Page 73 of Touch In Excess

It was hard to feel as crushed about it as he had before though. Not with Rami in his life. Not with the Sins as his family. Not with the stability he thought he’d lost when his world had literally been pulled out from under his feet.

He cleared his throat again and glanced around for his phone, but he couldn’t find it. Had he left it in the living room? He struggled to remember what had happened after the auction, apart from Rami showing up and crawling into bed to hold him for the rest of the night.

After taking a piss, brushing his teeth, and getting dressed, Skye ventured out of his bedroom but found everywhere else devoid of his lover’s presence. Rami didn’t drive, so he would have had to take an Uber, and Skye would have expected Rami to wake him up. Or at least leave a damn note.

He found his phone on the floor beside the end table, and his heart sank when he realized it was dead. With groggy eyes and slow hands, he pawed around the drawer for a charger, and then when the light was blinking, he ventured outside his front door in hopes of seeing some sign of his beloved.

It only took a moment of adjusting to the low, midmorning light for him to catch a glimpse of exactly who he was looking for. Rami was across the lawn under one of the crepe myrtles, sitting beside August. They had their backs to the trunk and their heads tipped down over one of August’s massive sketchbooks.

Skye almost left them to it. This was what he wanted, after all. He wanted Rami to endear himself to his friends. He wanted Rami to find the same closeness with the Sins that he had. He wanted this place to be more than a den of iniquity. He wanted Rami to feel safe there.

But he also wanted to touch him. To kiss him. To wrap his arms around him and remind himself that this was all real.

Rami looked up when Skye was halfway across the grass, and although he didn’t smile, his eyes lit up. August followed his gaze and lifted his hand to give a short wave, his brow furrowed—clearly annoyed that Skye was interrupting them.

Skye would apologize later. Right now, he just needed to remind himself he wasn’t alone. That waking up in the bed by himself after a night like last night wasn’t an indication that Rami would eventually leave him.

Fuck, he hadn’t even realized he was afraid of that until his head voiced it.

‘Morning,’ he signed.

‘Morning, habibi.’ Rami used the same sign he had before, mouthing the word so Skye knew what it was. His chest warmed as he dropped to his knees and glanced at the work August was showing off. It was early sketches of Skye’s painting session. Several poses that August ended up hating on the canvas, but they looked not half-bad in smaller form.

Rami hooked his finger over his ear.

“Bad day,” Skye said and winced. He could barely hear himself at all.

‘Dizzy?’ Rami asked.

Skye shook his head and leaned in to take a quick kiss. ‘No. Much better. Can I cook you breakfast?’

Rami nestled a little closer and nodded, and Skye took a moment to wrap his arms around him, and he held him, basking in his sunbaked warmth. After a beat, he looked over to meet August’s gaze, who was studying them. He looked less annoyed.

‘You-you,’ August signed, pointing first at Rami, then at Skye. ‘Nice.’

Skye snorted. “Yeah. It is nice.”

August said nothing after that. He was learning ASL, but he was slower than the others. His anxiety made it hard for him to function in class, and he’d dropped two of them when the professors refused to excuse him from the Deaf event portion of the lesson.

Skye didn’t blame him. He didn’t understand what it was like to have anxiety so bad he couldn’t leave his bed, but he’d seen the way it ravaged August on his worst days. Hell, he’d seen the struggle he dealt with on his best ones.

The fact that he knew that much was enough for Skye.

‘Can I finish looking at art?’ Rami asked after a beat.

Skye nodded and tipped Rami’s chin up to kiss him. ‘I’m hungry. Come in when you’re ready.’

He took one more indulgent second to press his body against Rami’s, and then he climbed to his feet and enjoyed the sensation of grass against his arches as he made his way back to his cottage. He rounded the corner to go in the side gate when he saw Stone, Flint, and Onyx climbing into Stone’s truck. Their faces looked drawn and worried.

He thought about texting Flint to ask what was going on, but he had a feeling it was sibling business, and that wasn’t his place. They would share when they were ready. But his heart ached for everything they were trying to do for siblings who hadn’t asked to be born into the family that had mistreated them.

Skye had only heard a handful of stories from both Stone and Flint, and that was enough to make him want to find his parents and beat them until they were unrecognizable. He didn’t think either of them would appreciate that, but God, it would feel good.

Skye jumped when a hand landed on his shoulder, and he spun to find Avan smirking at him.

“…it…some…you…later, right?”

With a small sigh, Skye shook his head. “Sorry, man. I can’t hear shit today.”

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