then sighed when it was obvious Alexander wasn’t going to finish his sentence. “Do I press him?”
“I think he wants to talk it out. I think he might feel like he needs permission,” Luca said quietly.
And well, Sebastion knew how that felt too.
Dee: Also, what? You know we’re not here to judge you.
ATG: I know, it’s just so stupid. This makes me sound like some kid with a high school boyfriend. And okay yeah, he’s my first relationship, but we’ve been together four years. I mean, we’re technically engaged. Shouldn’t I have figured this shit out by now?
Dee: I’m not the best person to tell you how to handle this situation. My longest relationship before Luca ended badly.
ATG: How bad? Like you were in danger when you tried to leave kind of bad?
Dee: No, nothing like that. It was just very toxic by the end. He and I didn’t like each other very much when things finally broke. I moved out of state, and he didn’t follow me.
ATG: I don’t think Max likes me very much either. But I don’t know how he’d react if I told him I was ready to break it off.
Dee: I know we just met, but if you ever need a safe place to go, you know we’re here.
ATG: I know. I also understand now why Luca got the Tweedle Dum screen name. There’s no fucking way it would have worked for you.
“How dare…” Luca breathed, but he had a sad sort of smile on his face as he snatched the phone from Sebastion’s hands.
Dee: This is Luca, and I will have you know that I got almost a perfect score on my SATs.
ATG: Nerd.
Dee: I’m taking that as a compliment. But Sebastion’s right. It’s a shitty situation, but you’re not alone. I’m sure you have friends, but we’re also in town, and if you need a place to go, we have an extra room.
“I was so sure you were going to tell him we had a California King,” Sebastion said with a wink.
Luca looked at him, and there was something in his gaze Sebastion realized he wasn’t expecting. “I…not without talking to you first. And he’s a kid.”
“He’s not a kid,” Sebastion pointed out.
Luca dragged a hand down his face. “You had a shit-fit because you were eleven years older than me when we met. You’re telling me you’d be fine with a twenty-four-year-old in our bed?”
“We’ve slept with younger,” he answered, because they had.
“Yeah, when we were younger. Sebastion…”
He heard a sort of strange tension in his husband’s voice, and he quickly put the phone down, gently cupping his cheeks. Luca had a smudge of sauce in the corner of his mouth, and he leaned in, licking it away gently.
“I’m sorry. I hurt your feelings, didn’t I?” he murmured.
Luca closed his eyes. “No. God, no. This just feels different and fragile, and I don’t want to tell some guy who is clearly in a fucked-up situation that we have room in our bed for him while he’s this vulnerable. And I know you were kidding,” he said when Sebastion opened his mouth to defend himself, “but the truth is, I feel attached even after a single fucking day. It’s a little…”
“Unsettling?” Sebastion offered, and when Luca nodded, he sighed because he felt the same damn way. “We can always stop.”
“No,” Luca said fast enough to tell Sebastion that he’d already considered it. “I think we should just be careful.”
ATG: Thanks. I’m sure it won’t be necessary, but it helps knowing I’d have backup. Anyway, I should go. I have way too much research to finish, and this chapter isn’t going to write itself. Talk later?
Sebastion didn’t bother a sign off, instead slipping the phone to the nightstand as Luca rose and took their plates away. They didn’t eat as much as they would have—as they probably should have—but he felt sated in other ways. He laid back on the bed, then patted his side and shifted over as Ivy leapt up and curled up against him.
Luca let out a snort of laughter when he came back in and saw them, and he wasted no time at all cuddling up behind his husband. Warm lips brushed the back of his neck, over his shoulders, up into his hair before nosing along his scalp. “I love the shit out of you.”
Sebastion chuckled and reached for his hand, linking their fingers together to hold him tight. “Look at what old men we are. In bed by