Page 75 of Thirsty
He pulled back again, trying to read Lorenzo, who was waiting for a response with a cool, distant look on his face. Did Lorenzowantto see his place, or was this some kind of test? If so, did he suspect Charlie was hiding something from him? Or was this all more basic?
Charlie forced a playful smile and pushed up on his elbow, grinning at Lorenzo cockily. “Is that your way of asking to come over?”
Lorenzo shrugged, closing his eyes.
“My place sucks,” Charlie whispered, leaning in close to him. “It’s grad student living—not this ritzy.”
Lorenzo said nothing, even as Charlie pressed kisses to his chest and up his jaw. He wasn’t ignoring Charlie, moving slightly against him in a warm, pleased sort of way, but he hadn’t responded yet either.
“I mean, I don’t have this bed,” Charlie said between kisses. “Or your bathroom. Or...”
That skylight, he thought. And suddenly hedidwant to invite Lorenzo over to his place, badly. He thought of Lorenzo lying in this bed, day in and day out, under an enormous glass pane, and he wanted him safe. Wanted to offer him someplace different.
Which scared the shit out of him.
“Or what?” Lorenzo asked, finally looking at him.
Charlie’s heart was hammering. He kissed Lorenzo, scrambling into his lap, to distract him.
And Lorenzo let him.
Chapter 22
It stormed badly on Sunday night. Normally Lorenzo liked the rain, but tonight he was annoyed because he’d found a faerie circle that he’d been looking forward to taking Charlie to. He would have been shocked, because Lorenzo always complained and dragged his feet when Charlie came up with an idea for one of his “educational” excursions. He’d have been surprised and maybe even delighted by Lorenzo bringing an idea to him. Lorenzo had been looking forward to that—discombobulating Charlie. Exciting him.
But the damn faerie circle got rained out, so they were stuck inside. It was early, before midnight, but Lorenzo already felt like crawling the walls.
They’d taken over the living room, thinking they were the only ones home, when Maggie came out of her room to get something from the kitchen. Charlie roped her into sitting on the couch with them, and after a long meandering conversation, Charlie brought them around to talking about Rachel and Isolde. Lorenzo stiffened.
He didn’t know why Charlie’s curiosity about them bothered him, but it did. When Charlie got like this, he reminded Lorenzo of the man he’d met five years ago. Shallow. Judgmental. Manipulative.
Caring. Invested. Sensitive, his brain chirped back at him. And he knew that was true; he knew that Charlie cared about Rachel and Isolde. He knew he was only trying to help.
A touch on his knee startled him. Without interrupting the story he was telling Maggie, Charlie dragged Lorenzo’s bare feet into his lap and started giving him a foot rub.
He’d noticed Lorenzo’s discomfort and responded to it without being asked. And his thumbs felt amazing pressed firmly into Lorenzo’s soles. He melted into the couch a little, closed his eyes, and tried to let the conversation wash over him.
“Did you really vote for someone else, instead of Isolde?” Charlie was asking.
“Well, there was this supercool gremlin dude who built these elaborate sets for D&D,” Maggie said.
Lorenzo could feel Charlie turning to look at him, and opened his eyes. “So you were the deciding vote?” Charlie asked. “Why’d you vote for Isolde?”
Lorenzo shrugged. After a moment, a look of scandalized understanding took over Charlie’s face. “Because she’s hot?” he demanded.
Lorenzo smiled sheepishly, and Charlie doubled over with laughter. Maggie grinned, curling her legs up into her chair.
“Wow,” Charlie said, sitting back against the couch. Turning back to Maggie, he asked, “So why do you think Rachel voted for her?”
“I don’t know,” Maggie said cautiously. “Why do you ask?”
“Well, because things have been super weird with them lately,” Charlie said. “You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed.”
Lorenzo pulled his feet back from Charlie’s lap and got up off the couch, stretching his legs. Charlie looked after him in confusion, but was distracted when Maggie said, “I think they just get on each other’s nerves sometimes. They could do a better job communicating.”
“Yeah. Yeah,” Charlie said doubtfully. “I wonder the best way to get them to talk. Y’know, really talk.”
“If they want to talk, they’ll talk,” Lorenzo snapped. “You can’t make that happen.”
