Chapter 40
Vincent da Silva
We were both lying on our stomachs on the bed, facing one another in the dark. The house quiet, I could hear our breaths as we stared at one another in silence. My pulse quickening, my insides were jittery with anxiety as I whispered, “Is this weird?”
“What?”
“Me, you, here, together.”
One side of his mouth briefly tugged in a smile. “You’d think it would be, right? I don’t think so, though. I dunno, it was all too easy.”
“You know.” A small chuckle pushed through my nose. “Every time something happened to stop us from being together, I kept thinking that was a sign.”
“Of what?”
“That we weren’t supposed to be together.”
The smile fell, his sight moving around my face. “I don’t believe in signs.”
We fell quiet again for a few moments.
“Tonight was so…”
“Awesome,” he said with a smile.
I chuckled again. “Yeah, awesome. Fixing dinner, sitting down with Piera, talking about her schoolwork. She actually likes it here, Dash.”
“Of course, she does. She’s always liked it here.”
“Visiting. This is totally different, man. This is her home now. She ain’t never known any home but yours.”
A long sigh pushed across the pillows to tickle the side of my wrist. “Yeah, well, there ain’t no gooey, handless ghost roaming around here.”
A second time, we laid there, just staring at one another with slight grins. Everything prickling, my pinky stretched out to graze the side of his hand. His smile widened, his poking out to reach mine. My focus shifting to our hands and arms, my brows furrowed and my insides turned over.
“Holy shit.”
“What?”
“Look.”
I lifted to my elbow and scooted closer so our forearms were lined together. In this position, our serpent tattoos matched perfectly, as if the two were purposely designed to look like the body coiled around both arms.
“Holy shit, that’s fucking rad.”
I slid my palm over the top of his knuckles, finishing the snake with the head on my hand. “Now that is freaky.”
“That,” he said, lying down. “Is a sign.”
I slid back to the sheet, my other arm tucking beneath the pillow. “I thought you said you didn’t believe in signs.”
“Only when they’re right ones.”
“And this one’s right?”
He crawled closer, his arm curling across my back. Resting his cheek on my forearm, he whispered even lower. “I’m here, ain’t I?”
Adrenaline rushed my blood, my heart pumping faster. “Yes, you are.”
“Then this is right.”
Grinning, I carefully pulled my arm from beneath his head to drape it over his back, scooting the last couple inches closer. Our noses now touching, both our heads on the same pillow, I breathed, “I think you’re right.”
“I’m always right,” he teased.
“I like this, Dash. I…really like this.”
His smile faltered a bit, his fingers gently swiping up and down the dip of my spine. “Yeah, me, too.”
“I’m gonna be good for you, I promise.”
It spread a little wider. “You always have been.”
“I mean it, I ain’t never gonna do nothing to make you regret taking this stand with me.”
Craning his neck, he dropped a tiny kiss to my lips. “Ain’t never doubted you before, no reason to start now.”
The quietness was back, coating us in a blanket of comfort.
For several minutes, neither of us moved as we continued to gaze at one another until he eventually drifted to sleep.
His eyelashes fluttered and his breaths shallowed into a steady rhythm.
Every now and then, a soft snore would catch his throat, small breaths pushing past slightly parted lips.
A heaviness sank my chest, pushing my heart to my throat with anxiety.
Never, in my life, had I had so goddamn much to lose, and it was terrifying to think one blink of an eye could rip this all away.
What if I put all my hopes and dreams into this one man and he flaked out on me, treating me just like Billy?
I barely survived losing him, I’d not make it back if I lost Dash.
Tightening my hold, I stretched my neck so my lips were against his. Not closing my eyelids, I breathed into his mouth, “I love you, Dario. Love me back.”
Closing my eyes, I released the breath from my lungs and quickly slipped into slumber, my leg tucking between his to mesh our bodies together. This was how I wanted to fall asleep every night until I took that final rest. Hopefully, Dash would keep his promise and go with me wherever I went.