“Liar.” Sid cupped Dante’s face with his warm palms and pulled him close, brushing a kiss to each temple. “It’s what you do.”
“Is it?”
Sid arched a brow, his shaking all but gone. If Dante hadn’t been hyperaware of every single thing about him, he might not have noticed the shimmer of misplaced energy in his strong arms.
He couldn’t escape the expectation in his wildflower gaze, though. Dante sighed and rubbed his thumb over Sid’s cheekbone. “I don’t want to take something that you can’t have all the time.”
“What?”
Dante met Sid’s frown with a steady gaze. “The way you tell it, sometimes it’s just gonna be me that feels good. That means sometimes it’s gonna be just you, or it ain’t fair.”
Sid opened his mouth.
Dante sealed it shut with his palm. “No.”
He held firm until Sid rolled his eyes and spread his hands in surrender. Then he let go and kissed Sid to be sure.
Sid kissed him back.
Kissed him breathless.
Then he fell back on the bed, cheeks flushed, panting. “I need to put the shopping away. That extra olive oil bottle was for you, right? For when you cook me dinner?”
Dante snorted. “Only if you have a death wish. I don’t know how to cook.”
“You said you didn’t know how to suck dick either, and now I can’t see straight.”
“Good thing you ain’t straight.”
Sid made a low noise of amusement and shut his eyes. Predictably, he fell asleep. Dante watched him awhile, then rolled away to find his phone.
It was buried beneath the pile of discarded clothes on the floor. There was a message from the probation service, thanking him for showing up to his appointment and listing numbers he could call if he needed additional help.
Dante deleted it and retrieved the crumpled envelope he’d carried around since Rami had given it to him weeks ago. He dug the short note out and read it for the thousandth time.
Dante,
In case you need anything you don’t want to ask Luis for. As long as you’re his brother, I’ll help you any way I can, but don’t be a bastard with me—I’m not scared of you. I never was.
Paolo
Dante was pretty sure Paolo had meant something more life-threatening than the fact he didn’t have the first clue how to cook something edible for Sid, but right now, he didn’t care about much else.
He took a breath that seemed to go nowhere and tapped out a message.
Dante:can u help me with something?
15
“Are you even listening to me?”
Sid ignored Benjamin and leaned on the windowsill, watching Dante as he picked his phone up, stared hard at the screen, then pocketed it with a scowl that was equal parts adorable and fucking terrifying. Dante was like that—a walking contradiction. Sometimes he was so fierce it was easy to see where he’d come from.
Others, he was so damn sweet Sid had to wonder if he’d been dropped into his life by a guardian angel.
He had split personalities in bed too. Sid had coaxed him into staying over three nights since the first one, and each time had been different. Or maybe it was Sid who was different each time. Lord knew, his dick was as unpredictable as Dante’s mood.
“Sid,” Benjamin snapped.