Chapter Twenty-Seven

Accepting the Unfortunate Inevitable (11 Letters)

Seb

Ludo was watching me as I sat back down and picked up my coffee to take a sip. Trying to hide whatever was currently showing on my face after seeing Larkin, I kept my gaze averted and ate my last bite of scrambled eggs.

"It's him, isn't it?" Ludo asked. I tensed, fingers tightening around my fork. "He's who you've been seeing?"

Swallowing, I looked up at him warily. I didn't want to outright lie to Ludo, but I couldn't explain the actual situation. That wasn't fair to Larkin. It'd be breaking his trust.

"It's not… We're not seeing each other." Not a lie.

Ludo leaned in. "Alright, fine. Fucking, then. You've been having sex with Larkin?"

An uncharacteristic blush heated my cheeks as I glanced back warily. His parents were in here. It felt wrong and way too risky to discuss this right now.

"It's… complicated."

Ludo frowned, glancing behind me, then softened his expression. "Is it that he doesn't want something serious?"

I hunched up, wishing I still had food to distract myself from this conversation. "Why do you assume it's that he doesn't want something serious?" I muttered.

"Because I know you, Seb. You don't do casual."

"Yeah, well, maybe I decided to try something different," I said tersely.

Ludo huffed in disbelief. "So you decided to try it with the kid at work who flirts non-stop with all the wrestlers?"

My teeth ground together as I glared at him. "He's not a fucking kid."

Infuriating me further, Ludo smirked and sat back. "Real casual, huh?"

I leaned forward and lowered my voice, a vein in my temple throbbing with anger. "What exactly are you trying to insinuate? Because he flirts with people at work he's… what, easy? A ‘slut?' What's your fucking point, Ludo?"

He sobered and held up his hands. "Alright, sorry."

We lapsed into silence as I pushed my plate away and gulped down the last of my coffee, my movements stiff and jerky with tension.

After a minute, Ludo awkwardly said, "I'm sorry, man. That was a dick thing to say."

"Yeah," I muttered, fiddling with my cup.

"How did it happen?"

I gave him a flat look. "It's none of your business, Ludo."

"Alright," he said quickly. "I just… You seem pretty tense about it, man. Maybe it's not… good for you to keep doing it."

"I didn't ask for your advice."

"Fair enough," he said calmly, then slid out of the booth. "I'll go settle up."

I sat there for a few moments trying to calm down, then stood and grabbed our gym bags. When I turned to wait for Ludo by the door while he paid at the counter, I came face to face with a willowy fae woman—in her human skin—with familiar big blue eyes and bright pink hair tied back in a long fishtail braid.

"Hello." She beamed at me. "Seb, right? I'm Larkin's mom. Delphine."

My gaze flicked over to Larkin's booth to see him staring at us in horror. My mouth twitched.

"Hi," I said politely, returning my attention to her. "Yes, I'm Seb. Nice to meet you."

"I'm sure my little sweetpea is over there horrified by the fact that I'm talking to you, so I won't keep you." She let out a light, musical laugh. "I was just on my way to the restroom, but I wanted to… Do you know that I'm a Seer?" She lowered her voice so no human customers nearby would overhear.

I nodded. "Larkin's mentioned it. At work," I quickly tacked on.

"My shop is Seelie Secrets, if you ever want to come in for a reading."

She was gazing at me with those big eyes, her demeanour all gentle and calming, but it was making me a little nervous. It was like she knew things. And it kind of felt like… I wanted to tell her things too. Just from her staring at me.

It was unsettling.

"Thank you," I said politely, even though there was no way in hell I'd ever go to Larkin's mother for her to read my future. For the mother of the man I was secretly in love with to tell me that I never got to have him for real.

No thanks.

She pursed her lips, glancing over at her family's booth, before taking a tiny step closer. "My Larkin is… He's so very sensitive, but it takes him a while to… process his emotions. To realise things."

"I…" My throat ached a little. I didn't really know what to say. "I know. He's…"

"He's a bit of a late bloomer in most things." She smiled, radiating love for her son, then turned that smile on me. "I'm glad he has you as a… work friend."

"Uh…" It felt like two separate conversations were happening here, one of which wasn't being spoken out loud. "Yeah. We're… good friends."

