Page 111 of Give Me What You Will

“The dog.”

Frankie’s fingers stroked through his hair. “I dunno. It’s gonna be hard to replace our girl.”

“I know.”

“But our next dog would be lucky to have two dedicated daddies.”

“Yes, she would,” Sam smiled, realizing he couldn’t stop smiling. “She would be loved. That’s all that matters.”

Frankie kissed his temple. “Can I tell you somethin’?”

“Anything.”

“Papi and I had a conversation a week before he died.”

He hesitated before pulling out of Frankie’s embrace to look at him. “You never told me that.”

“Yeah, well, it was between us at the time, and I wasn’t ready to tell you. I thought it was just gonna be another visit. Bullshittin’, talkin’ about baseball or some shit. But I think…” Frankie cleared his throat, emotion tensing around his lips. “I think he knew he was going. So, when I walked in, he had a lot to fuckin’ say to me.”

Sam sat up, waiting.

“He told me he loved me. And that I was a fuckin’ jackass.”

He snorted, hearing Papi say it in his mind to Frankie. “A jackass, huh?”

“Yeah, he thought I was makin’ a big mistake with you.”

He stilled.

Frankie reached out and drew his hand into his, their fingers tangling. “At the time, I didn’t understand what the hell he was talkin’ about. But now I do. And I couldn’t agree with him more. I didn’t see what was right in front me. The love that was freely given, and how I thought it would always be there. Then you kissed me and left, and my world didn’t make sense anymore.”

He kissed his knuckles, sighing. “He said soulmates look a lot like best friends. But they ain’t. Their bonds are formed from the grit of the earth, from the shine in the stars. And if you’re lucky, you find yours in time to have a life together.”

Sam squeezed his fingers. “We did have a life together. Just as best friends.”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t enough. I see that now.”

“Except it was,” he breathed. The soft, intimate way Frankie looked at him made him feel safe to be vulnerable now. “I needed your friendship more than I needed a boyfriend. I needed to know what it was like to be with the guys—the boys. To be a part of something bigger than my tiny, lonely little world. You gave that to me on day fucking one. Joking around, teasing me, making me come out of my shell. I didn’t waste a single day being your best friend, Frank. I don’t look back on the last fifteen years and regret it. I needed it. I was so alone before Papi. My mom…” He swallowed, anger rising. “I just thought it would be safer to be alone. I was never enough for her, even when I did everything. She taught me not to trust people. And that led me to not trust myself.”

Frankie grazed his fingers over his wrist, over the bracelet, and the anger softened in his body. All from a simple kiss.

Sam stared at him in amazement, finally making the connection. “You said that all I had to do was look at you to make you feel whole. It’s the same for me with you when you touch me. You remember the first day we met?”

Frankie smirked, “Yeah, you looked like the fuckin’ Unabomber sittin’ in the back of the bar.”

“Papi told you to come talk to me, didn’t he?”

He hitched his head to the side, “All he told me was his grandson had moved into the neighborhood and didn’t have any friends. I liked Papi—a lot. So, I figured I’d like you, too.”

“Lucky me.”

“Fuck yeah, lucky you,” Frankie bit playfully on his wrist before kissing it. “I’m a goddamned catch.”

Grinning, full of so much fucking giddy emotion, he snapped his hand away and punched his shoulder, making Frankie bark out a laughing growl as he slunk against the pillows, smiling adoringly at him.

“That was the first time you touched me,” Sam continued, reaching for Frankie’s hand now because he could. He could touch him whenever he wanted, and that was a gift. “You gave me a hard time about bringing textbooks into a bar, asked about who I was, like I had any fucking clue. Then you demanded I come to the gym with you in the morning. You got up and had the audacity to push my hoodie off and ruffle my hair.”

Frankie chuckled, “I wanted to see what you’d do. And I wanted to see if it was as curly as it looked under the hood.”