Page 51 of The Vanishing
“Where is he, anyway?” Asao asks.
“Sleeping, apparently,” Junichi answers. “You want to go out for coffee? Since I’m here…”
“Sure.” Asao nods. “He slept the whole night?”
“Yes.” Nino pulls a second, smaller, elegantly wrapped box from the package. “He won’t be nocturnal for much longer. We’ll get this fixed, somehow. He’s been so intense and stressed lately. I don’t want ‘the threat of Lajos’ dictating the rest of our damn lives.”
“Agreed.” Junichi nods. “Have you thought any more about reporting what you know to the detective? Could help ease some of the pressure, knowing a professional is on the case?”
“I want to.” Nino sighs. “I need to talk to Haru about it.” Between his own regeneration challenges and his mate’s general distress, Nino had pushed the subject aside. How can they help solve someone else’s problems when their own household is under duress? As of last night though, maybe they’ve finally taken a firm step in the right direction? Just an inch closer to getting back to their normal lives.
Maybe I should try bringing it up again?
Twenty-Three
Haruka bolts upright in bed, eyes wide. Daylight. He sucks in a deep breath as if he’d been dead—the rush of oxygen in his lungs bringing him back to life. Fear washes over his body as he whips his head to the side.
“Everything is fine.”
Nino is freshly showered beside him, sitting in his navy yukata with his back against the headboard. He’s reading something. “I’m right here.”
Exhaling, Haruka falls back hard against the bed. His entire body feels like pudding, or something else soft and without discernable form. He’s still completely naked and tangled up in the bed sheets as a result of last night’s encounter. Locating and putting on his robe feels like an insurmountable task. He groans and rolls toward Nino, scooting himself so that his head rests on his firm thigh. He snuggles against him and wraps his arms around Nino’s waist. His voice is raspy and full of sleep. “Good morning.”
“Hello, gorgeous. How are you feeling?”
Haruka stops, taking inventory. He needs a shower and his legs are numb. “Like… mush.”
Nino snorts, laughing. “Good. You’ve been disturbingly tense for the past two months. Turns out you just needed to be thoroughly fucked.”
At this, Haruka stiffens. He burrows his flushed face into the soft bend of Nino’s hip, his voice muffled. “I’m not sure what that says about me…”
“Well, it’s definitely not theonlything you need.” Nino runs his fingers against his scalp. “But you enjoy sex. There’s nothing wrong with that, Haru.”
“I enjoyyou.” Haruka lifts his head, blinking up at him. “The sex is a bonus.”
“I enjoy you, too.” Nino lazily combs through the length of his hair, pulling and untangling the long strands. Haruka closes his eyes, calm as he rests against the warmth and firmness of Nino’s lap. He takes a deep breath, inhaling the woodsy and sweet essence of him. This singular moment… It is the most tranquil Haruka has felt in months.
“Tesoro?”
“Mm?”
“I have something for you.”
Haruka drags himself upright, the thick weight of his hair falling and covering his bare shoulders. “For me? Why?”
“Remember on our anniversary, I told you I had something else for you? It’s here…” Nino leans, grabbing a brown gift box from atop the nightstand. It is the size of a large book and tied with a red silk ribbon.
Haruka accepts the offering with both hands, placing it in his lap. He unravels the bow, then removes the box top. He separates the crisp white tissue paper inside to reveal a very neat-looking journal. His heart beats faster as he reads the embossed title.
“I backed up and reprintedLore and Lust.” Nino wiggles his coppery brows. “I started working on it right after we bonded last year. It was crazy to me that you just had one hard copy of something so important to your family legacy.”
Haruka lifts the condensed version of his clan’s research from the box. It’s bound in the same tawny leather, but sleeker and newer. He flips through the pages, and the typeface is also clean and organized—even more so than the data in the original version.
Nino bites his lip. “I reorganized the entries a bit… It’s set up by section, then by time frame, and then again by couple ranking and last alphabetically. Now, you can see bonding patterns and make comparisons. There’s an index too.”
Flipping back to the index, Haruka stares in awe, scanning the list of first names and last initials. Nino has even addressed the privacy matter Haruka had been concerned about. It is incredible that he’s mated to someone with such impressive organizational skills. Haruka isn’t sure if he has a singular organizational skill within his entire being.
The box shifts in his lap and Haruka looks down. Something slid across the bottom. He reaches into the mess of tissue paper and pulls out a small USB.