"Well, that's a comfort to know." She took a step back, and the weird pull I'd been feeling dissipated. "Lovely to meet you, Seb. Do come to the shop sometime."

I watched her glide toward the restrooms like some kind of ethereal fae princess in daisy-embroidered culottes and a pink linen shirt, then slowly turned to meet Ludo at the door. My phone vibrated in my pocket as we stepped out of the diner. I knew who it'd be before I even looked.

Omg wtf did she say to you

Then Larkin sent another text. I'm so sorry dude. Whatever she said just ignore it, SERIOUSLY

An affectionate smile curved my mouth. Deciding to tease him just a little, I replied, Your mom has weird powers. It's like she can get you to reveal all your deepest secrets just by looking at you.

He replied instantly. Omfg I know it's so annoying.

A second text came through seconds later. Wait, did you tell her your deepest secrets??? What are they? You have to tell ME if you told my mom. That's like the law

I huffed without much humour. Yeah, no fucking way that was happening. Realising I had to reply, I quickly typed as Ludo and I headed down the street.

I held firm and didn't reveal anything. Sorry, no secrets for you today.

Or ever.

—

By Sunday night, I was getting restless to have Larkin again.

We hadn't made plans for our next "lesson" yet, and as much as they always left me feeling a little heartbroken after he'd left, I was in too deep now. I craved him even more than I already had. I'd gladly take the pain if it meant I got more of him.

Sunday's headline match had just started, and we were sitting in the private box, Holt and Taylor watching the wrestling while Larkin and I sat on the back couch. He was leaning heavily into my side, Cora draped over both our laps as we finished off our crossword.

"Is twenty-one down ‘apology?'" Larkin asked doubtfully. He was never confident when he guessed an answer, even though he was often right.

"Looks like it fits." I grinned over at him and held out the pencil. "Go ahead."

He leaned even closer to scrawl it in, and my thigh tensed when his other hand landed on it. Right at the top. Very close to my groin.

I assumed he was just steadying himself at first, but when he handed the pencil back and shot me a tiny smile, his fingers tightened in a gentle squeeze and stayed where they were.

My gaze darted down to his mouth, then flickered over to the backs of Taylor and Holt's heads on the couch in front of us. Holt's arm was around Taylor's shoulders, the pair of them nestled together as they watched the wrestling and talked quietly.

Larkin licked his lips, his breath hitching as he leaned closer as if he was going to kiss me, then jerked back in a rush and looked down at the crossword book. Clearing his throat, he said, "Okay, last one."

I forced myself to look down too, staring blankly at the last clue for thirty-six across.

Pining (7 Letters)

"Pining," Larkin said uncertainly. "Is it something to do with pine trees? Like, is ‘pining' the word for cutting them down? Is it ‘cutting?'"

My mouth quirked, but I filled in the word without saying anything. Longing

"Oh." He let out a bleat of embarrassed laughter. "My guess was so stupid."

"No, it wasn't." I smiled over at him, then tucked my pencil into the book and closed it. "Will you hold on to this? Just gonna go to the bathroom."

"Oh, yeah, sure." Larkin took the book and shuffled back a little so I could stand, transferring Cora fully onto his lap.

She snorted herself awake, long tongue flicking out as she smacked her lips and blinked up at me blearily. As I stood, Larkin held her up so her little body was hiding his face and said, "I'll miss you, bro."

When he lowered her again, his face was flushed. He squawked out an awkward laugh. "That was, um, I was just pretending to be Cora. That was stupid. Sorry."

I chuckled, wanting more than anything to lean down and kiss him. "It was cute."

He grinned at me, watching as I left the room. I headed back to the office to use the bathroom there, and as I was washing my hands after taking a quick leak, I heard the door outside open.

Larkin was perched on the edge of his desk when I emerged. He immediately flushed and held up a charging cable. "Just came to get my charger."

I nodded and smiled at him. "Show over?"

"Not yet." He grinned. "Corey is still kicking Biff's ass."

I glanced back at the door, which he'd closed behind him, then took a step closer to his desk. "Where's Cora?"

"Taylor's fussing over her." Larkin sounded a little breathless as I approached, and his knees subtly spread wider like he wanted me to step between them.

