Page 60 of His Boys to Protect

Ward looked down, his gaze following the path of his fingertips as they traced the line that connected all the images on Skylar's arm. “The line?”

“Yeah.”

Ward frowned. “I thought it was obvious.”

Skylar slowly shook his head, staring at him in awe. “Charlie's the only other person who's ever noticed it. Anybody else, I have to point it out, and even then they usually say they can't see it.”

“Huh.” Ward traced the line again, making its meandering path up one side of Skylar's arm and down the other. It was cunningly done. The line seamlessly connected all the various elements without boldly standing out on its own.

Skylar smiled softly. “Charlie calls it my lifeline.”

“Oh yeah?”

Skylar nodded. “It connects all the simple things I love. The things that make life worth living. Whenever I feel anxious or impatient about my life, I look at those, and they give me strength to keep going. To remind myself that I'm working toward a better future.” He breathed a laugh. “Granted, I probably could have had my surgery a lot sooner if I hadn't spent money on the ink, but…well…this is literally theoneunnecessary expense I've allowed myself over the past ten years. My one splurge. And it's helped keep me sane.”

“It's beautiful work.”

“Yeah. I really lucked out with this artist. There's a place here in the city that does a special offer for nipple tattoos. You know, for women who've gone through breast cancer and had reconstructive surgery. But they do it for guys like me, too. Trans guys, I mean. And while I had that done, I was looking around at the pictures of some of their other work, and we talked about ideas for this,” Skylar went on, gesturing at his left arm. “They drew it all out, and we did it little by little over the years.”Skylar paused, smiling as he eyed the designs, the only blank space being inside the heart just below his shoulder. He touched that spot, a thoughtful look on his face. “I thought about putting Charlie's name here, but something always stopped me.” He slowly shook his head. “I don't know. Maybe it just won't feel right until I can get free of this job. I mean, I can't exactly have a name on my skin where clients could see it. But I also want to keep Charlie as far away from this part of my life as possible. I don't even want my clients to see his name. To spoil it in any way. Does that even make sense? Fuck. I don't know. Still, until I can quit this job…” Skylar trailed off.

Ward nodded. “I can see that.”

“Yeah?” Skylar gave him a smile and lay his head back down.

“You and Charlie have been together a while, huh?” Ward asked.

“We've been best friends since we were kids, yeah,” Skylar replied with a nod.

“Did you meet at school?”

“Yeah.” Skylar smiled fondly. “I'm a couple years older, so we never had classes together, but I saw him on the playground. Well, on the edges, because he liked to be alone. But, one day, I saw him getting pushed around by some bullies. This was right before his parents decided to switch him to homeschooling. But you can imagine how cruel kids could be to someone like him.”

“Geez,” Ward quietly swore. “Yeah.” He could picture it far too easily. Sweet, innocent Charlie being picked on or assaulted just because his brain worked differently. It made Ward itch to gather the boy into his arms and never let go.

“Well, I was a feisty little shit back then,” Skylar went on with a chuckle. “I saw this one bully pushing Charlie around—even knocked him flat on his back before I got there—but then I stepped in and punched the guy right in the nose.”

Ward barked a laugh. “Really?”

“Oh yeah. Got in big trouble for it, too. But before the teachers got there, I crouched down over Charlie, blocking the sun because I could tell it was bothering his eyes.” Skylar paused. “He looked at me—I meanrightat me, just for a moment—and smiled, then signed,My sky.” When Ward gave him a puzzled look, Skylar explained, “Because I became his own personal sky in that moment, blocking out the real one that was too bright. Too loud.”

“Ah,” Ward said with a chuckle. “You knew sign back then?”

“Yeah. I had a grandfather who was born deaf, so I was taught how to sign even before I could talk.” Skylar laughed. “Though I had to unlearn a few things with Charlie. He uses his own grammar structure, if any at all.” Skylar shook his head. “He was so happy, though, having someone outside his family who could understand him. Who could accept him.”

“I bet,” Ward murmured.

“When I came out to him, years later…Well, first I had to make sure he understood what I was talking about. I had no clue how he was going to take it, since he needs things to always be a certain way. To be constant and familiar. But he accepted it right off. He even commented on how it should have been obvious. That I looked so much happier and freer, telling him I was supposed to be a boy instead of a girl.” Skylar smiled again. “But then I asked him what he thought about me changing my name to Skylar so that I really could be his Sky.”

Ward raised his eyebrows. “What'd he say?”

“He was so overwhelmed with happiness that he actually had to go hide in the dark for a few minutes until the loud feelings subsided.” Skylar breathed a laugh. “But then he had to take me around to his family and reintroduce me to them as his Sky. He showed them my new name sign and said they had to call me Skylar from now on because that was my real name. He wouldn't tolerateanybodystill calling me Sarah.”

Ward couldn't help smiling. “That's adorable.”

“Right? Shit. I still can't believe how easily he handled it. Charlie doesnotdo change well. Like at all. But he took to calling me Skylar like he'd been doing it since the day we met. He–” Skylar broke off with a laugh. “He immediately started doing all this research, reading up on hormone therapy and different surgical options. Hell, he knew way more than I did, even after I started getting information from my doctors. He checks in with me to make sure I've taken my shots. If I happen to be staying with him when I'm due for one, he has to supervise, even though he absolutely hates needles.”

Ward chuckled. “I can totally see that.”

“Yeah,” Skylar said with a laugh. “I mean, he's not, like, domineering or anything.”

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