Page 143 of Pucking Tangled
“Mine or yours?”
“Yes.”
He laughed again, softer this time, and dipped his head to hers.
“You were really brave today, Luca. Telling your parents about us.”
He closed his eyes, soaking it all in.
“I was scared they wouldn’t get it,” he admitted. “That they’d see it as… weird. Or wrong.”
“But they didn’t,” she said. “They sawyou. That’s what matters.”
“It’s pretty fucked up that we’re not all that lucky,” he replied fiercely, a reference to Waylon’s parents.
“It’s their loss. And he’ll always have us.”
He opened his eyes and looked at her. Really looked. “You make it easier to believe that.”
Mia leaned in and kissed him, slow and sure. Like they weren’t in a rush to get anywhere excepthere.
When they broke apart, she tugged him toward the bed and pulled back the covers. “Come on. Sleep.”
They curled in together—Luca on his side, Mia tucking herself into the curve of his body like she was meant to fit there.
Her fingers played along his forearm in slow, lazy sweeps.
He pressed a kiss to her shoulder, his voice low. “Love you, MiaMoo.”
“I love you, too.”
There were things he wanted to say—bigger things, messier things. About love, and safety, and what it meant to be seen. But he knew she already understood. Because she’d told them all as much, more than once in the last forty-eight hours.
Instead, Luca let his eyes fall closed, wrapped around the girl who made him feel more like himself than he ever had before.
FORTY-NINE
Owen
Owen stood against the counter,his hands wrapped around a chipped mug, watching the steam from Casey’s extra-strong brew curling in the morning light.
Everyone else was outside, enjoying the sunshine.
Mia and Luca were curled up on a lounge chair. Casey had his legs in Mia’s lap, and they were all half-listening to something on Waylon’s phone while Skeeter chased a ball around in the grass.
Usually, the sight would have made him smile, but there was a heaviness in his chest.
Watching the weight lift from Luca’s shoulders after he’d spoken to his parents, soaking in the love and acceptance from Casey and Mia’s parents, it had stirred up something he wasn’t ready for. A raw feeling of rejection and disappointment.
Owen was happy for his friends. His…lovers.
But he had far more in common with Waylon than the man knew.
He reached for his phone. His thumb hovered over the top of his favorites list, where two names sat untouched, their names still pinned. Still pretending, maybe.
They hadn’t spoken in over five years, and he wasn’t sure they even knew where he lived or played now, much less about his new relationship.
His phone buzzed with a message from his sister, startling him out of his reverie.
