Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
ROME
I’ve worked hard for the next date, put far more effort into it than I normally would. But then again, I want a good grade. And more importantly, I want him to be happy.
I want him to be proud of me and the efforts I’ve made.
I might have gone overboard, though my friends and the internet said a street fair is a great place for a third date. But maybe bringing him a flower is overkill, even if it was something I snagged last minute from the grocery store floral department.
‘A daisy?’ Dex asks, his cheeks slightly pink as I stand outside his door. He snuck out and shut it behind him. Not sure why, but I’m too embarrassed right now to ask.
‘For me?’
I force myself not to scowl as I shove it against his chest. ‘Yes. Accept now.’ Then, to soften it a little, I add a ‘please’ in there as well.
His fingers curl around the stem, and he brings it to his nose. ‘Thank you. Never got a flower before.’
I roll my lips between my teeth to keep my eyes from doing so.
‘Let me put it in water. Come in.’ He reaches out for the door and then peers back at me. ‘I have a secret.’
My eyes widen slightly.
‘I got a cat. Just be careful. He’s not nice.’
I frown at that as we sneak in the door. I recognize the cat that’s perched on the back of the couch, one eye blinking over at me. I swear it scowls when I enter the apartment, and it probably even hisses under its breath.
‘You adopted Dennis?’
Dex shakes his head. ‘I didn’t mean to.’
‘What do you mean? How can you not mean to adopt a cat?’
He moves toward the kitchen and grabs a vase, filling it with water and placing the lone flower inside it. He looks at it for a moment, his gaze softening before he meets my stare.
‘I went to the cat café to ask questions about getting a kitten. Milo. Remember him?” He describes him, but he really doesn’t need to. I remember him just fine. ‘He put Dennis in a carrier and shoved him at me. And here we are.’
‘You have a cat now?’
‘I have a cat.’
‘You can’t give it back?’
‘No. Milo would probably murder me.’ He rubs the back of his neck, looking almost sheepish. “I mean that literally. I think he really would murder me.”
‘Okay, well.’ I eye the cat, and he reaches out a paw. He doesn’t move from where he’s loafing, but it looks like he’s trying to swipe at me.
‘I think he likes you,’ Dex interrupts, and I let out a small laugh.
‘I think you’re delusional. I think that cat wants to kill me.’
‘I think it wants to kill me too. It watches me at night.’
‘Probably wants you to die so it can eat you.’
Dex lets out a groan, or I assume he does. His entire body lists forward, and his mouth opens prettily.
My cock stirs between my legs as I move toward him.
‘Come on. Let’s leave the murder cat here and go on our date.’
He places his head on my shoulder, and I can’t help but run my hand through his hair, arching his face up to mine and letting my mouth hover over his. His pupils are dilated, and I can feel the steady puffs of breath against my lips.
‘Kiss?’ I ask, and he doesn’t even respond with words, just leans over and brushes his lips against mine.
It turns heavy quickly, and before I know it, I’m up against the door, Dex’s hips grinding against mine. My cock is hard, and I want nothing more than to watch him sink to his knees and get me off, but before any of that can happen, something bites my ankles.
I jump slightly, and Dex pulls away, his lips pink and swollen from my teeth.
‘Cat,’ I tell him, glowering at Dennis, who shows me his butthole as he saunters away.
Dex watches Dennis as he hops onto the counter and eyes the vase and then turns his gaze back to mine. ‘I think he doesn’t want to see us fuck.’
‘Yeah.’
‘He’s a boner killer.’
‘I told you. Murder cat.’
Dex lets out a laugh and then kisses me gently. ‘Date. Now.’
I tuck my cock under the waistband of my pants and follow him out the door. He’s right. Date first and hopefully fucking later.
Without Dennis around.
‘This is so cool. I saw the flyer for this, but have never been!’ Dex says, his hands happy, his eyes bright. He glances around the street fair, almost looking a little overwhelmed. ‘I don’t know where to start.’
I peer over at him, and my hand links with his. He glances down at it and then brings his gaze up to mine. I can see the way his face softens, and it makes my heart thrum in response.
‘Come on,’ I tell him. ‘Let’s start at one end and make our way to the other. There are a lot of Deaf vendors here too.’
‘So cool,’ he replies, his eyes swiveling this way and that. ‘I hope you don’t mind carrying stuff back to the car because I’m going shopping.’
I blink at him. I had no idea he was such a slut for street fairs, but it seems I scored big points on this one.
‘Good grade?’ I ask, and he waggles his eyebrows at me.
‘A+, so far.’ I roll my eyes, and he grins. ‘Still need to work hard.’
