AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That wasn’t a judgment, my love,” Jayden told him. He began to massage shampoo into his hair, and Luca couldn’t stop the small groan. “I liked his work before he showed up here.”
Luca twisted uncomfortably. “Can we not talk about that, though? He’s my brother and it’s just…gross.”
“Fair,” Jayden said, chuckling again. “My point is that I do this because seeing people leave here feeling good about themselves gives me life. And I know that sounds like some hipster, toxic positivity bullshit, but it’s true.”
“I believe you,” Luca said softly. And he understood it in a more profound way than he was expecting. He was a glorified ATM to a lot of his friends, but part of that was knowing he was able to make their lives better—easier. The fact that Gabby was going to have opportunities that she never would if it hadn’t been for those checks meant something important to him. And the price of their shallow relationship wasn’t enough for him to want to stop.
He just didn’t know how to translate that into something more than what he’d been doing. Something with substance.
“So, what is it you do?” Jayden asked when he started to add the conditioning treatment. The scalp massage was almost enough to send him onto a plane of euphoria, but he breathed through it.
“Nothing. I mean, I owned a couple of art galleries and…I don’t know. I did that, I guess?”
“That’s not nothing,” Jayden said. “Art is important.”
“Yes, but I never got it. I tried—but…it just never made sense to me. I wanted to feel like I deserved to have this life. But…”
“It didn’t make you happy?” Jayden tried.
Luca shuddered when the warm water cascaded over him. “It made me miserable. Then Adriano came home in love and happier than I’ve ever seen him, and I wanted that.”
“I hope you find it.” Jayden eased him up and dried his hair with quick swipes of the towel. Stepping in front of him, he began to drag fingers through the wet locks again, then he shook his head. “You don’t need a trim. You need to relax. Go across the room and undress, then get under the sheet on the table. Raphael will meet you there in a minute.”
“I…”
“Trust me,” Jayden said, soft but powerful. “Okay?”
Luca’s breath trembled, but he nodded. “Okay.” If only he felt like it was.
* * *
Luca wanted to blame the fact that everything was puffy and a little pink on the facial, but he knew better. He knew it was the fact that the moment Raphael’s fingers dug deep into the tense muscles of his neck, everything burst loose like a dam breaking.
Tears cascaded down his cheeks, and a sob lodged in his chest, and he felt pathetic and small as pieces of him shattered.
Raphael hadn’t batted an eye, though. He let Luca fall apart and then knit back together as he rubbed him down and then gently massaged his hands as the wafting clouds from the steamer mingled with the tears on his cheeks.
He calmed down in time for Raphael to add the moisturizer, then give his brows a trim, and then he was sent back to Jayden who kindly didn’t mention the fact that he was splotchy and subdued and had very little to say at all. He was grateful that neither Raphael nor Jayden tried to refuse payment, and he was also grateful when Raphael followed him to the corridor and used the stair banister to rise from his chair before he took Luca’s arm.
“You owe me dinner.”
Luca chuckled and nodded. “Yeah.”
“You’ll have to bring it to me though. I fucking hate these stairs.”
“I can do that.” Luca’s breath still held a faint tremble, but he was starting to feel human again. Still cracked on the inside, still bleeding a little, but maybe that’s what he needed.
He knew, in reality, he wasn’t nothing. He wasn’t a nobody. He was a person who deserved true and honest affection and kindness just like everyone else, even if he didn’t earn it the same way other people did. He was a good man, even if he was a shallow one.
When he got back up to the apartment, he saw a text from Wilder letting him know he’d be there to pick him up at five since it was going to be a bit of a drive to wherever this date was taking place. Luca desperately wanted to ask, but no one had ever gone out of their way to try and surprise him before, so he was nervous and excited—which cobbled together to form a ball of anxiety that sat heavy in his gut.
He’d never had a real friend before, and even though he was crushing—knowing that he couldn’t have him wasn’t enough to put a damper on how much he craved his presence. Having a friend was enough—without strings, without obligation. It was new, and it was damn near everything.
He managed to get his eyes and skin calmed down enough that he didn’t look a total mess, and he wasn’t sure what to wear, but he didn’t think Wilder was going to go black-tie, so his jeans and button-up seemed fitting. He slid bare feet into his loafers, added a bit more product to Jayden’s careful work, and made it down the steps in time to see Wilder’s car pulling up.
He glanced at Raphael, who was looking at him with a smirk, and he ignored the man’s double thumbs up as he pushed the door open and headed down the steps. Wilder was leaning against his open car door, and his mouth softened into a grin when Luca stepped out.
‘Nice,’ Wilder signed.
