person in the world?
“The truth…” I start and then pause because I’m forced to swallow the lump that’s lodged itself in my throat at this monumental realization.
My heart is thundering in my chest, and my palms are sweating.
“The truth is so fucked, Peris,” I admit, and he huffs against me, his breath a little shaky, and I can’t blame him.
I’m fucking nervous, too.
I don’t know what I’m going to say.
I don’t know how to do this.
All I know is I need him, and I don’t want to let him go again. I don’t have to this time, so why should I? The rest of it? It doesn’t matter. Not really.
“I’ve been in this with you since the moment you caught me in that classroom.
There was something in your eyes that I caught a flash of that intrigued me right from the start, and I became obsessed.
Disgustingly so. And I wasn’t nice about it, but fuck, Peris.
You were so good for everyone but me. How could I not fall for that?
“But…” I swallow and clench my teeth. “I think I’ve been in love with you since the moment you let me see you after your nightmare and you didn’t push me away.
You were terrified—I was, too—but we were in it together, and I just…
I felt you. Deep in my fucking bones and I’ve never felt someone so viscerally.
“I knew then that I needed you forever. I wouldn’t—couldn’t—give you up.”
The silence is sharp.
“But you did,” he croaks after a moment, voice thick with what sounds like tears, and I try to ignore that as I continue on before I lose my nerve.
“I did. Because I’m fucking selfish, and I didn’t want to get hurt anymore.
Adam was going to hurt me. I could see it in his eyes every time he looked at me, and I decided to take my life into my own hands for the first time and leave before it happened.
I never would’ve had the courage to do that before meeting you or your mom.
I know it’s fucked up, but you did save me, in a way. Just not the way you hoped to.”
“Fuck, Abel,” Peris gasps, and then, his arms are wrapped around me so tight, I can’t fucking breathe. I gasp as the air leaves my lungs, and then, all that exists is PerisPerisPeris as he wraps himself around me, and I drown in him.
I’m not sure how much time passes as we hold one another, but I’ve never felt so good—and so light—in my life. I can breathe for the first time in years, and it’s with Peris’s arms wrapped around me, holding me, loving me, that I can.
It’s incredible.
“Baby boy,” I murmur against his chest—just because I can.
“Runt,” he says back, lips pressed against the top of my head.
“I’m gonna say something, and I want you to promise not to freak out or anything.”
Peris pulls away, thick, dark brows pulled together and forming a deep wrinkle in the center. “What?” he demands.
I pull out of his arms and force myself to sit up to clear my head. I need his touch and his scent away from my face and my hands for a few minutes.
“What’s going on, Abel? Why do you look so pale?”
“I’m always fucking pale,” I snap, rolling my eyes as I drag my hand through my disheveled hair.
“True, but you look like you’re about to throw up.”
“I feel it.”
“Just spit it out!” Peris snaps, growing impatient.
“Fine! I haven’t worked for the last week.
I decided I’m done. I can figure the rest out when I need to.
And when I did see a client a week ago, it was just a phone call.
Also, my clients knew me as Oliver,” I blurt in a rush.
“It was an impulsive decision I made years ago that I couldn’t take back, and I’m sorry.
I know it’s kind of fucked up.” I don’t look up at Peris.
My face is hot with shame, and I know he’s going to be pissed, but that’s about the last of the confessions from me, so hopefully, it doesn’t scare him off.
“Oliver, huh?” he huffs, and I lift my head to find him smirking at me, but when our eyes meet, his narrow into a glare. I swallow and curl my lips inward.
Peris reaches out to trail his fingers down the side of my neck, over the edge of my necklace, and down over the collar of my sweatshirt.
My breath hitches when he places his palm flat against my chest to feel my racing heart.
When our eyes meet and he pushes me flat onto my back and climbs over me, settling between my spread legs, my lips drop open into a pathetically loud pant.
“What am I going to do with you, runt?” he asks as he leans down to whisper the words against my lips, and I shiver.
“Whatever you want, I guess. Because I’m yours,” I add after only second-guessing myself for a moment, and Peris growls before his mouth slams down onto mine. I gasp as I succumb to his attack, relishing in the heat as he takes me apart at the seams because I am his for the taking.
Now, forever, and always.
His runt. His puppy.