Chapter 31
CHAPTER
THIRTY-ONE
Rett
In the last forty-eight hours, I had lived three lifetimes. I mean, seriously, how had it been only two days? I could write an entire book—which was something I’d secretly dreamed of—and slap True Story on the cover, but no one would believe me because it was just too absurd.
I mean, I could hardly believe it, and it was my life.
And the wildest part was it wasn’t even over.
Actually, no. The wildest part was that I planned to go into a secret drug den later tonight to try and help Wyatt, but this morning? This morning, Hiro made me go get an eye exam.
That’s right, an eye exam.
Like my eyes were somehow more important than a man being kidnapped and held hostage against his will!
I don’t even know how I made it through the appointment while they did all kinds of things like blow air in my eye (oddly intrusive), make me click a little beeper thingy every time I saw a light (okay, that was kinda fun), then put drops in my eyes that dilated my pupils so everything looked like it was underwater (never doing that again).
Wait. I do know how I made it through the appointment. Hiro sexed me up before we left the house. Next thing I knew, we were at the vision center, and he was pushing me into a chair for my eyes to be violated.
Turns out I’m nearsighted and need glasses. No one is surprised by this, right?
Except Hiro acted like it was some sort of national emergency and demanded they make me a pair of glasses for same-day delivery.
I didn’t even know they could do that. But they agreed, and I don’t think it was because of the pile of money he put on the counter.
More likely, the slightly unhinged look in his eyes while he did it.
I was realizing more and more that, while I might not be the least bit afraid of Hiro, other people were.
I’d probably have to find a new eye doctor after this. And I’d probably have to make sure I went to my next appointment alone. Of course, given the way he was my literal shadow all day, I think I’d have better luck catching a fish in the bathtub than going anywhere without him.
Which made me wonder how tonight was going to go because I was supposed to meet up with Tommy’s “associate” alone.
A knock on the door had me looking up from my phone.
I definitely understood why everyone had these things.
You could do so much on one tiny device.
Tossing the blanket off my legs, I unfolded from the sofa, ignoring the protest in just about all of my limbs.
I made it two steps toward the door when I was snatched off my feet from behind.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Hiro’s voice rumbled in my ear.
“Someone’s at the door,” I said through a rush of tingles racing over my scalp and down my neck. Where did he even come from anyway? For someone so big, he moved very quietly.
“And you thought you’d just go let them in?”
“It’s probably Haz and Kieran.” They were supposed to be here soon.
With a rough sound, Hiro spun me around so I was facing him and then lifted me off the ground like I wasn’t even allowed to stand on my own. Or maybe he didn’t feel like bending down so we were eye to eye.
“House rule number ten—”
“You have more rules than a cable company’s service script.” I mean, really, I was going to have to start writing them down.
Not that I was going to follow them. I just wanted to keep track of how many he could come up with.
“Ten,” he restated as if his word were the law. “I don’t care if Jesus himself has risen and comes over for tea and crumpets. You will not answer the door. Ever.”
“I’ve never had a crumpet,” I said. “Have you?”
He growled. “That’s not the point.”
“They’re in some of the books I’ve read. But—”
Knock. Knock.
“Hang on a second,” Hiro hollered, then gave me a little shake. “I mean it, Pip. Anyone could come knocking, but not just anyone is allowed access to you.”
A jolt of a thrill shot through me as my teeth sank into my lower lip. I shouldn’t be so charmed by his over-the-top protective tendencies. But I was.
All my life, I’d wanted someone to care about me.
And now someone cared so much it made him ridiculous.
“Got it?” Hiro asked.
I nodded, and he set me down, moving in front of me. “Stay here.”
Well, at least he didn’t tell me to go hide.
He opened the door with one hand, the other on a gun tucked into the waistband of his jeans. Jeans that seriously hugged his butt in all the right places.
“Yeah?” he said into the hall, not opening the door enough for me to see who was there.
“Delivery,” someone replied. “Sign here.”
Hiro let go of the gun and did as requested. A few moments later, he shut the door and turned with a small box in his hand. “Your new eyes are here.”
I groaned.
“Still not sure about the glasses, huh?”
A small bolt of guilt pierced me. “It isn’t that I’m not grateful,” I hurried to say. “I appreciate you wanting to take care of me.”
“But?”
“But it’s a reminder my body doesn’t work right. Maybe…” I started and then stopped.
