Page 35 of Palingenesis

Longing.

The need to be connected to someone, understood by the one closest to me.

Suspicion teases the edges of my thoughts, but he’s smiling as he steps in next to me, close enough that I feel the added heat of his skin.

He leans back slightly to sign in the small space between us. “I put your aids on the charger.”

My gut clenches and a war rages inside of me at that statement, a mix of of course Henry would mention those, and he’s never offered to touch them before that has my mouth agape.

The result of it has me launching forward, crushing my lips to his, if only to test the waters.

Will he finally stop acting?

Can I taste the transgressions on his tongue? Will his body betray him and finally tell me the truth I know exists somewhere?

Or will he disappear completely and leave me completely alone all over again?

He surprises the shit out of me by matching my intensity, hands curling around my neck to tug at my hair and nip at my bottom lip. It’s his tongue that licks across the seam of mine, and I let him in.

Heat kicks up between us, his arousal grinding against my thigh.

I pop off his lips, desperate for air, and search his gaze.

“Are you real?” I find myself asking with both my hands and my voice.

His response is to wink and maneuver around me until his back is against my front.

“See,” he signs over his shoulder then walks his hands down the shower wall, bending at the waist.

I’m a starved man. A delirious man.

Mad with a craving so deep, I can’t put words to it. A yearning like nothing I’ve ever felt before.

There’s a bottle of lube next to Henry’s expensive shampoo. One I don’t ever remember being in here before, but I snatch it before I can think twice and pour some onto my fingers; reaching between his cheeks in a way he’s never let me before.

He’s already stretched. Like maybe he was hopeful this would happen.

In the blink of an eye, I’m sliding home in him but there’s a tickle at the back of my mind as I stare at the wall.

And as we both work to find a release, I can’t help seeing nothing but red, scarred eyes staring back at me.

I’m distracted after, and we clean up on autopilot as we both dress and make our way out to my truck.

He’s worried about me.

He’s coming with me today.

The sentiment hangs thick in the air as I drive, eventually parking in front of Avery’s bakery on instinct, the small window front filled with displays of sweet and savory treats. It’s exactly how I remember it from that night.

The one that seems like such a far-fetched fever-fueled illusion that I’m shaking as I let myself out.

If it happened, Avery won’t recognize Henry.

Right?

Hearing devices in place, my head filled with noise and Henry keeping up at my side, I pull open the door to the bakery. A low bell chime announces our entry.

“Hey, I’m gonna run down the block real quick.” The sound of Henry’s voice close to my ear makes me jolt but I hide it quickly. “I’ll be right back.”