Chapter 12 #2
“It’s okay,” I repeated. He wasn’t wrong, but I also wasn’t going to blame him for his toxic boss. “I have people I can call who will destroy your ex-boss. If you want. Vanya would be all over it if we told him he could draw blood.”
Aravind snorted and then swayed into me. His chest bumped mine, and unable to stop myself, I wrapped my free arm around him and held him close.
God, why did this feel so good?
“It’s really tempting, honey. Like, you might not want to offer that to a petty bitch like me.”
I laughed, burying the sound in the top of his hair. It was a little damp, his curls tickling my nose. “I’m a petty bitch too.”
We stood there together, breathing, touching, swaying with the breeze coming off the water. It was peaceful, and god, I hadn’t felt like this in so long.
“You came all this way to tell me that?” I asked him.
“When you put it like that, it makes me sound like a crazy person. But, ah…yes. And it wasn’t that far.
And in case you hadn’t noticed, I get kind of obsessive about stuff.
I couldn’t stop thinking about it and how it obviously made you feel bad.
You were so angry with me—which I get. And I didn’t know if coming over here would make it better, or worse, or—”
“Better.”
He tensed in my arms, then relaxed against my chest. “Yeah?”
“I’m not having the best night. It must really say something about my family that the guy who can’t stand me is making all of this feel tolerable.”
“I can stand you,” he murmured. He pulled back just slightly, and I could feel his head tip up since my hand was still on his jaw. “I got you off. I don’t do that to people I can’t stand.”
My lips stretched into a smile. “I don’t let people I hate jerk me off in a private room on a ferry.”
He burst into laughter and set his hands on my hips. “Okay, well. Now that we’ve established that, I should probably let you go back to your family.”
I couldn’t stop the groan from erupting out of my chest.
“Or…not?”
“No, it’s…they’re just not the best people. I haven’t seen them in years, and my brother convinced me to come out here. He said my parents wanted to make amends, and that was an obvious lie, but I can’t figure out what his agenda is.”
“Money?” Aravind offered. “You’re one of the wealthiest players in the PPHL.”
I knew that. And it was because I was also one of the oldest. “That might be it. They don’t like to ask me for money because they think the only reason I have it was because I have RP.”
Aravind made an odd noise. “What do you mean?”
I scoffed. “Well, in order to play blind hockey, you have to—”
“No. I know that, you unseasoned piece of chicken. I mean why does that matter to them?”
His insults were…creative, and they made me smile.
“Well, my family’s weird about me going blind.
It’s…complicated. My dad refuses to admit it most of the time, but then—like tonight—when I was in the kitchen looking for tea, he turned the lights off because he said he didn’t want to waste electricity on me. ”
Aravind stepped all the way out of my arms. “Oh, what the fuck!”
I nearly shushed him, but it wasn’t worth it because that’s pretty much how I felt about it too.
I shrugged. “It’s always been like that.
My mom is convinced that I’m just some social goblin who will end up with…
I don’t know, a bunch of cats or something, and I think the rest of my family is hoping I quietly fade into oblivion so they don’t have to think about me.
And I feel like a moron for believing it was going to be different this time. ”
I could hear him fidgeting, his feet scraping on the pavement. “Your family kind of sucks.”
I blinked, then burst into laughter. “Yeah. Like I said, they’re not the best.”
“Do you want me to, like, take you home or something? You could come with me now, and I could take you to the ferry first thing in the morning.”
Blowing out a puff of air, I realized I was actually considering his offer. But something in my gut told me not to go. Not yet. I was here for a reason. I just didn’t know what it was.
“Do you think I’m the biggest jackass in the universe if I tell you I think I want to stick it out for a few days?”
“Do you want an honest answer to that question?”
Biting my lip, I turned my face toward the ground and stared at the greyish, static blob that consumed most of my vision. “No.”
“Okay, then I think you’re doing amazing, sweetie.”
I lifted my head and smiled. “I know that meme.”
“Cool story, grandpa—”
His words were cut off when I lost the war with myself and yanked him so close our noses touched. His breath came out in a sharp rush, and then his arms wound around my waist. His fingers dug into my skin, and he rocked his hips toward me with the softest moan.
Dropping my head, I pushed my face into the crook of his neck, and I breathed in the scent of him and let my nose trace the familiar shape.
“We should stop,” I whispered. “My family’s going to get ideas.”
“So let them get an idea. I mean, we fucked already. It’s not a lie.”
I swallowed thickly. “Yeah. I guess.”
“And they’re fucking assholes for thinking you couldn’t pull anyone you felt like pulling.”
I bit my lower lip. “I know for a fact that’s not true. But it’s sweet.”