Chapter 13
TIAGO
I could hear feet scrambling across the floor as I opened the door, with Aravind right behind me. At least three people had been in the living room, but it was too dark for me to be able to see if they were still there.
“Are we alone?” I murmured as Aravind shut the door behind us.
“I think so, but I’m pretty sure I just saw someone run through a doorway.”
I braced myself for what was to come. “They’re going to be outside. Let’s go out there and make quick introductions, then I can grab my stuff.”
His hand slipped into mine, fingers loose but steady. “Alright. Lead the way.”
He probably would have been better at it than I was, considering I didn’t know this place at all and the lights were all still so dim I couldn’t see anything, but I managed to find my way back through the kitchen and to the sliding door that led outside.
I was able to catch a glimpse of the fire, and I figured the shadows around it were my family. They were all quiet, so I knew they were staring.
“Can you keep me from falling on my face?” I murmured.
Aravind adjusted his stance so I could rest my fingers on his shoulder. “I’ve got you, honey.”
My chest went warm as he made his way down the deck stairs and across the grass. I was barefoot, and it was wet with dew and cool, and I dug my toes into it as we came to a stop a few feet away from the concrete stamp where everyone was sitting.
Someone cleared their throat, but no one said anything.
“Everyone, this is my…ah. My boyfriend.” I tried not to trip over that word, and I could feel the collective tension rising. “Aravind.”
“What kind of name is that?” Peter demanded.
“You don’t have to answer that,” I muttered.
He shifted closer to me. “It’s fine, sweetness. And it’s an Indian name. I get it’s hard for certain types of people to pronounce.”
The silence told me they were all waiting for him to give them an alternative. When he didn’t, my mouth stretched into a smile.
“Anyway, this is my family,” I told him. “I’m actually not sure who’s out here, but probably my mom and dad, my brother Peter, who asked about your name. His wife, Sarah—you met her at the door. And my brother Thierry and his wife, Anne.”
“So, ah…Ara—” That was Peter again.
“Aravind,” he corrected, his tone sharp.
“So how long have you two been a thing?”
Aravind slid a hand down my arm and pressed his palm to mine. “A while. We met at the beginning of the season. I was hired on as a sports reporter to cover this year’s PPHL season.”
Peter laughed. “Really? You’re a sports reporter?”
I slid my arm around him, ready to defend him, but he just snorted. “I am.”
“So you know about hockey?”
“Well, considering my dad was an NHL player when I was a kid and now coaches the Glaciers, yeah. I’d say I know about hockey.” He leaned harder against me. “I didn’t know about para hockey until this year.”
“Weird sport,” Peter muttered.
“I’m sorry. You want to repeat that louder?” Aravind demanded. “And explain what you mean by weird? In detail so I understand you properly?”
“Never mind.”
Fuck, I wanted to kiss him, but I knew tonight was only going to get worse if we stayed. Peter was definitely drinking, and I didn’t want there to be a fight. Though punching someone might have made me feel better.
Especially if it was my brother.
But I also didn’t want to spend the night in the tiny island jail for assault.
“Well, anyway, I just wanted to say goodbye.”
“Goodbye?” My mom cleared her throat. “You two aren’t staying here?”
I almost burst into laughter. “You want me and my boyfriend to share a room with Oliver?”
“Absolutely not,” Anne said quickly. “I mean…it’s…well. You two are…and he’s just…”
“Breathe,” I told her. I picked up Aravind’s hand and kissed the inside of his wrist. His breath came out a little shaky.
I knew I was laying it on thick, but I didn’t care.
“We’re not going to stay here. I didn’t realize he was able to make it, and he surprised me with our own place just up the road. ”
“My family’s coming in next week,” Aravind added. “I haven’t been able to stop talking about how in love I am, and they’ve been begging me to bring Tiago around to meet them.”
My heart thumped in my chest, and my mouth went dry. It was a lie, I reminded myself. A lie, a lie, a lie.
“Is that so?” my mom asked. “They know about him? All about him?”
Aravind let out a soft ha. “Uh, yeah. You think I kept my mouth shut about the literal hottest professional hockey player I have ever seen? His rookie year he won the most awards of anyone in the entire league, has led his team to the cup four times in the six years he’s made it to playoffs, and…
actually, I won’t say everything else I like about him in mixed company.
” He went quiet for a second. “But yeah. They know about him.”
I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh or cry at this point. “We’ll have plenty of time to see you all though. We can come by tomorrow for dinner—”
“Lunch!” Thierry said very quickly. “Lunch. Ollie wanted to spend time with you.”
