Chapter 43 II🌜 Involuntary Cuddles
Zane's POV
"Hey," I pull my deluged final layer up my head to remove it, before I hear William's too quiet to be spoken approach.
"Bey," I struggle to pull up the fabric-which seems to be liking me way too much to leave me-as it sticks to me tight.
He leaves me hanging-well quite literally-in silence. I beat that shirt's ass at last. The filthy fabric twisting in my hands, wringing some rain water out of it.
Thwack-thump!
My knuckles turn white as the heavy droplets hit the ground. "Well hello, I know I am hot," I give the cloth a flick. "...But not so much that you can't even pull your eyes off of me." I complete my sentence when William doesn't show any sign to say whatever he was here for.
"Do you always have to be naked?" He grinds his teeth, eyes glowering on the ashy grey ground beneath.
"And do you always have to be grumpy, gattino?
" I flick it again, this time closer to him.
His eyes hunt me down, but that's not what I am focused on.
His whole face is blooming like a tulip, especially the cheeks.
Not long before he swiftly looks down. "Oh c'mon, I am not even naked.
The pants are still there." I take a step forward.
"Or is that you don't want them to be there? " My voice drops an octave.
"What the-" If earlier it was a tulip, now I would call it a lava red tint on his face. The voice is way louder without the rain around us.
I raise both of my hands up. "Just kidding! Geez, lighten up a little. You are way too short for this much pissyness to fit inside."
"You asswipe! Don't comment on my height!" He cuffs my shoulder with a sharp inhale of his nose. Not much damage, just fast and noisy.
"How can I not? I mean you are shorter than a piece of grain, you know?" I poke him a bit more with a dazzling smirk.
"Enough!" This blow is a bit harsher. Nothing I haven't taken before, though.
Looks like I messed up.
Again.
Jesus. Why can't I just not keep my mouth shut? "I am so-"
"If you wanna joke, at least be accurate!" He keeps his face straight, giving me chills. "It's around an MM candy." He says with full conviction. Now it's his lips twisting into a smirk, opposite of my dumbfounded, parted ones.
"So you can take a joke, hmm?" God... it would be hard to not like this one. Because how can one not fall for the deadly trap designed impervious to your every mental defense?
"Joke? Calling that one would be a stretch, don't you think?"
"Cocky." I remark.
"Just spilling the truth." If this man had a ponytail, this would be the cue to flip it.
"Anyway, are you done? Because I need to change too, you musclefreak!" His head turns back to the ground.
"You need to change too? Why? Don't you have your own camp to do that stuff in?" I muse.
"Ugh!" He looks up to roll his eyes on me and then rapidly back down. "As you know Anna and all invited some other guys too, we are sharing the camps in pairs. Now will you? I'm fucking wet here!"
Lemme suck it dry then.
I pinch some sense into my forearm as I say, "Damn, so we are sharing a camp. Sucks..." It actually doesn't. Not even a little.
"Why aren't you sharing with Ryan, though? Isn't he your bestie or something?" So what if I am a little pissy with that guy? Can't help it.
His face shows something different, "Ryan is sharing the camp with Vance," just for it to go back rapidly.
"Secondly, people have already settled down, this is the only one left.
Anyway, even if they weren't-we can't just blow our "married" act.
How will it look if I am sleeping in another man's camp instead of my 'husband's'? "
"That another man is your best friend, though." I curse the words best and friend.
"He is. But they don't know that." He pushes his glasses up his nose. "Are you done?"
"Well as you can see, the pants are still here."
"Then hurry up." He orders.
My eyes twinkle with mischief, "In front of you? No problem." I start unbuttoning my pants.
"That's not-stop!" I stop toying with the button.
"Scared?"
"Nope. Just disgusted." His nose scrunches up. "Just do it fast." He turns his back on my grinning self.
??
"We have two sleeping bags, so I think we'll be good." William points his finger at one. He has changed into a light hoodie now. Kinda washed out. The overlength sleeves cover almost half of his hands.
"Incorrect," I say in the most robotic voice.
"It would have been comfortable, if it was for a single person sleeping in here.
Now that it's two of us, the space is significantly smaller.
Rain has worsened our situation, because the tent is wet and so is the area around it.
Basically, we can't sleep right next to it. "
"What are you insinuating?" William asks without beating around.
"Unless you are okay to sleep close to a sopping tent.
.." The silence after talks louder than my words, as I examine his face for his reaction.
