Chapter 10
OZZIE
For some reason, today was the day my key on his keyring made a lump form in my throat.
Cedric was on his way out the door when he grabbed it off the hook by the door, and it just hit me that enough time had passed. For a few months now, we’d been rotating between each other's apartments, but maybe it was time to make things a bit more official. More permanent.
"Hey." I nodded toward the keys. "That’s a lot of keys you have to lug around every day."
He glanced down at his keyring and shrugged. "I guess..." He was clearly confused about where I was going with this. I was too.
I leaned against the counter and took a sip of my coffee. "I'm just saying, maybe you don’t need quite so many."
He raised an eyebrow and dropped the keys in his jacket pocket. "Um, okay, weirdo… I'll be home by five thirty." He kissed me on his way to the door and then took off.
I was being weird. Why? Why was I dancing around the subject that was staring me right in the face? We were paying two rents for two identical apartments on the same floor, and we only used one at a time. It was silly.
For the rest of the day, it weighed on me. Not in a bad way but more…excited. Committed. Determined to move to the next stage of our relationship.
When Cedric came home, I was making dinner. He dropped his bag in the entryway and came straight to the kitchen and stole a chunk of the carrot I was chopping before kissing me on the lips. “Hi, honey. I’m home.”
“I missed you.” I kept my eyes on the cutting board and took a deep breath. I wasn’t nervous because I thought he’d say no, but I didn’t want to spook him. He’d made such progress in believing that I was all in on us. I hoped this would be another flag on that hill. "Can I ask you something?"
"You're already asking me something." He leaned on the counter and popped the carrot into his mouth.
"Do you wanna move in here…permanently?"
Cedric went quiet, which was rare. “Permanently?”
I put down the knife and turned to give him my full attention. He wasn't smiling yet, which meant he was actually thinking about it instead of deflecting with a joke.
"I just mean that we don't need two apartments.” I reached for his hand and held it between both of mine. "It doesn't make sense to keep paying double rent when we can just live in one."
He nodded and swallowed hard. "That's very logical."
My stomach was tight, but I forced a smile, hoping to lighten the mood. "I'm a logical person."
He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. "Is that the only reason you're asking? To save money?"
"No, not at all." I wrapped my arms around him and held him close to me. "It's not even one of the reasons."
Cedric pursed his lips and then sighed. "Which closet is mine?"
I exhaled and pressed my mouth to his. "The big one, of course."
He smiled and then looked down at my collarbone to avoid my eyes. "Are you sure you wanna live with someone as battered and broken as me?"
“Cedric, sweetheart.” I squeezed him against me and pressed my lips to his temple. "You're not battered or broken. You’re perfect."
"Okay, maybe not battered and broken anymore." He thought about it for a moment and then looked up at me again. "I guess I’m more like…happy and whole." He said it like he was trying it out and finding that it fit. "Because of you. Because you put my broken pieces back together."
I held his face in my hands and looked at this person who had been so close to me and yet so far for so long.
And now he was stealing my hoodies and eating the last of anything sugary and making me laugh harder than anyone ever had.
"You put yourself back together. I just stayed close while you did it. "
He rolled his eyes and smiled. "Just let me have this one."
"You can have it." I kissed his lips and then his cheek and down his jaw. "You can have everything."
Outside, the world was cold and scary and mean. But inside, it was warm and safe. And for the first time in a long time, I was too.
Coming Soon in the Broken Boys series…