I plan on it, I think as he pulls me forward, bringing me to a stall that has all sorts of leather pieces for sale. Jewelry, vests, even jackets. Dex finds a pair of assless chaps and holds them up to me.
‘Look good?’ he asks, his gaze teasing.
I swat the chaps away, even though I wouldn’t mind wearing them for him. In private. Bent over and lubed up.
I just don’t want everyone else to think that’s what I’m doing with him in the bedroom. They don’t need a front-row seat to my fantasies.
‘This necklace, look-look,’ Dex says, holding a thick leather strap up to his neck. It looks like a choker, and part of me can imagine him wearing it while he fucks me. He shifts closer to me, his signs getting smaller. ‘Maybe you can wear for me.’
I blush, and his lips curl up in a wicked grin.
Fucker, I think as he brings it to the register and buys it with a tap of his card. He tucks it into his pocket and then drags me to the next stall.
‘I’ll be back for those pants too, just so you know. I want you to wear.’
‘You want me to wear a cowboy hat too?’ I ask, my words snarky.
He winks at me. ‘Yes, that and pants and nothing else.’
My cock chubs up at the thought, and I force my mind elsewhere so I don’t get a boner in the middle of this crowd of people.
‘Look-look!’ Dex hauls me forward toward a stall with a bunch of crocheted items. Of course, he finds the most ridiculous one out of all of them.
‘For dick,’ he says, holding up a small rainbow-colored penis pouch.
I sigh and swat it away.
‘I think you need to have big dick for this.’ His eyes swivel down to my crotch, and I grunt in annoyance. ‘Maybe find smaller one.’
I jerk him forward, and he comes with a vibration in his chest. He’s laughing, I think as I bite down on his ear and whisper something into it, using my voice just for him and no one else. “You know my dick is big.”
When Dex pulls back, he’s flushed, and his lips part in a pant. ‘I know,’ he finally says, his fingers trembling. ‘I like your voice.’
I make a mental note to use it more often. Not too much, so he gets used to it. But maybe I’ll turn it on to beg.
Maybe I’ll let him hear it when he’s deep inside of me.
Thankfully, he puts the penis pocket away and instead settles on a cute knit hat, and he buys me one too.
‘Matching,’ he tells me as we walk out of the store. ‘Like boyfriends.’
I stumble slightly as Dex pulls me from the store. The bag is in my free hand, but I move it around my wrist as he turns to grin at me.
‘Kidding.’ That sign is like a stab to the heart, shocking because I didn’t know how much that would hurt. ‘Come on, so much more to see.’
As he drags me from stall to stall, my mind continues to turn back to that word.
Boyfriends. Would he even want that? I need to ask him, but probably not here.
And definitely not now. Not when everyone can see what we’re saying.
There are some hearing vendors here that don’t sign, but there are plenty that do.
And I know the ones that can see what we’re saying and can understand will be nosy bitches.
Next thing you know, everything we did will spread around town like wildfire.
I’d rather keep an important discussion like that private. Just like the leather necklace and the assless chaps.
‘Caskets! So weird. I wanna see.’ Dex interrupts my thoughts, his hand flapping toward a creepy death tent.
Why the fuck is this funeral home here selling caskets and urns at a street fair? This is so fucking odd and not a place I want to go on my date.
‘Why do you need to look at caskets? You’re not dead,’ I tell him.
Dex considers it for a moment, rolling his lips between his teeth. ‘May be dead soon with Dennis. Come on. These look so nice.’
As we walk into the large, black tent, I see a familiar pale man looming in the corner, talking to one of the cat café dudes. Archie, I think. When he turns and I see the scar on his face, I realize I’m correct. It is the guy who greeted us at the welcome desk during our café date.
‘Why do you think he’s here?’ Dex asks me, his signs small and slightly hidden.
‘My question is, why are we here?’
He rolls his eyes like it’s obvious. ‘I want to look at coffins and urns.’
The man speaking with Archie turns and signs for us to wait and then goes back to speaking and signing with Archie.
‘I wonder if he’s a vampire,’ Dex says, and I turn toward him.
‘You high? You eat one of Robbie’s gummies?’
Dex lets out a loud laugh that has both Archie and the coffin salesman turning toward us.
‘Laughing forbidden. Death is never funny,’ the man signs, clearly Deaf. Dex swallows roughly.
‘You’re right. Sorry. I’m so rude.’
Archie stares at us, his head cocked slightly, watching us intently. ‘Death is rude,’ Archie finally says and then motions to the salesman. ‘You can help them. I need to look for something comfortable. Cozy.’
Dex’s eyes widen, his hand tightening around mine as the balding man approaches us.
‘How can I help you? Have you recently experienced a loss? Or are you here for something more…personal.’
Dex’s hand hasn’t loosened up, his eyes slightly wide.