“What’s happening?” Ren muttered.
“I can’t. I can’t talk,” I said, then my body was moving. Sweat trickled down and stung my eyes, and I grunted while swiping drops away with the heel of my palm.
“Stop!” Ren called.
Feet pounded on the floor behind me. I broke out into a full run. I had the front doorknob turning in my hand as a draft hit me and I glanced down. I flinched as I caught sight of my swinging dick. I shuddered. Shit, I was still naked.
“No, no, no,” KC chanted and shoved the door closed, an awful, upset look plastered on his normally cheerful face. A soft gray blanket wrapped around me, and I sort of sagged into its fuzzy embrace. KC locked the door and rested his temple against it while he stared at me like I was a crazy person.
“What were you thinking?” KC asked. His tone wasn’t mean, but the words made a big, unhappy feeling well up in my chest and hot tears splashed down my cheeks again.
I shrugged.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ve got you.” Ren scooped me up, blanket and all, and I smothered a yelp as he took me to the couch. Had anyone ever carried me this way? Even as a kid, it was mostly just me and Mom, and she was petite. I had no memories of anyone ever picking me up. I couldn’t clutch his shoulders because he had me wrapped up pretty good. He sat with me firmly in his arms. I struggled a bit against the restraining blanket, and he shushed me as he peeled back the fabric and released my hands.
“Flex your fingers,” he whispered in my ear. “They’re free. Good. Now stretch your arms over your head.”
I began to breathe easier as Ren led me through moving my entire body, bit by bit. KC paced nearby, a walking ad for anxiety medication, and my heart swooped when he sat down next to us on the couch, but I was feeling so odd I wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.
“Now, stick your tongue out,” Ren said, and I was surprised at his amused tone as I finally relaxed against his solid chest.
“Like this?” KC asked, and I couldn’t hold in a watery chuckle as he touched his tongue to the tip of his nose.
“That’s why you’re so good at head,” Ren said with a snicker that jostled me.
“I can’t do that,” I whispered. My throat felt tight and raw from crying.
“Just stick it out,” Ren said.
“Okay.” I stuck out my tongue, and Ren hummed. But he was right. The stretching and moving around had gotten rid of a lot of my tension. A few of my brain cells were able to spark together now. The way I’d been feeling was scary and had left me trapped in my head.
KC swooped close and licked the tip of my tongue, and I flopped back against Ren, feeling wrung out while they chuckled.
Ren brushed a few glinting red strands off KC’s forehead, and KC’s expression softened in a way that left me feeling a little jealous. “Oli needs to hydrate and maybe eat a snack. I have electrolyte mixes in the kitchen and some grapes.”
The world felt fuzzy as Ren cuddled me close. I drifted as he swayed a little from side to side, and he tucked the blanket more firmly around me. I stared at the floor and the wall and the ceiling, thoughts drifting in and out but not really sticking.
“Sometimes people come into your tattoo parlor and they want a tattoo you can’t bring yourself to ink,” Ren whispered in my ear as the soft sounds of KC moving around in the kitchen tickled the edges of my attention. “They want something thatdoesn’t fit their body. Or that you know will ruin their life if you place it where they want it. Even a rainbow in the center of someone’s forehead will be an issue. Or they want something disgusting and hateful. I have no problem tellingthosepeople to go elsewhere. Whatever you put on a person, for the rest of their life they will tell people you did it. You really need to know yourself to have a handle on what you’re willing to permanently ink on another human being. You need to know your own limits. You must be able to guess atotherpeople’s limits when you’re scheduling their time in the chair. Do they love pain? Hate it? Will they need breaks? Would they lie there forever and let you tattoo them from head to toe?”
Ren’s voice was a melody I didn’t want to end. I glanced over my shoulder at him, too fucked up to formulate a good response to anything he was saying. I was shocked when he pressed a soft kiss to the corner of my mouth. It seemed impossible that he was capable of such a gentle touch.
“I fucked up tonight. I didn’t know whatIwas willing to do toyou, what I was willing to put you through, or your limits.” He leaned forward and rested his cheek alongside mine. “I’m sorry. I’ll take better care of you from here on out. I didn’t enjoy the way this ended.”
KC came over carrying a water bottle with something red sloshing around inside and a bowl just in time to catch the tail end of what Ren had said. He frowned as I snatched the bottle and gulped whatever was inside. The taste of sweet cherries had me shivering. It was like someone had melted a popsicle into the bottle, and I loved it.
“Easy.” Ren grabbed my wrist and made me stop guzzling. KC put the bottle on the coffee table for me.
“This was really intense.” KC frowned and set the grape bowl next to the bottle on the table. “Should we keep doing this? A-any of it?”
Ren became a stone statue underneath me.
A new wave of emotions, all bad, rushed over me, and I clawed at the blanket until I had more range of motion and it was around my hips. I swiped toward KC and ended up with one hand engulfed in his larger one. Ren took my other one.
“This was a lot,” I murmured.
KC nodded and curled forward, face scrunched worse than the time he’d been hobbling around with two busted ribs from football practice.
Ren said nothing, but his fingers bit into mine.