“Maybe what?”
I shook my head.
“Garrett.”
I cringed. Hearing him say my name like that made my stomach twist.
Keeping my eyes everywhere but on him, I said, “Do you think it’s a punishment…
?” The words trailed off because I couldn’t bring myself to say the rest. For so long, those words echoed inside me, and though I tried not to believe them, it was hard when it seemed like the universe was intent on proving them true.
“For being gay?” he asked.
“For being me.”
Hiro made a sound and came forward, tossing the box onto the couch so he could lift me off the floor by my waist. My legs automatically wound around him like they knew exactly where to go.
Our chests brushed, mere inches apart, and his eyes locked on mine.
“No, baby. It’s proof the world is an unfair place, because if the universe was handing out punishment, it would’ve given it to me, not you. ”
I shook my head. “You’re not the villain you think you are.”
“I know who I am. But now it doesn’t seem like such a cross to bear because I can use it to protect you.”
A lump formed in my throat, making my voice hoarse. “Can I see my glasses?”
His smile was quick as he sat down with me on his lap. After making short work of the box, he slid a cream-colored case into his hand.
“Open them,” I urged, patting his waist as a combination of excitement and nervousness swirled inside me.
He pulled the top open, and I stared down into the case at a pair of square black frames.
Because we’d chosen the same-day option, there weren’t many styles to choose from.
Which was probably a good thing because even choosing between three different styles, I’d been overwhelmed.
I asked Hiro to pick them, figuring he’d be the one looking at them on my face all the time.
Plus, it seemed kinda pointless to pick out frames when my eyes were still dilated and blurry.
“Let’s see them,” Hiro said, pushing the case closer.
Carefully, I pulled them from the case, unfolded the sides, and slid them on.”
“My guy, glasses only work when your eyes are open.”
I smiled but still kept my lashes pressed together, for some reason afraid to look. Will the world look different?
Hiro’s fingers nudged my chin, a soft bump of encouragement. “Look at me.”
Bracing myself for the unknown, I opened my eyes.
It took a moment for my vision to clear and focus, for me to realize there was a change. “Oh,” I said around a sigh, eyes soaking in every detail I’d missed in Hiro’s face.
“That’s it? Oh?” Hiro asked. “Is the prescription wrong? Did they screw them up? I knew that man was a quack. I’m gonna go down there—” He shifted to stand, but my hands slapped his biceps and squeezed.
“The prescription isn’t wrong. It’s… perfect,” I said, slightly awed.
I’d lived my entire life looking through a haze and believing it was normal. But now everything was sharpened. The world, once a watercolor, was now filled with sharp lines.
And Hiro… “You’re beautiful,” I whispered as though the sound of my voice would somehow disrupt the view.
He made a sound, but I shushed him, not wanting to interfere with this moment, the moment when everything seemed to snap into place.
Lifting my fingers, I brushed them softly along the sharp line of his jaw, gliding up to trace the shell of his ear, then wrap around the strand of thick midnight hair always curtaining his secretive eyes. From the very first moment I met him, I knew Hiro was attractive. Strikingly so.
But looking at him now was like gathering a collection of details I’d somehow missed, assembling them to realize I’d only been half right. Because Hiro wasn’t just strikingly attractive.
He was devastating.
From the sharp cupid’s bow in the middle of his plump top lip to the whisper of stubble darkening above it. I moved on to the faint lines at the corners of his eyes and the barely-there scar below his thick brow that told stories of survival.
How had a man who was already everything become even more? And how could he love me?
Reverently, I braced his face between my palms, holding him like he’d done me so many times before. “Even if the world goes back to blurry, I will never forget your details because now I know them by heart.”
His back left the couch, and our bodies crushed together.
His lips were ardent, hands possessive as we mashed together, the only oxygen between us unrelenting want.
The thick frames of the glasses pressed against my cheeks and slid up my nose as his tongue demanded mine.
I whimpered and tilted my head to give him better access, which he took full advantage of.
Between us, my dick grew hard, and I bunched his shirt in my hands so I could tug it over his head.
Knock-knock-knock.
The swift bangs on the door made me tense but weren’t enough to pull my lips off his. Both of us paused in mauling each other to meet each other’s stare.
My glasses were askew, making my attention both sharp and blurry, which was disorienting but not enough to make me break contact.