It really didn’t seem like he did, but whatever.
“We’re going to be at the beach. Just come on down,” Thierry said.
I heard a couple of whispers, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying, and in all honesty, it didn’t matter.
“We’ll try,” I told them.
“I do love the beach, and I look amazing in a Speedo,” Aravind added. I almost choked as I imagined everyone’s faces. He took a step back and tugged me with him. “Nice to meet you.”
No one said it back, not that I was expecting them to. But our hands stayed together, fingers tangled, and he led the way back to the deck and inside the house. He paused just past the door, and then suddenly, I heard a flick before the lights turned on.
“Better,” Aravind said. He let me go and went to the next wall and hit the switch. Then into the living room. Then into the hallway. “Think your dad will have the balls to come and tell me to turn all these off?”
I grinned. “Not a chance.”
“Good.” He stepped sideways and suddenly into my line of sight, and my breath caught in my throat. God, he was so beautiful. He was wearing an oversized cream knitted sweater and leggings with flowers printed up the sides.
He was everything that would terrify and horrify my parents.
And he was everything I hadn’t realized I wanted until now.
“Let’s get your stuff,” he said softly.
I was more than ready to go.
I couldn’t tell if Oliver was asleep or ignoring us as I grabbed my things, but he didn’t budge as I shoved my dirty clothes into my suitcase and then grabbed my other bag. Aravind led the way to his car, and it wasn’t long before we were pulling into his driveway ten minutes later.
His street was on the cove and just as dim as my parents’, but it was a lot easier following him inside since he kept his pace slow and carried one of my bags so I could use my cane.
Inside, he flicked on a few lights—enough so I could get a look at the room without inducing a migraine. The place was a far better layout than my parents’.
The furniture was a soft brown, the carpets beige, the kitchen counters white marble. The contrasts were perfect, and the floors lacked area rugs, so I wouldn’t fall on my face.
And, as far as I could tell, no one had thrown shoes around their room in some attempt to make me trip.
“Okay, so…” Aravind said, hovering in the alcove. “The bedroom situation might be tricky. But I’m thinking you can crash in my room, and I’ll take the couch. It’s super comfortable.”
“I’m not putting you on the couch,” I told him swiftly.
“It’s not a big deal. I was probably going to sleep out here anyway since—”
“Aravind.”
His silence was heavy again, and this time, I couldn’t take it.
“Am I saying it wrong?”
“What?” He took a step closer to me, and I lost most of his face, though I focused on the contrast between his skin and his sweater right by his collarbone, so I knew where he was.
“Your name. You always get all…quiet and weird when I say it. If I’m fucking it up, you can just tell me.”
“No. God, I—” He was suddenly all in my space, sliding his flat palms up my chest until he had them on either side of my neck. His fingers drew gentle lines there, and I felt like melting into him. “You don’t say it wrong.”
“I don’t understand. Why does it upset you?”
“It doesn’t.” He bowed his head, forehead tapping against my collarbone. “You say it. My whole name. You don’t get weird and try to give me a nickname. You never have.”
I cleared my throat. “You told me only your friends call you Ara.”
“Yes…?”
“Then you said, so you can call me Aravind.”
He froze, then suddenly burst into a long, loud peal of laughter. “Oh my fucking god, I forgot I said that. I was such an asshole.”
My hands curled around his waist. It didn’t have any curves to it, but he was so slender. “You were, kind of. Yeah.”
“You can call me Ara if you want, but I really like when you say my name. People always take the easy way out, but you learned to say it properly.”
I hummed, then tipped my head down as he lifted his chin, and our foreheads knocked together. “It’s not difficult. I’ve heard a lot worse. I mean, these Finnish guys…”
He laughed. “Yeah. But people get weird when your name isn’t Anglican and your skin is brown.”
I had no idea what to say to that, and I knew it probably wasn’t my place. “I like your name.”
“I like yours. And you. I like you. I really want to kiss you.”
I didn’t make him wait for it. I didn’t make him ask for it again. I’d wanted to kiss him since we were at the house, and now there was nothing to stop me. Taking him by the back of the neck, I tilted his head back, then laid my lips over his.
He didn’t let me keep control for long. His tongue touched mine with powerful sweeps as he tasted every inch of my mouth, the piercing clicking against my teeth, and he backed me up until I hit the wall, and then he slotted his thigh between mine.
“Let’s fuck.”
I choked a bit on my tongue. “Um.”
“Unless you don’t want to.”
“No. I very much want to.” More than anything. “And you won’t have to gag me this time.”