Chapter 18
Chapter eighteen
They came in second place; the sports round had tanked them. How had these five regulars at trivia night not filled that gap in their knowledge?
The consolation prize was a round of beers. Baz declined his. He had more than enough alcohol swishing through this system. His future self would thank him for switching to water now.
Suddenly, every table and bench that wasn’t bolted down got cleared away.
The previously faint background music blasted out of the speakers.
People cheered and whooped. The first groups migrated to the newly created dance floor, including Kaina who declared “this is the fun part!” as she dragged Zahra to the center.
Baz’s mouth grew bone dry. He hadn’t realized a game night would morph into… this. One after the other, he pressed the tops of his fingertips into his thumb, fought the restless buzzing inside of him screaming, danger, get out.
Two fingers stroked along his jaw. Sami indicated toward the door with his head. Oh, thank god. Baz nodded.
“Okay.” Sami offered a soft smile before he shimmied out of the booth and pulled Naija into a hug. “We’re gonna call it a night.”
“All right, baby,” she sighed, her chin resting on Sami’s shoulder with her eyes closed.
“Have fun. Text me when you get home.”
“Will do. You two enjoy yourselves. Be safe.”
The others, apparently alerted by the hug, returned too, hugging Sami goodbye. Baz offered a quick wave instead. The thought of touching anyone but Sami right now was painful.
Innuendo-rich wishes for a good night followed them outside. A rat scurried away into an alleyway. With every breath of cool air, Baz’s heart rate settled down; the alarm bells faded out. The silence rang in his ears, a peace even the smell of piss couldn’t diminish.
“Better?” Sami asked, rubbing his palms together.
“Hm?”
“You looked overstimulated. Had that glassy look in your eyes.”
He could tell that?
Was that the only reason he wanted to go?
“You didn’t have to leave for me.”
“I’m not gonna risk you being asleep by the time I get to your place.”
Sami’s goosebumped arm slithered under Baz’s trench coat.
Peeling out of it without pushing Sami away was quite the act, but Baz managed and placed it around Sami’s shoulders, securing it in place with his arm around them.
After all Sami had done for him recently, warming him was a privilege.
Even if he was an idiot for having gone out without a jacket in sixty-degree weather in the first place.
“Nice of you to invite yourself to my place yet again.” The tease fell flat to his own ears, too loaded with the truth to take flight.
“You’re too loud to take to mine. The walls are pretty thin. Naija would make fun of us for days.”
Baz had more composure when he had to be quiet, but he wouldn’t argue with the end result. Instead, he said, “Your friends seem great.”
“They are.”
“What do they want with you?”
“That’s the best insult you got? Weak. You’re losing your game, Hadley.”
Yeah. Except Baz wasn’t interested in insulting Sami tonight. He had a much better idea.
He halted on the sidewalk, twirled Sami against his chest, and kissed him. Sami melted into him. His nails left hot trails on Baz’s neck that chased a shudder down his spine.
A drop of water hit Baz’s forehead. He was too busy kissing Sami to care, even when the wind launched its attack to throw them off-balance. He simply held Sami tighter.
“Thank you. For being there,” Baz muttered.
“Anytime, hayati…”
Baz blinked. “What?”
“Uh.” Sami’s eyes darted to the floor. His cheeks turned adorably pink. “It’s Arabic for pain in my ass.”
How was being bilingual something to be embarrassed about? Passing Spanish in high school had been luck rather than skill, and Baz had dropped it as soon as he could to salvage his GPA.
“You speak Arabic?”
“Not all that great anymore. I understand a lot, but I’ve fallen out of practice speaking it since my teta—my grandmother—died. My mom tries to get me back into it, but, you know.”
Even so, that was still a hell of a lot more Arabic than Baz spoke. “That’s hot.”
A toothy grin spread on Sami’s face. “Yeah?”
“Say it again.”
“Hayati.” His cheeks were as red as a rose. Stunning.
“Hayati,” Baz echoed, tried the word on for size. “So, could I call you that?”
Sami’s eyes turned impossibly round, shining so bright, they made the thick raindrops shimmer like crystals. “Only if you mean it.”
“My hayati.” Yeah, he liked the way that felt in his mouth.
Sami grabbed his face and pulled him down, claiming his lips in a hard kiss that made the rain evaporate around them and Baz’s dick twitch.
They needed to get home, now, before he did something stupid like following that rat into the filthy alley.
Sami deserved so much better than being fucked against a rusty fence.
The seven blocks to his apartment felt like twenty with the rain drenching them. When they finally got home, Baz stripped off his soaking-wet suit jacket and shirt, and put them on the hanger behind the door to be dealt with tomorrow.
If Sami was trying to be subtle in checking him out, he was failing miserably. Baz squared his shoulders to offer the best view.
“Would you like another drink?”
“No, thank you.”
Sami came closer and slithered his hand along the waistband of Baz’s pants. Icy fingers teased underneath the fabric. He tilted his chin up. How could Baz say no to such a stunning invitation?
He leaned in slowly, taking a moment to appreciate the remains of the oakmoss and lime scent clinging to Sami. The sweet taste of rain lingered on Sami’s lips. Baz licked it up, gliding his hands to Sami’s ass.
“Oh, wait!” Sami pulled back. “I don’t want to hear you whine about getting glitter all over your bed. We need some baby oil.” His hands vanished, he moved toward the bathroom—Baz caught him around his waist and wrapped him up in his arms.
