Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
YURI
Idon’t see Cooper down on the beach on my way home after work. Maybe I just missed him in the crowd and the dark, or maybe he didn’t feel like partying tonight, but my mind goes straight to the possibility that he was there but he left already… and not alone.
I grimace and tap my fingers against my thigh as I walk. It’s fine. Cooper can take anyone he likes home. I hate whoever it was, but he’s a single man, free to do whatever, or whoever, he wants. It’s fine.
I stomp a little and maybe huff under my breath just a bit, then I jump when a large figure comes out of the shadows, startling me. I chuckle when I realize it’s Lux, shuffling down the road in the dark.
“Hey,” he says, nodding and falling into step with me.
“Hey. Headed home from the beach party?” He doesn’t strike me as the party type, but from what I’ve seen, he goes pretty much wherever Easy does, and Easy loves to party. It’s strange to see him out here in the middle of the night without his best friend… or are they dating? It’s been hard to tell.
“Nah, just out for a walk. I couldn’t sleep. Insomnia is a bitch.” He squints at me in the dark. “Isn’t that Lyric’s shirt?”
I tug on the hem of the tank top. At least it’s dry now, but it still smells like beer. All the lights are out in Cooper’s house when we pass, but I have no idea if that means he’s home or not, or whether he’s alone.
I still have no clue how to explain why I’m wearing Cooper’s clothes, but something about Lux puts my guard down.
“I don’t know if I’m cut out for this place,” I blurt out, ignoring the question all together and confessing one of the many things that’s been plaguing me for days.
He grunts with understanding. “Not everyone is.” He’s quiet long enough that I start to think that’s all he’s going to say. “I’m asexual,” he confesses.
“Really?” I hope the surprise in my voice isn’t rude, but it’s hard to imagine what the appeal of a place like Palm Island is to someone who isn’t interested in sex.
He chuckles. “Yeah. Came here because it’s where Ethan—” He clears his throat. “—Easy, wanted to be. I’d go anywhere for him.”
The naked love in his voice makes my heart flutter with longing.
“That’s really sweet.”
“I love it here though,” he says. “I wasn’t sure that I would, I definitely only moved here for him, but I fell in love with the island all on my own.
My point is, if all the parties and hookups aren’t your thing, there are other reasons to love Palm Island…
If you want to. Or, you know, if you have other reasons you end up deciding to stay. ”
I nod. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” He jerks his chin towards my house as we get near it. “It looks like you’ve got a visitor.”
“What?” I squint and just make out a shape on my porch. It looks like someone sleeping in front of my door. My heart skips a beat, first with nerves, then happiness.
“Have a good night,” Lux says with a smirk in his voice before disappearing back into the darkness, while I hurry up the path towards my porch.
It’s Cooper, fast asleep on my doorstep. Warmth floods my body and a smile stretches across my lips. He wasn’t at the beach because he was here, waiting for me to come home.
I bend down, brush a long strand of his hair off of his face, and kiss his cheek. His eyelids flutter open.
“Yuri, hey,” he murmurs. “Did I fall asleep?”
“Yeah, you did. How long have you been out here?”
“No idea.” He laughs.
“Just here to make sure you got your clothes back?” I joke, offering him my hand to help him up. He grabs his guitar and lets me haul him to his feet.
“Yeah, you know I only have a few. If I let you keep them, it’ll screw up my whole laundry rotation.”
“Well I’m going to have to wash them before I give them back.” I open the door and he follows me inside.
“No worries, I was just going along with your bit. I don’t care how long you keep them.” He still looks a little dazed and sleepy, standing just inside the doorway like he’s not sure if he’s allowed to stay or not.
I bite my bottom lip and consider what I’m about to say for half a second before the thrill of having him here when I thought he was with someone else overtakes any hesitation or common sense.
“Do you want to stay over?”
“Yeah?” he asks. “It is a long walk back to my house so late.”
I grin and nod so he knows the offer is legit. “I need to hop in the shower, but you can go lay down if you’re tired.”
“Need a hand washing your back?”
I’m way too tired and overstimulated for sex after such a long night, but the look on his face is all kinds of sweet and sleepy instead of lascivious, so I nod.
“Sure.”
LYRIC
I might still be asleep on Yuri’s porch having a damn good dream.
