Page 60 of Solo Stan
“Fine.”
Elias was suddenly at eye level, and before Kai could register what was happening, Elias’s lips were on his. It took a moment for Kai to get over the initial shock, but soon he was kissing him back. Elias seized the drawstrings of Kai’s ridiculous hibiscus board shorts and pulled, gasping as the edge of the counter pressed into his back. Kai swiftly hoisted Elias onto the counter by the waist, their connection unbroken. In that instant, Kai had never been so glad to be wrong, as the current of the moment surged between them, taking him back to their first touch, when Elias’s aura burned bloodred.
Kai cradled Elias’s face in his hand, and Elias nuzzled into it, planting a soft kiss on his palm before returning to his lips.
This is happening,Kai’s mind screamed. As he finally relaxed and accepted the fact that Elias’s feelings for him were genuine, the beep of the alarm keypad downstairs sounded, and they abruptly broke apart, eyes wide.
“Oh, what now?” Kai whined.
33
Elias
7:02 a.m.
Elias clenched his fists and launched into a silent rage, punching the air and letting out a whisper yell. “What’s Moodie doing here?” he fumed.
“Your clumsy ass must have triggered the panic button when you knocked into the keypad!” Dakarai responded.
“Shh!”Elias clapped his hand over Dakarai’s mouth.
He slapped Elias’s hand away. “Youshh.”
Elias persisted, attempting to cover Dakarai’s mouth once more, culminating in a struggle until both raised their arms in surrender.
“I’ll go apologize to him. It’s not that big of a deal,” Dakarai whispered.
“No,” Elias said, wrinkling his nose in disgust. “I can’t let him know I’m the one who set off the alarm, and I for sure don’t want him knowing you’re here. He had, like, five rules, and I’m pretty sure I broke every single one of them. He’ll send me back to New York in a heartbeat, and I finally want to be here.”
The nervous energy was evident in Dakarai as he repeatedly ran his hands over his braids, seeming to find comfort in the texture. He froze when the first step up to the apartment creaked. In onemovement, he shut off the lights and pulled Elias down with him. The two sat next to each other on the kitchen floor beneath the breakfast bar, as though bracing for an earthquake.
The sound of Moodie’s heavy steps echoed up the stairway, becoming more apprehensive the closer they got, until they stopped altogether. “Eli, you there?” His voice was low but clear through the solid oak door. Elias kept his eyes purposefully shut, punctuating each syllable of Moodie’s words with a teeth grind. “Are you in there, nephew?” Moodie asked. “Did you set off the store alarm?”
Still, Elias didn’t answer. There was a long sigh on the other side of the door, followed by fading footsteps as they moved away. The jingle of the front door didn’t make a sound as they expected, however. Beneath them, the muffled creaks of floorboards and the shuffling of Moodie’s feet told the boys everywhere he went—from the counter to the back shelves, to the break room, and to the bathroom twice. About half an hour went by, and Elias remained stoic, his hand grasped firmly on Dakarai’s knee.
“I shouldn’t have shut off the lights,” Dakarai said in a hushed voice. “We can’t even turn them back on now or Moodie will know you’ve been up here hiding from him.”
Elias opened his eye a sliver. Only the outline of Dakarai’s silhouette was visible as slats of meager light from the streetlamps filtered in through the barred window on the unusually dark morning. It may as well have been the middle of the night. Giving Dakarai’s knee a comforting squeeze, he murmured softly, “I’m good. It’s about time I got over this stupid fear anyway.”
At once, Dakarai’s leg moved from beneath his hold, and a flash of red shone through his eyelids. He opened his eyes to find that Dakarai had kicked open the fridge door, allowing light to spill out onto the kitchen floor. It wasn’t bright enough to light the entireroom, but it offered a golden glow, enough for them to see each other at least. There was a subtle resonance in Elias’s chest.
Dakarai settled in beside Elias once more. The two sat shoulder to shoulder against the wall with their arms relaxed at their sides.
Elias pulled Dakarai close by the front of his shirt. Dakarai’s breath shook as they lingered there, just inches apart. His eyes flickered to Elias’s lips, then back up to his eyes before he placed a light, chaste kiss on the corner of Elias’s mouth. There wasn’t a single thought in Elias’s head as he pulled Dakarai into another dizzying kiss. It didn’t matter whether Moodie was downstairs or not. They’d just have to be quiet. He wasn’t sure if minutes or hours were going by. He didn’t care that the floor was hard and cold or that his back would likely hurt all day. Nothing. He’d always been embarrassed by his fear of the dark, but with Dakarai, he couldn’t feel ashamed even if he tried. He felt like he could just exist.
Gasping against Dakarai’s mouth as Dakarai’s chest rose and fell, he didn’t want to stop, but he needed just a moment to catch his breath. He began to pull away, but Dakarai made a noise of protest, not allowing the retreat. Elias put a finger to his lips.Shh.
He sat back with an exhale of relief, his attention fixed on the wall, the only thing keeping him upright.
The moment had reduced him to his most base desires, and all he could focus on was his empty stomach. Still in a daze, he reached over his head to the counter above, grabbing Dakarai’s unfinished breakfast. With a resounding crunch, he snorted with laughter, scattering crumbs. “What? I’m starving,” he whispered with a gulp. “You ate, but I didn’t get a chance yet.”
Dakarai hooked Elias behind the knee and pulled him closer. “Because you were busy staring at me.”
“No, I wasn’t.”
“Yes, you—”
Elias stopped him mid-sentence with a bite of toast. Dakarai’s cheeks puffed up like a squirrel as he tried to chew and suppress a laugh at the same time. Elias found his gaze fixed on his mouth, observing its movement as he chewed. “My mother would have a fit if she saw the fridge open like this.Do you pay bills in here?” Elias said in a mocking tone. Dakarai moved to close the door, but Elias stopped him.
