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“It wasn’t easy. I had a lot of doubts.”
Roman’s fingers made invisible circles across Wyatt’s chest, soft and slow. “And you overcame all of them. That’s what proves strength. Doubt can be an invisible poison, seeping in and draining you of any hope. It’s when you’re able to push past your inner voice and change the tune, that’s when you find strength. And you found it. You found me.”
“And I’m never letting you go,” Wyatt said, surprised at how easy those words came to his lips. He’d never been one who was overly outspoken about his emotions, but Roman made it easy. “I love you, Roman.”
“I love you, Wyatt. And I’m going to finish this sunset job for you. We’re going to get the tome from the Pride, and we’re going to live happily ever after on some island in the Pacific.”
Wyatt smiled against Roman’s neck. He wrapped himself up in the warmth and softness of this moment, cementing this moment in his memories for the rest of time.
Chapter 13
Roman Ashford
Roman understood the meaning of true happiness. It clicked for him as he lay in bed, legs still tangled with Wyatt’s, his soft skin warm against Roman’s. He looked up at the popcorn ceiling, the thick black blades of the fan spinning in a lazy circle. It rustled the large leaves of the bird of paradise that towered over a tiny built-in desk next to the window. Outside, a full moon crowned the distant hills and washed the desert scenery in a ghostly glow, making the pool shimmer with the bright light. Roman sucked in a breath of air, as if he wanted to capture the very essence of the moment and keep it locked in his lungs.
“I feel like I’ve been waiting years to be with you again,” Wyatt said into the dark room. He adjusted himself so that his softening dick rested on top of Roman’s thigh. “Even though it’s only been like a month.”
“It feels like it’s been years.”
Wyatt traced invisible shapes across Roman’s chest. “Thank you, by the way. If you hadn’t come back for me in the museum, then I would have been locked up—and eaten alive in seconds, probably.”
“You’d definitely be a hot commodity in there. But you don’t have to thank me, Salt. I’d do it again and again if it meant keeping you safe.”
Wyatt made a noise that sounded suspiciously like someone stopping themselves from crying.
“Even though you already seemed to have moved on while I was in prison,” Roman teased, dropping a sliver of a joke that was tucked inside a truth probe. He knew Wyatt and Theo weren’t actually together, but he couldn’t help and be slightly bothered about the revelation from earlier. He had to clear it up before it grew roots and poisoned their foundation.
Wyatt sat up, his eyes finding Roman’s in the dimly lit bedroom. “Me and Theo… we’re not together.”
Roman started to chuckle and went in for a kiss. Sure the blade of jealousy may have been buried deep in his chest, but that was only there because of how much Roman loved Wyatt. How possessive that love made him. “I know,” he said. “But you guys were?”
Wyatt swallowed audibly before answering. “We were.”
“When?”
“I got together with him a couple months after I was kicked out of Yale. We dated for five months before I realized it wasn’t going to work, so I broke it off.”
Roman nodded. The answer made complete sense to him, but he decided to dig a little deeper anyway. Just to make sure. “You told me you never dated anyone after me, though.”
“I know—I may have bent the truth about that. Only because I felt bad. If you really want to get technical, all the time I was with Theo, I was thinking about you. That’s why I broke up with him. I couldn’t get you out of my head.”
“Ah, I see. So it’s like you were still dating me, then?”
“Exactly,” Wyatt said, laughing with Roman. He was glad they could joke about this kind of thing. Even though the emotions that rose with the reveal were very real, it didn’t mean he had to let those toxic emotions control the narrative. He had complete trust in Wyatt and understood that people often times had lives beyond what they presented. There was a large gap of empty space in their past that would slowly be filled in over time as stories were shared and memories retold. It just so happened that one of those gaps had to do with an ex-boyfriend who was now tagging along with them on their next heist.
Funny how life works sometimes.
“You’re not upset, are you?”
Roman mulled over that question for a moment. “No, I’m not. Just surprised, I think. And a little territorial.”
“There’s no reason to feel like that. Theo and I are done done. Like, even if we were the only two people left on this earth, I still wouldn’t get with him. Because I’d still only be able to think of you, and that’s not fair for anyone involved.”
