Page 21 of Heaven on Earth

“Never get over what?”

“You — how hot you are. I didn’t think — well, never mind. We’ll have plenty of time to talk later.”

He threw his shirt onto the floor, climbing onto the bed next to me. He hooked one leg over my thigh, his hands running through my hair. I let him kiss me, and when he opened his eyes, he gazed into mine with an adoration I had never seen before. His thumb brushed over my cheek and jawline as his face hovered just above me.

“You’re beautiful,” he said. “You’re the most beautiful person I think I’ve ever seen.”

I laughed softly. “That’s the lust talking, but I shall take the compliment. Now, let’s get those jeans off, shall we?”

I pushed him back onto the bed and climbed on top of him, grasping the zipper on his fly and pulling it down with a gentle tug.

“Wait a minute,” he said, slipping his phone out of his pocket. I paused as he glanced at it, waiting for him to set it on the nightstand so that we could get back to more important things. “Oh.” His face fell.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” I asked, brushing my hair out of my face as I sat back on the bed.

“I got an email from the museum.”

“And?” I already knew the answer.

“They thanked me for applying, but they found a more suitable candidate for the position.” His eyes moved back and forth as he read over the email again, looking for some sign thathe had missed something and there was some sort of good news after all.

“Ah, I’m sorry, Ryan.” I settled back onto my side of the bed and slipped my arm around him.

He shrugged. “That’s all right. It’s not the way I hoped for this evening to end, but I can’t really help it, can I?”

“No, of course not. It wasn’t meant to be, but next time–"

“Next time it will be the same thing, and so will the time after that.” He sighed. “It’s no use, Ciel. I moved here because I thought that out of all the cities I liked, this one would be the easiest to find a job in my field, but I can’t even get one here. What do I do? Find a job washing dishes?”

I placed my other hand on his thigh. The mood was all but killed, though I could still offer him some sort of comfort. “That wouldn’t be so bad, would it?” I asked. “It would pay the bills until you found a job you prefer.”

“Unless I can’t getanyjob.” He shook his head and brushed my hand off of him. “I should get going. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

I nodded. “Don’t hesitate to call. I promise that this time, I’ll answer.”

The games were over, at least for the time being. Ryan was forced to snap back to reality, and I had no choice but to follow him into it. If I could give him everything he wanted, I would, but unfortunately, I didn’t possess those kinds of powers. All I could do now was be there for him as a guiding light, something of which I was rapidly falling out of practice.

17

RYAN

Ifell straight into bed after I got home from dinner with Ciel. I was too tired and too upset to do much else, so I closed my eyes, rubbed my hands over my face, and sighed, letting my head sink into the pillow. And then I remembered that I still had that stupid butt plug inserted, so I dragged myself out of bed and into the bathroom.

I was grateful Ciel hadn’t tried to get me out of my bad mood by turning it on during my walk home, but if I knew him at all, he wouldn’t have even considered it. He was cruel in a fun way, not a mean one.

As I pulled the covers back over me, head and all, I made a mental note to call my parents in the morning. It was time to accept their offer of financial help, even if I didn’t want to. And when I was done talking to them, I needed to call Ciel. We had some unfinished business that needed tending to, and I would be damned if I let all that pent-up energy between us go to waste.

I slept in, only waking up because the sun was too bright as it shined through the bedroom window. I turned over in bed and groaned, covering my eyes with the back of my hand. If I’d remembered to close the blinds, this wouldn’t have been anissue. Could I do anything right? Ciel seemed to think so, but I was beginning to lose confidence that he even knew me well enough to make that kind of judgment.

“I should get up,” I grumbled, blinking to rid my eyes of their blurriness before glancing at the time on my phone. I closed my eyes for a brief moment, and when I opened them again, it was half an hour later.

There was no doubt that my parents were awake already, especially considering the time difference, so the first thing I did when I finally crawled out of bed was dial my dad’s number.

“Hello?” he said, picking up almost immediately.

“Hey, Dad, it’s Ryan.” I set my phone down on the counter so I could make some coffee while I talked.

“Hey, kiddo, how are you?”