“What?”
“You’re beautiful,” he whispers, eyes flicking between mine. “You’re so fucking beautiful, Seth.”
I snort, running my fingers through his hair and down his jaw. “I’m covered in cum. And sweat.”
He nods. “Beautiful.”
I swallow. “I love you, Kaden. You have no idea how much I fucking love you.”
His smile stretches. “Uno reverse, baby.”
Epilogue
One year later.
“Alright,youneedtoget out of here,” Finn says behind the mic.
“Yeah.” I rub a hand over my forehead and slip the guitar band over my head. “I played like shit today.”
“You did, but it’s okay,” he laughs.
I place my guitar in its case with trembling hands. I’ve been on edge all day—all week actually but I think I’ve hidden it well enough from Seth. MyboyfriendSeth. Holy shit, it’s insane. And not, really. Because nothing makes more sense to me than being with Seth.
“You ready for tonight?” Finn asks, clasping a hand on my shoulder, making me flinch. “Calm down, buddy,” he laughs.
I clench my fists open and closed, trying to force my hands to stop shaking.
“You’ve got nothing to worry about,” Ollie says from behind the drums.
“I know,” I say, blowing out a breath. “It’s just… Maybe I should’ve gone big? Maybe some big—”
“You’ll do fine, Kaden. You’ve been dragging this out for a week, just get it over with.”
“Dude,” Finn says, shooting Ollie a look. “That’s not how it works.”
“I’m just saying—”
“Well, don’t.” Finn gives Ollie one more look before he turns to me. “It’s going to be great. Like he said, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Now, go home.”
I take a deep breath, nod and pick up my guitar case.
“Wish me luck. Or don’t. I don’t know.”
“Good luck, man!” They both laugh at me as I walk out through the door.
When I get home, the smell of food hits me before I’ve even made it inside. I put the case down and kick off my shoes. Blowing out a shaky breath, I call, “Hey, baby!” And I know that even though I’ve said it a thousand times over the year, that one word will get me one of Seth’s big smiles.
“Hey, baby,” he parrots as I walk into the kitchen. I clock him behind the stove wearing an over-sized, cropped tee and my sweatpants low on his hips. He walks around the kitchen island to meet me halfway with that big grin, dimple on display and all, and my stomach flipflops. Seth places a kiss on my lips, and I wrap my arms around him and nuzzle my face against his neck.
“I’ve missed you today,” I say, taking a big whiff of him. God, he smells so good. Like home.
“Missed you, too. How’d it go?” he asks, as we pull back and he goes to stand in front of the stove, lifting the lid off the pot and peeking down.
“Good,” I say, even though it’s not really true. I couldn’t stop thinking about tonight all throughout our jam session. I lean back against the fridge, biting my bottom lip and tap a hand outside the right pocket of my jeans.
I’ve run this through my head a million times. How to go about it. When and where and how, and fuck, I’ve been all up in my head for weeks—and especially this past week.
And then I thought, fuck it, I’m just going to do it. Nothing will ever be perfect enough either way so… Back to basics, or something.
