Chapter 10 Enzo #3
Seven sighed, his warm palms settling on Enzo’s cheeks. “What happened to eye contact?”
Enzo forced himself to meet his gaze, steady and unflinching. “Better?”
“Mm,” Seven said, catching his swollen bottom lip between his pretty white teeth while he searched Enzo’s face, like the answers were written there in invisible ink. “Did you mean it?” he asked before tacking on, “I want the truth.”
“Yes,” Enzo admitted, feeling a little like he’d just carved out his heart and offered it to Seven on a silver platter.
It would serve him right if he stomped on it and gave it back. Seven continued to study him, his eyes crinkled, like he was trying to solve some kind of complex math equation. “Since when?”
“Since the day we met, probably,” Enzo said, the words thick, his throat trying to close around the truth.
He sucked at this. He sucked at being vulnerable.
“You tried to make me your contractually obligated dick appointment,” Seven mused. “That doesn’t sound like true love to me.”
“I was trying to keep you with me in the only way my fucked-up brain would allow at the time,” Enzo explained. “Or maybe I was trying to secretly sabotage myself.”
Seven’s thumbs began to stroke over Enzo’s cheeks soothingly.
He closed his eyes, trying to calm his nerves, before opening them again. “The truth is, I haven’t been able to get you out of my head since the moment I laid eyes on you, and it seems like every single person we know knew it but me.”
“Not every person,” Seven countered. “I was pretty clueless about your feelings.”
“I’m still kinda clueless about yours,” Enzo muttered. “In case you felt like sharing with the class?”
A flush crept up Seven’s neck, spreading all the way to the tips of his ears. “I thought it was pretty obvious.”
Enzo scoffed. “Obvious to who?”
Seven gave him a rueful smile. “Everyone but you, apparently.”
“Are you saying you…love me?” Enzo asked, clearly fishing for the words.
“That depends,” Seven countered stubbornly. “Are you saying you love me?”
Enzo gave him an incredulous look. “I said I wanted to marry you. Was that not clear enough?”
Seven shrugged, feigning disinterest. “People marry for lots of reasons,” he said breezily.
Enzo sat up on his knees, pulling Seven into a sitting position. “Promise it’s not gonna freak you out if I say it?”
“Yes. No,” Seven said. “I don’t know. Fuck.”
Enzo nodded. “It’s weird, right?”
Seven nodded back. “Yeah. Like, it shouldn’t be. It’s not a lie, but like…part of me feels like if we say it out loud, our mothers will repel down from the rafters with all the things necessary for a pop-up wedding and that’ll be the end of it.”
Enzo laughed, but couldn’t stop himself from glancing up nervously at the decorative wood beams across his ceiling.
“Okay, then how about this. Instead of saying that ‘L’ word phrase, I will say…” Enzo racked his brain, finally settling on, “I’d like to formally propose a merger of our hearts and lives, pending a comprehensive review period as long-term projections look promising. ”
Seven bit his lip to keep from laughing, then schooled his features into a serious expression, his voice deepening.
“In the matter of you versus my better judgment, I rule in favor of the use of the word ‘boyfriend’ with the intent to escalate to fiancé at a later date that is mutually beneficial to both parties…and both parties’ meddling mothers. ”
Enzo laughed, his heart feeling incredibly weightless. “They’re going to go absolutely feral when we do finally decide to announce our engagement.”
“You say that like it’s inevitable,” Seven said.
“We feel pretty inevitable,” Enzo admitted. “But we don’t have to rush into anything. Though, after eight months, it’d be really fucking cool if you let me in your pants again.”
Seven snorted. “How romantic.” After a minute, he added, “Though, I guess I should do more than one test drive before I take you home forever.”
“Now who’s the romantic?” Enzo teased.
“What if the first time together was a fluke?” Seven said with a smile. “What if we have terrible chemistry in bed?”
“That’s impossible. I’m amazing in bed,” Enzo countered around a laugh.
Enzo tackled him onto the mattress as Seven said, “And humble, too.”
Enzo kept himself dead weight, and Seven sighed contentedly. For a while, the two just laid there, absorbing each other’s warmth, Seven’s fingers playing in his hair.
“What if it turns out I’m not into the whips and chains stuff?” Seven asked quietly. “Like, what if we try it and I hate it?”
Enzo folded his hands on Seven’s sternum, then dropped his chin on them, watching Seven watch him. “I know all evidence points to the contrary, but I don’t need to hurt you to get off. I don’t even want to hurt you. I want to make you want to obey me.”
Seven stiffened. “I’ll never be obedient.”
“I’d be disappointed if you were,” Enzo said.
“The reason I only played with ‘well-trained subs’ was because they were easy to forget. I prefer mouthy, pushy, bossy little brats who are just dying to be put in their place. I want you to fight me. I want to punish you. I want to spank you until you cry, but only if that’s what we both want.
We didn’t do any of that stuff that night and it was the best sex I’ve ever had. Because it was you.”
“Really?” Seven asked, a little breathless.
