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Renato just hummed and sucked harder, and a moment later, he tasted the hot, bitter spill along the sides of his tongue. He swallowed quickly because it wasn’t his favorite thing, but it was worth it for the look on Frey’s face. He was wrecked. His cheeks were splotchy, and his lips were dry, parted with his panting breaths. His hair was mussed, and his fingers were red with how hard he’d kept them pressed to the tile.
Renato pulled off, placing a wet kiss to the tip before finally tucking him away. His knees cracked and popped as he stood, but instead of walking away, he pressed his entire body into Frey’s and looked him in the eye.
“I’m not fooling around with anyone else.”
Frey swallowed heavily, and when he spoke, his voice was a barely there whisper. “Neither am I. I know what people say about me, but?—”
Renato pressed a finger to his lips. “I don’t care what people say. I trust you. I can’t give you more than this, Frey, but what I do have right now is yours.”
It wasn’t much of a promise, but it was something.
Frey’s face was unreadable, and then after a long beat, he touched the side of Renato’s cheek and just held him like that. Renato couldn’t remember the last time anyone had been so gentle with him. The lonely ache in his chest grew wider, like a canyon, and yet something else inside him felt shifted—almost healed.
He had no idea what to do with that juxtaposition.
“See you at work?” Frey murmured.
Renato bowed his head for one last kiss, then took a step away. “I’m sure you will.”
Frey grinned cheekily, then pulled the flower from his ear and tucked it into one of his shirt buttons. It looked ridiculous, but the gesture was sweet, and it meant something.
And Renato was taking that with him through the rest of the night and on until morning.
Chapter Fourteen
For the first time in nearly a decade, Renato actively missed Thursday at the cinema. Instead, he stayed late at the office, long after everyone else went home, and ordered delivery to his desk for dinner. It was a sad, sorry state of affairs, but he told himself it was better this way.
He had work to catch up on.
A life to live.
He steadfastly pretended this wasn’t about the fact that he was well and truly falling for someone after he’d been absolutely certain that any chance he’d had at love was dead and buried. His stomach ached as he finally drove home, and he spent the rest of his night hours staring at a photo of him and Grady on the nightstand.
By morning, he’d managed a few hours of broken sleep tortured by dreams he couldn’t make heads nor tails of. And by noon, the guilt of disrupting his own routine while not even knowing if he was going to give love another chance had eaten him whole.
He found himself in the car driving toward the cinema, hoping that no one was going to bother showing up on a random Friday afternoon. The parking lot was fairly sparse, and he took that as a good sign as he asked for a ticket to whatever was showing in that moment, then headed through the doors.
And all might have been well, except Renato immediately recognized the small child standing at the little candy carousel with his arm firmly latched in a sling. His heart kicked up several notches as the boy reached for a man—his dad, because of course it was his dad—and signed, ‘…candy.’ Renato didn’t recognize the first part of the sign.
Frey shook his head. ‘It’s broken.’
Rex made a very loud noise and stomped his foot. ‘Want!’
‘I can’t fix it,’ Frey attempted to argue.
Rex got louder, and the young woman behind the register cleared her throat. “Sir. I’m sorry to ask, but this is very disruptive. Can you please take him elsewhere?”
Renato got a glimpse of the abject fury on Frey’s face before he turned, and Renato acted without really thinking. He walked over and waved until he had Rex’s attention. For a moment, the boy seemed confused, but then his eyes widened.
“Oh!” he said loudly. He reached for his dad and tugged on the end of Frey’s shirt. ‘Doctor!’
Frey’s gaze caught his, and the moment was so profoundly tangible Renato felt like he was choking on it. After a beat, Frey looked down at Rex, who was still tugging on him, and nodded. ‘Go say hi.’
Rex ran full tilt and crashed into Renato’s legs. He let out a quiet oomph and, on instinct, reached down and picked the boy up. Rex settled comfortably in his arms and leaned back to give himself space to sign. ‘You like movies?’
Frey snorted a laugh, and Renato ignored him. ‘Yes. Do you?’
Rex pulled a face and shrugged. ‘I like…candy.’