So I did.

"I…" He swallowed, cheeks sweetly flushed as he gazed up at me. "You… Did you finish that bread yet?"

"Got enough left for a couple more slices."

He nodded, nibbling on his lower lip. "So I should probably come over soon to make more."

"Only if you don't mind."

"I want to." Swallowing nervously, he reached out and fingered one of the buttons on my shirt, then searched for a reaction in my eyes as he hooked his finger between two buttons and pulled me even closer. I instinctively obeyed until his warm thighs bracketed mine.

Breathing a little faster, Larkin reached up to grip my nape and tug me down as he craned his neck. Suddenly his warm, shallow breaths were hitting my mouth, before he pressed his lips shyly to mine.

My heart thudded hard. I shouldn't have let him do that. I should've moved away and casually asked if he wanted to go back to the private box. I shouldn't have let him kiss me again when we weren't having a lesson, as if all he wanted was to just kiss me , because I didn't know what I was supposed to think about that. It was messing with my head too much.

That didn't stop me from kissing him back, lifting my hands to cup his narrow jaw. He shivered when I smoothed my thumbs over his cheeks, then kissed me again with slightly parted lips until I opened up for his tongue to sink inside.

He tasted like the cream soda he'd drunk. Sweet, like vanilla. The finger he'd hooked between my shirt buttons had turned into two, and they were trailing slowly over the line of hair on my stomach under the fabric. A tiny groan escaped me, which made Larkin's breath catch before he kissed me even more eagerly, the movements of his tongue growing more confident as it glided against mine.

My whole body tightened with lust, my cock coming quickly to life and hardening until it ached. A part of me was aware that Taylor and Holt could walk in at any second, but most of me didn't care.

Especially not when Larkin made that little sound that drove me wild.

"Mmm." He smoothed his tongue against mine one last time before pulling back, cheeks flushed and eyes heavy-lidded as he smiled up at me. "Do you maybe want to hang out again soon? Outside of work, I mean."

My mouth curved into a small smile. "You want your next lesson?"

"Oh." He blinked, then grinned. "Um, yeah, sure."

Glancing down, his eyes flared with heat when he saw the erection tenting my pants. Licking his lips, he slipped his fingers free from my shirt and trailed them lower until they brushed the straining length.

"I want to do the erogenous zones thing on you," he told me breathlessly, pupils blown as he gazed up at me. "Find all of them."

My mouth slowly widened into a slightly filthy grin. "All of them? Because there were a few we didn't cover last time."

He nodded. "Yeah. Yes. All of them."

"Alright." Unable to resist, I dipped down to give him one last kiss. He kissed me back eagerly with a quiet moan, fingers curling around my hard cock through my pants and squeezing it. I groaned hoarsely as it jerked against his palm.

When we finally broke apart, he panted, "When?"

"Tomorrow after work?" Realising we were definitely cutting it close now, I forced myself to take a step back before the boss could walk in and see us.

The light in Larkin's eyes dimmed a little. "Oh. Okay. Not, um… tonight?" Then he flushed and rubbed his cheek. "No, wait, sorry. Tomorrow is fine. I'm just… not tired, but I know you get up early for the gym. Tomorrow works."

"You could—" My heart sped up. "You could stay tomorrow if you wanted. In a bed this time," I added with a wry smile. "Not on the couch squished against me."

His eyes brightened as he grinned, reaching out to poke my stomach. "I slept great that night. I wasn't squished. You were like the comfiest heated mattress ever. But yeah," he added quickly with a nod. "Yes, that… that sounds good. I'd like to. Stay over, I mean. Again. Thanks."

I smiled, even though I already knew what I'd just suggested was a bad idea. A stupid idea. "Alright, great. I can, uh, make dinner if you want."

Another stupid idea. This wouldn't be a date . It would be a fucking sex lesson.

But Larkin was already nodding eagerly, a sweet blush staining his cheeks. "Okay, yeah. That sounds really nice. Thank you."

I desperately wanted to kiss him again, take him home with me right now and have him sleep in my bed so I could wake up with him in the morning.

"My pleasure," I managed to croak, taking another step back to try and calm my body down.

I was a self-sabotaging idiot.