“The day we met, I jerked off three times just thinking about your bratty little attitude and the way your eyes went all hazy when I put you in your place. I knew you were dangerous from the jump. Maybe that’s why I started throwing down barriers right away. You were too perfect.”
Seven made a noise of derision. “Yeah, that’s me. Totally perfect.”
Enzo frowned, lifting his head to look at Seven. “Don’t say it like that. You’re pretty fucking perfect.”
Seven’s face became a storm cloud, his tone bitter. “Not according to my father. He thinks I’m the biggest mistake he ever made.”
Enzo hurt for him. “That’s mighty bold of him considering just how many mistakes that loser’s made.
Your dad is a narcissist. When he doesn’t get what he wants from people, he lashes out.
You don’t cower. You don’t cater to him.
He hates that because deep down he knows he’s the mistake and the world would probably be a nicer place without him. ”
“Yeah,” Seven mumbled.
Enzo kissed the top of his head. “Near as I can tell, the only good thing to come from that man is you. But I’m gonna give Neith all the credit for that.”
He rolled onto his side and took Seven with him, tucking him beneath his chin. This conversation was going everywhere, but maybe it took something big to jog loose all the things that usually went unsaid.
“You act like you know him,” Seven mused.
“I do know him,” Enzo said. “I told you that the day we met.”
Seven groaned long and low. “Please tell me your firm doesn’t represent him.”
Enzo snorted. “If we did, he wouldn’t be sitting in prison…again. Though, it is sort of impressive how he’s never been charged with murder.”
“Neither have I,” Seven reminded him.
Enzo moved back enough to uncover Seven’s face. “Sometimes, I forget that my pouty little brat is a killer,” he teased.
Seven schooled his features into one of mock seriousness, dropping his voice to say, “This is the face of a killer, Bella.”
Enzo slow-blinked, struggling to process what just happened. “Did you—Did you just quote Twilight to me?” he asked, shaking his head like a disappointed dad.
“Don’t judge me,” Seven shot back. “If you’re so disgusted, how did you even know it was a Twilight quote in the first place?”
Enzo froze, his pulse skyrocketing to the moon as his brain raced to find an answer Seven might believe. “The…triplets made me watch it with them.”
Seven stared at him, disappointment radiating from him. “Wow, I can’t believe you’re going to blame your teen girl movie obsession on your sisters.”
“My—My what?” Enzo stammered, his hand gravitating towards his chest, like he was reaching for his imaginary pearls.
Seven’s expression grew smug. “You heard me.”
“I don’t have a…a…teen girl movie obsession. What does that even mean?” Enzo lied. “You make me sound like a pervert or something.”
“Oh, my God,” Seven crowed. “Your face is so red right now. Are you okay? Do you need your blood pressure pills or something, Daddy?”
“Are you calling me old, you little brat?” Enzo asked, digging his fingers into Seven’s ribs until he dissolved into peals of laughter.
“Let me go. Let me go,” he gasped between giggles. “I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
Enzo finally released him, letting him catch his breath, but pointed at him to let him know the fight wasn’t over, just paused.
“Vince totally ratted you out,” Seven said, once he was no longer gasping for air.
“What?” Enzo asked, even though he’d heard him perfectly fine.
“Vince said you’re obsessed with teen movies. Twilight, Mean Girls, Clueless, Can’t Hardly Wait, The DUFF. What’s that about? He promised me it wasn’t about the girls.”
“The girls?” Enzo echoed, his eyes going wide when he caught on, face twisting in disgust. “Ew, no. I just…high school sucked for me. Actually, all school sucked for me, but especially high school. I just like watching movies where the underdog actually wins. Sue me.”
“Why? What do you mean?” Seven asked. “There’s no way you were a bad student. Mama would have murdered you. Did they bully you for being a hot nerd?”
“Well, you’re half right,” Enzo muttered. “The truth is far more embarrassing than that.” When Seven continued to look at him expectantly, Enzo said, “Vince really didn’t tell you? He didn’t show you?”
Seven shook his head. “Was it something serious? Show me what?”
Enzo groaned, then hid his face in Seven’s neck, even though it required contorting himself into an uncomfortable position to do so.
“Is it really that bad?” Seven asked.
“Yes,” Enzo cried, his dramatics dragging another laugh from Seven.
Seven combed his fingers through Enzo’s hair, blunt nails scratching at the nape of his neck. “You don’t have to tell me.”
Enzo groaned. “It’s more of a show thing.”
“You don’t have to show me either if you don’t want to,” Seven said.
Enzo rolled back, then sighed, reaching for his phone. “Just promise me you won’t run away.”
“Jesus, what could possibly be that bad?” Seven asked, looking completely bewildered. “Did you have a hump? A third nipple? Is that what all those tattoos are hiding?”
Enzo went to his mother’s Facebook page, then searched by date, grimacing when he found what he was looking for.
He threw the phone in Seven’s general direction, then covered his face.
When Seven stayed silent for too long, he peeked between his fingers.
Seven was staring at him with that flat expression he reserved for when he thought Enzo was being extra.
“What is it that I’m supposed to be looking at right now, exactly?”