"We have got three options here. First, we can zip our sleeping bags together.
Drawback: one of us would have to sleep upside down, because they are both 'right zip' models.
Now don't look so impressed about it, it's not even that bad.
It's just an option and there are still two others. "
"I didn't even say anything." He exclaims with a more composed face.
"Your face did." I smirk as he looks dumbfounded, completely unaware how transparent his face is. "Either of us can sleep upside down. And as much as I recall, you prefer to sleep on your stomach, anyway. So it shouldn't matter much."
"You ogle at me while I sleep?" He blankets his arms around himself, clutching on his hoodie as if hiding from a predator.
"Now-now, pause. Okay? I don't 'ogle' you. After sharing a room with you for days now, I learned a thing or two. That's natural and it's called being aware of your surroundings. You should try it sometimes. But wait how will you? Because you are busy snoring like a bull."
"I don't snore." The arms clutching his hoodie cross into a defensive shield around him. "Don't fucking lie, asshole!"
"See... Oblivious." I bow down, like a lawyer proving his point. "That's all, your honour."
"Quite bold of you to pull out a lawyer, when you are probably used to being on the other side of the dock." He waves a hand through his hair.
"Nope. I have my people to handle all that stuff.
Now without deflecting, hear the next one.
" I pick up one of the bags and pull the chain of one.
"We can unzip our bags all the way until they are flat blankets.
We can lay one on the tent floor and sleep on top of it, with the other one covering us like a duvet.
This will give both of us the freedom to move and no need for either of us to sleep upside down and rely on the other. "
Again, William falls deep in the pit of silence. His Adam's apple pops up, "So basically sleeping together?"
"Yeah..." I scratch my left elbow. "Don't worry, if you aren't okay with either of them, then I will just go sleep in the car. Let's test its heater tonight, shall we?"
When he doesn't say anything to that, I turn around to leave. "Where the hell do you think you are going?" He grabs my hand, and I stop. "Rain has started again and I think you have been drenched enough for the night. So unless you wanna take a shower again, keep your ass here."
"Oh so now you're looking at my ass, mm? Can't blame you though, I know it's quite a handful." I wink directly at him.
"Gross." He remarks as his eyes roll into oblivion.
"Mhm, is that what the kids call 'hot' these days?"
"Kids? We are just two years apart, you grandpa!"
"Age is just a number, caro." I ruffle the top of his head, messing his hair. God I knew he would look sexy with those well-fucked hair.
I was right.
He slaps my hand away, "Don't mess with my hair, fucker!" He lifts the front hair, currently falling into damp, chocolate brown bangs, and slicks them back. "I hate when hair covers my forehead. It makes me irritated."
"Noted." Okay so at least it's not just a resistance to me. "Well now that you have stopped me, only two are left. Which way are we sleeping tonight, princess?"
"We are doing option two." He doesn't say more than that, just lifts the other sleeping bag up too. Unzipping it and then dropping it on the ground.
I see him moving side to side as he pulls from here, and then there until there's adequate space for us to call it a night.
He lays down on the makeshift mattress, closing his eyes without any ado.
"Goodnight, gattino." I wish him after I have laid down.
"Night, Zane." His voice rumbles with his ragged words and we fall into the dreamland as the clouds ripple outside with their thundering poems.
??
There's an arm on top of me when I wake up the next morning. My hand lays on the side of his waist as his face is buried on my drool-slicked biceps. I can feel my leg between his, as his lays on top of mine, completing the salad of warmth, he won't like much.
His lips are parted a little bit as a subtle sheen of saliva comes out of them. His long lashes are close enough for me to count and admire the fullness of them.
Even at sleep, he's the most beautiful sight I have ever laid my eyes on.
His hair is falling freely on his head now when there's no one to push them back out of irritation. If he's to believe so, it explains why he wakes up grumpy everyday.
I brush the strands falling on his eyes and nose, which I know definitely piss him off.
Waking him up isn't my intention though, but it happens. His eyes blink open and then widen as he realises the position we are in.
He sits straight up, removing my hold and his leg on mine. "What the fuck did you do?"
"I did? It was your leg on top of mine, and it was you drooling on my biceps."
"I did none of that! You are lying."
I yawn, covering my mouth. "Whatever sails your boat, gattino." I sit up too, but he doesn't meet my eyes. Instead his blushing red face is facing anywhere but me. "Good morning to you too, by the way."
"Good morning." He stands up and rushes outside to greet the sun, perhaps.