“Ah, sorry,” Jordy said, looking slightly embarrassed. “I’ve never done this before, so…”
“It’s alright,” she said, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder. When we got into the room, she stopped at the door. “I’ll just close this so you can have some privacy. And Kieran,” she added.
“Yeah?”
“Please don’t commit any health code violations.”
I felt heat rise up to my skin all over my body. “Jesus. I won’t, okay?”
“Just making sure,” she said, smirking again as she clicked the door closed.
“She means don’t fuck me on this table thing, right?” Jordy asked, hiking his butt up onto it as he eyed me.
“Right.”
“You weren’t thinking about that, were you?”
“No.” Just a little.
He grinned, seeing through my bullshit lie. “So should I…” He trailed off, toying with the button of his jeans, looking at me for guidance.
“Ah, first show me what you want to get,” I suggested. He handed me his phone, where there was an image pulled up on the screen. A tiny pair of cute and bubbly wings, with a simple gold halo hovering over the center where the inside of each wing nearly touched. Angel wings. He wanted to be branded with my pet name for him.
Touched beyond belief, I had to keep my fingers from trembling as I handed it back to him and cleared my throat.
“Do you mind if I sketch something up really quick?” I asked. “I’ll keep the same general idea, but…” If he was going to wear it on his skin forever, I didn’t want it to be something made by someone else. I wanted it to be mine. Like he was mine.
“Of course,” he said. “I would love that.” And he really did look happy about my request. Maybe he felt the same way I did. But I couldn’t bring myself to ask. Sitting down at the little desk, I picked up my work tablet and started drawing.
“Hey, so about earlier… I’m sorry,” I said, but kept my eyes down on the device. He wanted it simple and cute, so it wouldn’t take long, but I wanted it to be perfect. “I’m really, really sorry.”
“It’s okay,” he said, like I knew he would. But I still felt like a complete dick, especially because he still sounded a bit sad. “Were you upset because my dad interrupted us?”
“It wasn’t that he interrupted us. I just… He’s been really good to me, Jordy.”
“Yeah. He loves you,” he said, sounding slightly confused by my statement. “You know he does.”
“That’s my point. He’s been a good guy to me, and I’m just… Going behind his back and betraying him.”
“By being with me?”
“Yes.” I could feel his eyes burning into the back of my head, but I kept my eyes down, carefully rounding out the top part of one wing with my stylus. “Can we talk about something else?” I asked. “At least until I’m done with this.”
“Sorry,” he said, and I heard him hop down from the table. He came up to my chair, hugging me from behind and laying his chin on my shoulder, peering down at the tablet in front of me.
“You think that’s going to help me focus?” I asked, but I couldn’t bring myself to nudge him off. He was too warm, and he smelled too sweet.
“Sorry,” he repeated, groaning a little as he nuzzled his lips into the side of my neck. Like it was a compulsion he was helpless to stop, like he needed to be touching me, absorbing me through his skin. “It’s just… You hurt my feelings earlier.”
My brows drew together, guilt blooming in my stomach and spreading through my body. “I hurt your feelings, so you want to hang all over me and kiss my neck?”
“I was sad,” he explained. “When I’m sad, I want you. Even if you’re the reason.”
How could he admit things like that so… casually? And something so… needy. Fragile. As always, he gave me too much power over him. To come to me for comfort after I was the one who’d hurt him. I couldn’t fathom it. I didn’t deserve it.
“I’m the biggest dick in the universe,” I muttered, but when I set down my stylus and tried to turn toward him, he nudged me back to face the desk.
“I’m okay. We can talk about it after. For now just focus on making something cute you can look at when you’re blowing me.”