“Or. I have a bathtub big enough for two. If you’re interested.” He pressed a kiss on Sami’s pulse, another just above his shoulder.
“Love to,” Sami said hoarsely. Wonderful.
A few minutes later, they were soaking in the warm water, chest to chest while the rain whipped against the window outside. Only the warm light built into his bathroom mirror illuminated the space. It was so… dare he call it romantic?
He didn’t know what had come over him to suggest this. He had never done this before, never wanted to explore the intimacy of it with anyone, but everything was different with Sami. Holding him now, feeling him nuzzling into Baz’s neck, it was the most at peace Baz had ever felt.
The water sloshed as Sami pulled away to kneel between Baz’s thighs. He massaged baby oil over what had since turned into a glittery blob. The movement chased away the bubbles, revealing the beautiful sight of his submerged naked body. His tongue peeked out between his lips.
“You’re stealing my heart,” Baz joked, running his fingers down Sami’s side, along the dips of his rib cage and rolls of his stomach. Shame he wasn’t ticklish.
“They call me the reverse Wizard of Oz.”
“Your jokes are awful.”
“You love it.”
Baz kind of did. He shook his hand free from the sparkling foam to stroke some glitter off Sami’s cheek, pulling him closer to first press a kiss on his forehead, and then onto his slightly parted lips.
Sami’s moan sent warm tingles down to his toes. Baz could spend eternity like this and never get bored.
“Sami…”
“I like how you say my name.”
God. Baz had to kiss him again for that, albeit briefly.
“Do you really not believe in love?”
He didn’t know where that question came from, only that getting an answer was the most important thing in the world right now.
Sami’s eyes widened. “Do you?”
“Yeah. I’ve seen it with my sister and her husband. So I know how rare it is.”
“That’s just it.” Sami watched his fingers slither between Baz’s; five puzzle pieces that had found their perfect match. “Most people don’t get so lucky. They only set themselves up for heartbreak.”
Spoken like a man with experience.
“Did you have a bad breakup?”
“No. I’ve never cared enough about anyone for a breakup to get nasty.”
“I get that. I’ve never cared enough about someone to have something I needed to break up in the first place.”
“Exactly. And I have love. I have Naija, the gang, my parents. And…” Their eyes met. “You know.”
Baz’s breath hitched at the back of his throat.
Did he know? What he dared to hope Sami meant couldn’t possibly be real.
There was no room in their purely physical relationship for anything romantic—yes, he heard the irony of telling himself that while sharing a bubble bath at the end of an emotionally challenging day.
So what if he was wrong? About Sami, about the nature of their relationship. About love.
Will I still see you when the case is over? It sat on the tip of his tongue, but then, Sami kissed him again, and Baz begged the thoughts of ‘if’ to grant him a break. To acknowledge the fragility of their situation was to risk it bleeding away.
The bathtub grew too small to contain the heat building between them. He took his time toweling Sami dry enough not to soak the sheets.
“My turn. I’ll take care of you.” Sami pushed him onto the bed. Baz sat against the headboard and welcomed him onto his lap.
Baz cranked up his head to steal a kiss Sami willingly gave, licking over Baz’s lips so ridiculously sensually that a laugh escaped Baz.
Sami ate it out of his mouth before he helped himself to the new bottle of lube.
His slicked-up his fingers disappeared behind his back.
“I got tested the other day. I’m clean. Are you… ?”
“Yeah,” Baz said breathily. He took his checkups seriously, and he hadn’t been with anyone but Sami in months.
“So can I…?” He stroked Baz’s bare dick.
“God, yes.”
Sami smiled. He squirted more lube into his hand, spread it generously all over Baz’s dick with the hint of a massage. And then, he got into position. Baz ran his hands down the curve of Sami’s spine and spread his ass.
Sami sank down on him. Baz threw his head back, clawed into his skin with a moan that made him glad for his lack of roommates.
Sami’s face was never more than an inch away; resisting kissing him was an insurmountable challenge, even for Baz. Being blanketed by Sami, hearing the quiet gasps and moans, getting lost in the familiar dance of their lips was too good to hold anything back.
There was no explosive relief, no moment of regretful clarity over the animalistic impulses that had overcome him. No, the orgasm rolled over him gently, filled his whole body with delicious relief. It lasted forever until it ebbed down. Even then, Sami stayed in his embrace.
Baz trailed his lips up Sami’s neck, who hummed and tilted his head to the side.
When goosebumps spread on Sami’s arms, Baz cleaned the two of them up and maneuvered them under the blanket. Sami’s arms wrapped around him with a naturalness Baz might never get enough of.
“How are you feeling?” Sami whispered.
Baz kissed his forehead. “I feel great. You’re amazing.”
Sami lifted his head, smiling. “I meant about earlier.”
It took Baz several seconds to realize he was referring to Jack’s visit. It should have doomed Baz’s day to pain and drama, yet here he was, relishing the bliss of Sami’s company.
“Formidable orgasms really help coping with family trauma.” He kissed Sami’s forehead again. He simply couldn’t stop.
Sami pushed himself onto his elbow. “Baz… Why did seeing your dad upset you so much?”
And there went the peace. Baz sighed out a slow breath. He didn’t want to talk about it, didn’t want to think about Jack when being alive felt so good for once. But Sami’s gaze was so sincere, so attentive, so much like he cared…
“He killed my mom.”