Except, I probably wouldn’t be able to feel the warmth of his fingers sliding between mine if it was just a dream.
I set my guitar down and we both kick off our shoes, leaving them by the door.
I let him lead me through the small house to the bathroom, yawning and still blinking the sleep from my eyes.
I’m sure I’ll pass right the fuck back out as soon as my head hits a pillow, but I can’t pass up the chance to run my soapy hands all over him first.
Yuri cranks the shower on and we both strip out of our clothes, letting them fall onto the bathroom floor in a messy heap around our feet.
“The bar was packed from open to close,” he says through a yawn of his own.
“The tips were great, but I swear my eardrums are still ringing from all the noise. I’m not sure I’m cut out to be a bartender, but I definitely can’t leave Boston high and dry in the middle of the summer, so I guess I at least have to stick it out there until the end of the season. ”
My heart sinks. He said earlier that he wasn’t sure he would stay on Palm Island, but I didn’t think he was actually considering leaving before the summer’s even over.
My heart thunders wildly, like a trapped animal, and for just a second, I have the overwhelming urge to put my clothes back on and go home.
I don’t know how I managed to convince myself that it might not hurt when he leaves this time.
It’s going to fucking suck. Maybe even worse than the first time.
Yuri sticks his hand into the shower to check the water, then looks back at me over his shoulder.
“Should be hot enough. Are you okay?” He frowns.
Shit.
I don’t know what’s written all over my face, but I pull my expression back into a smile and nod.
“Just tired,” I lie.
My heart is still flailing, but instead of wanting to flee, a more desperate feeling floods my veins.
I follow him into the shower and wrap my arms around him, pulling him against me, his back flush with my chest, my soft cock nestling against the curve of his ass.
I duck my face into the crook of his neck as hot water pelts my back and the air around us gets thick with steam, and I just breathe him in for a second.
Yuri relaxes into me, tilting his head back to rest on my shoulder and giving me even more space to press my face into his slick, warm skin.
He drags his fingers slowly up and down my forearm, then turns his head slightly to brush a kiss over my cheek.
“I thought you were with someone else tonight,” he murmurs.
“No.”
“I know that now.” He laughs softly. “I just… When I walked past the beach on my way home and didn’t see you there…”
“I don’t think I’ve even looked at anyone else since you stepped off that boat,” I admit, even though it’s dangerous, before pressing a hot, open-mouthed kiss to the curve of his neck.
He lets out a quiet moan, but nothing about this moment feels urgent or sexual. I kiss his neck again, then reach past him to grab the bodywash off of the shelf. I pour a generous amount into my palm, then rub my hands together to lather it up.
“What are we doing?” he asks quietly.
“Showering.” I start with my soapy hands on his chest then run them slowly over his body, from his shoulders to his belly button, dipping my finger inside and earning a laugh from him.
“You know what I mean.” He leans into me harder, moaning again as I run my hands back up to his shoulder blades and dig my fingers into the knots right at the base of his neck.
“I don’t know what you want me to say, Yur. It’s eight years later and we’re somewhere completely different, but nothing has really changed, has it?”
He doesn’t say anything, and I guess I didn’t expect him to, but maybe part of me hoped his big brain had worked out an answer to all this that I just hadn’t thought of.
“Let’s just enjoy this while it lasts. Okay? And I promise, if you don’t see me at the beach, it won’t be because I’m with someone else. It’ll probably be because I’m lost or asleep or looking for my guitar.”
He chuckles.
“Okay,” he says, craning his neck again and finding my mouth with his this time instead of my cheek.
We sink into a slow kiss while I keep running my hands over him, washing the smell of alcohol and sweat off of his skin and replacing it with the pineapple scent of Goose’s latest batch of soap. We kiss until the water starts to get cold, then we get out and dry off.
I tie my wet hair up into a messy bun and we leave our damp towels on the floor right on top of our scattered clothes.
We climb into bed naked, both hard from all the kissing, but neither of us makes a move to do anything other than cuddle.
I wrap my arms around Yuri and pull him close so he can be the little spoon, tucked to my chest, our legs slotting perfectly against each other.
“You’re not going to leave before I wake up, right?” he asks on another yawn.
“I’ll be here,” I promise, and we both drift off to sleep.