“Damn, I knew I forgot something.” He smirks. “But you just drank a shit ton of my cum. That should last you a little while.” His eyebrows tick up. “And then we’ll have to do it again.”

I laugh and slap his chest before sucking in a bite of his flesh. He moans and squeezes my butt cheek.

“What are your tattoos for?” I trace the one of the bird with my finger.

“Huh?” Carter shifts under me as his arm tenses.

“Do they have any kind of special meaning?” I don’t mean to make him uncomfortable, but I want to know everything about him.

“Some have meaning.” He clears his throat. “Others I got when I was bored.”

I wait for him to elaborate, but he doesn’t.

“This is obviously for the fire department.” I point to the one on the inside of his bicep with the department’s logo over flames. “And this one,” I turn to point to the paramedic logo with a snake wrapped around a pole in the center on the inside of his other bicep, “is obvious too.”

“Yup.” His hand smooths over my hip as his body relaxes.

“What’s this?” I point to the one on the side of his torso, scripted words that are hard to make out from this angle.

“Be strong. Be tough. Never give in,” he reads off the words for me.

So far, none of them are insignificant. Each one makes up this tough, caring man.

“And this one?” I slide my hand over the bird and mountains drawn on his chest and give it a soft kiss. This one feels special. It’s more detailed and bigger than the others. It must’ve taken the longest to sit through.

“It’s a bird.” He clears his throat, and I regret asking when I hear the sadness in his voice. “It’s for Janisa.”

“Oh.”

“She was my sister.”

I knew that, but I nod and try to look surprised. “You had a sister?”

“You knew that, didn’t you?” He calls me out on my lie.

“Creed may have mentioned her,” I tell him the truth. “What happened to her?”

“She took some pills. A lot of pills.” He looks away, but holds me closer to his side. “It was happening right in front of us, but we did nothing about it.”

“You were so young.” From what I remember, Creed said it happened ten years ago. That’s too young for a boy to worry about things like that.

“There were signs. Bruises, and she told me once, or she tried to, years before.” He takes a deep breath. “I never told anyone. I could’ve stopped him.”

“Hey,” I turn his face toward me, “you were too young to do anything. It’s not your fault.”

“Someone should’ve stopped him, but now there’s no proof.” Carter holds me close and runs his hands over my back and sides.

“I’m sorry for bringing it up, but it was not your fault. None of it is.” I place my hand over his chest where I’ve seen a few bruises over the months. There aren’t any now, but those marks left their impression and don’t ever really go away.

He closes his eyes and kisses me before lying back down, holding me with both arms wrapped tightly over my shoulders.

We lie there, nibbling each other with sweet kisses. Holding each other, taking away all our pains.

I wake up in Carter’s arms with the sun shining on us.

Our day of no barriers, uninterrupted sex turned into a long nap for both of us.

“Your snoring is so loud.” Carter grins down at me.