Page 87 of Getting It Twisted

It never comes.

Epilogue

Daniel

Two months later

Nathan lounges on thebed, freshly showered and dressed only in a pair of tight red boxers. He watches me with an intent expression on his face: brows furrowed, mouth slightly parted. Now and again, he looks away, only for his gaze to flit back to me just as quick.

After a good ten minutes of this, I drop my pen and lean back in the chair. “Go ahead—speak your mind.” So much for his promise to help with my reapplication to art school; I won’t get anything done with him looking at me like that.

“I just like watching you draw, okay?” A flush creeps up his throat, and he looks away. “It’s kinda . . . peaceful or whatever.”

I raise an eyebrow, trying to decipher what he’s really trying to tell me. He’s rarely this quiet, and when he is, it’s because he wants to tell me something but doesn’t know how.

It can’t be . . .that. . . can it?

Two months after that cold, bright morning on the porch, he still hasn’t told me those magic three words, even though I’ve toldhimmore times than I can count. I’ve been patient with it; what he doesn’t say in words, he shows me in action. But still . . . Nathan can say the most heinous, fucked-up shit, but “I love you” is too much?

He does love me, though, I’m fairly sure. Almost as sure as I am about my love for him. That’s not to say he doesn’t drive me to the end point of my sanity sometimes, like when he steals George’s protein shakes even though he obviously hates them and does it only to piss him off, or like right now, when he refuses to say what’s on his mind.

I just wish he would tell me how he feels. Unprompted, like I do.

There’s a knock on the door, and George sticks his head in. “Oh, come on. You guys still haven’t packed up?”

“I thought you said ten.”

“Itisten!” His gaze shifts from me to Nathan’s half-naked form, and Nathan meets his eyes with a challenging half smirk.

Somehow, they’ve made it two months of living in the same place without killing each other. No broken noses either. Not to say there haven’t been some rough times, but in a few hours, none of it will matter.

Nathan and I are moving out. It took us a while to find a one-bedroom apartment with decent rent and a good location. Took Nathan a while to get a job too, but now he works part-time atthe animal shelter up north. He comes home with a tired smile on his lips, smelling of wet fur and dog treats.

By referring to Jessie’s love of animals more than her love for Nathan, I convinced my mom to let me take her to the shelter once a week. Her and Nathan’s encouraging coos as they feed the smallest, weakest little beagle together warm my heart more than anything else.

“I’ll go get the trailer now,” George says. “When I come back, I want all this shit downstairs.” He waves a hand at the moving boxes and furniture.

When the door shuts, I stand up and stretch my arms over my head. “You heard him. We should be getting ready.”

Nathan gazes at me from under his bangs, lips tilted in a sultry way only he can manage. I know what that look means.

“It’s at least a fifteen-minute drive,” he says in an innocent tone.

I give him a look.Thelook. Theare you serious right now?look I give him at least once a day. Thequit it or I’ll spank you so hard you won’t be able to sit for a weeklook.

“Oh, come on.” He pouts. “Can I suck you off at least?”

“I don’t know. Can you?” More often than not when he’s in this mood, he’ll end up begging me to fuck him before I come.

“Let’s put it like this, what’s gonna get you off faster: my mouth or my ass?”

I smile and shake my head. “There’s not enough time.” Despite my words, I find myself with one knee on the mattress, sliding my fingers into his hair.

He gazes up at me with an expression he knows all too well I’m hopeless to resist. “Wanna bet?”

We’ll figure things out.

That’s what I promised him we’d do. And that’s what we’re still doing.

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