Minutes passed. A rain shower pattered at their windows.
“Noah?” Wade whispered.
Noah shifted onto his side, slipping a hand under his pillow. Wade did the same, the space between them shrinking to less than a foot.
“Could we . . .”
“Could we, what?” Noah asked.
“Chat?”
“About—”
“No. About anything. Everything.”
Noah shifted his pillow to clear his view of Wade’s moonlit silhouette. “How did you get into cars?”
“I can’t remember a time I wasn’t, but . . . my dad loved them too. He’d take me to all the vintage car rallies. When I was sixteen, he took me on my first trip overseas, to the Festival of Historic Motoring.
“He knew all these facts and tested me on them on our way back home. I never liked getting anything wrong. He’d always grin when I got things right, and tousle my hair.”
Wade huffed, the kind of huff that accompanied a fond smile. “It was special. Just us time, you know? Franny was never interested, Robby even less. They always had good grades to share, always got attention for achievements at school.” A one-shouldered shrug. “It was where he got to be proud of me.”
Noah’s voice tangled with the knot in his throat. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“It’s a kind of loss we share, don’t we?” Wade brushed their fingers together between the pillows. “What do you think when you hear ‘Dad’?”
“Unconditional love. He loved me and Zach with everything he had.”
Wade shifted.
“You’re frowning.”
“Just . . . how could he leave you in such debt you can barely afford rent?”
“He needed his last big adventure, and I needed to give it to him.”
“But—”
“When I needed thousands for surgeries, he gave it to me. No questions, he just wanted me to have the best life I could. And when . . .” Noah’s tongue clacked against a rising sob, and he swallowed. “We travelled Europe. We drove across the States. We stayed at fancy hotels. We laughed. We finished his bucket list.”
Wade slid his hand over Noah’s and stroked the side of his palm.
“Tell me about the birds? How did that start?”
“I guess it started when Zach and I found an injured silver fairy prion at the beach. We were just kids.”
“Is that like a gull?” The words kissed the tips of his hair.
“A burrow-nesting sea bird.”
Noah turned, exposing the tattoo on his shoulder blade. He hadn’t meant to end up so close; the hum of Wade’s energy snapped at his nerve endings.
“He was crying for me to fix it; I didn’t know how, but I needed to.”
Wade drifted a finger over the image and goosebumps followed his touch.
“I had my very first phone in my school bag so I used it—I looked up what to do. Taped the wing into a folded position with the bandage I had in there for a sprained ankle. Then I took off my hoodie and we carried the bird to the nearest vet clinic. Dr Gardiner. She cleaned out the wound and redressed it. Explained all the steps she was taking.”
“Good doctor.”
“She inspired me. I went every day to check on the bird. I’ve been fascinated by birds ever since.”
Wade’s finger kept moving over his skin. “Keep going.”
“I don’t want to bore you.”
Wade whispered in his ear. “Please.”
Morning came with a kiss of golden light over his pillow. He blinked, limbs stirring around solid warmth. He’d hooked himself around Wade in the night, stomach pressed to Wade’s back, nestled like puzzle pieces, boxers to boxers. Slowly, he dragged his arm from Wade’s waist—
Wade yawned and rolled onto his back, smiling up at Noah with sleepily shut eyes, hair a nest of raven.
He looked undone and gorgeous and Noah leaned on an elbow to admire him.
Wade’s eyes opened, dark and dreamy. “Is there something you want?”
Noah dragged his palm down Wade’s chest to the edge of his tented boxers and stopped, treasure trail springy under his fingers. Wade sucked in a breath. His own pulse ticked hard. He wanted . . . but he also wanted to wait. Deepen what they had first.
“I want to draw you.”
Wade’s smile widened. “Do you have paper?”
Noah swung himself out of bed, a bunch of goosebumps at the bite of the cool floor and Wade’s watchful eyes. He found his fineliner. Paper though . . .
“How expensive do you think this wallpaper is?” He didn’t mean it, of course.
Wade kicked the sheets from around his legs. Hair dusted his shins, but his thighs were smooth. “I’ve always wondered what I’d look like with a tattoo. Here.”
Heart banging in his chest, Noah knelt in the wedge of space between his legs. That dimple stretched and his eyes sparkled as Noah settled the heavy weight of Wade’s thigh over his knees. Carefully, he uncapped his pen. “If you get inked, promise it won’t be a sketch of your own naked body.”
