Page 95 of A Voice In Chains
At that, one of Arkin’s dimples makes an appearance, shadowed by the fairy lights.
“Is it true?” I ask, barely daring to believe it. “You’re moving in with us?”
Intense eyes hold me captive as a barely there tip of his chin confirms his decision. He came back to me. He’s here, for me.
“We still have so much to discuss,” I tell him. “I want to know everything about you. Everything,” I emphasize. “Your dreams,ambitions, hopes, and fears. What happened this past year? I want to know everything.”
Stepping closer, he reaches for my hand and interlaces our fingers. With his eyes locked on mine, he brushes his lips over my knuckles in a soft kiss while the soft glow from the fairy lights dances over his features. “We’ll stay up all night talking. Just us, tangled naked in your sheets.”
Ryan scoffs. “Talking? Yeah, right.”
Staring at his mouth as he sinks his teeth into my knuckles in a sensuous bite, my mouth goes dry. “We still have so many things we need to discuss.”
He pulls me close, cupping the back of my head and lining his mouth up with my lips. “And we will, after you bury your dick in me.”
A hard thump lands in my balls.
“If you lovebirds are done, we need to head back,” Harrison informs us.
“What about the fairy lights?” I ask. “We’ll get into trouble.”
“It’s already sorted.” Ryan pats me on the shoulder as we set off. “Don’t worry about a thing, alright. We’ve got it covered.”
Arkin’s warm palm glides against mine, and we interlock our fingers. The tentative smile we share has my heart growing too large for my chest.
I won’t say I have completely forgiven him for not reaching out to me this past year. The hurt is there, and it’s a conversation we’ll need to have.
But for now, I’m content walking side by side with the man I’ve dreamed about every night for the past several months.
Despite the bleeding laceration he left behind, I know deep, deep down that Arkin needed time to work on himself. I know he had no ill intentions and that his goal wasn’t to hurt me. I know he needed space to heal and work through his trauma so thathe could come to peace with his past and the atrocious acts he suffered at the hands of two monsters. I respect that.
In the end, all that matters is that he is worth the wait.
And that he beat his demons and came back to me.
EPILOGUE
ARKIN
3 years later
The campus buzzes with excitement as students and families gather under a bright June sky. Rows of white chairs stretch across the manicured lawn, facing a raised stage draped in the university’s deep blue banners. Zach adjusts the edge of his black graduation gown, the usual two-day scruff gone after his very thorough shave this morning. His cap sits slightly crooked until I reach over to tilt it back into place with a grin. “Can’t have you looking a mess for the photos,” I tease, my own gown swishing slightly as I shift in place. Zach looks around the crowds, searching for Harrison and Ryan who are around here somewhere.
As the chancellor begins his speech, the crowd quietens. I glance over at Zach, who is tapping his fingers on his program. “You nervous?”
Zach chuckles quietly, shaking his head and leaning in. “Nah. Just ready to suck your cock in that gown.”
A guy in front of us with a mop of blonde curly hair looks at us over his shoulder with a wide-eyed expression.
His pockmarked cheeks redden before he turns back around.
I slam a hand to my mouth to muffle my laughter.
Winking, Zach faces forward again, pretending he didn’t paint a very vivid, tempting image in my head just now of him on his knees, with my big dick in his mouth, his cap tilted to the side again.
“It would be nice if I could get through graduation without an erection, you know. Our families are here.”
Even though I keep my voice low, the guy in front of me must hear because his shoulders pop to his ears.
