12

-Malcolm-

WE LIEhalf-naked and entwined, his long bare legs wrapped around mine. I'm pretty sure he's half hanging off the bed, but he doesn't complain, and I don't either.

That was . . . nice. Really nice. Which is a word I've never used to describe sex before. Hot, mind-blowing, feverish, yeah, but never nice.

And I feel weird. Usually after sex, I feel pleasantly empty, like a calm lake. But now I feel full, and the warmth spreads over me and consumes my whole body. It's an odd sensation. It's wholesome.

"Feel better?" North asks.

I do, a lot. My head is clearer and my stomach doesn't feel like it's trying to crawl up my throat. "A little," I grumble.

"Told you."

I roll my eyes. "I know you're smart, you don't have to convince me."

"Oh," he shifts and props himself up on his elbow, his hair an absolute mess. "I forgot to mention, you said something else last night."

His smile is mischievous so at least I know it's not something awful, but I still want to groan. It's something he's going to use to wind me up at every possible opportunity, I have no doubt. I better not have told him about my snow globe collection. Life won't be worth living with him after that.

"You said you wanted to be my boyfriend," North says. He says it lightly, but I can sense the tentative question under it. "Aaand that you wanted me to move in with you."

"I did?"

He nods, watching me carefully.

I mull it over. Not the most embarrassing thing it could have been. "And what did you say?" I ask.

"I said yes, of course. Dude, I just told you I love you. Several times. Of course I want to move in and all that shit."

My face heats as my mouth fights to do the dumbest, dopiest fucking smile ever. North loves me. I have no fucking clue what to say or think about that, but the way it makes my heart stammer is undeniable.

"And no, I'm not expecting you to say it back. The whole ‘I love you' thing," North adds quickly.

I hadn't even thought of that. I've never had to deal with this sort of thing before. How long before you're supposed to say it back? But this is North, he isn't going to make it hard for me, I don't have to worry about it, and that makes the warm glow in my chest grow all the more.

This time I lean in, hovering my lips just in front of his. A reversal of our usual system. It seems like a day for turning things on their heads. He closes the gap. And when we break apart we're both smiling.

"All right, I'll be your fucking boyfriend," I grumble. "And you should move in with me because I'm not staying in this puke-soaked shit hole ever again."

He rests his head on my chest and I curl my arm around him, cautiously at first, testing the way it feels, and then tight as I lower my face to the top of his head and breathe in. He smells good. He smells like home.

Now that I've told him about my past trauma, I feel light, like I could float away, and he's the only thing holding me down. I want this moment to last forever.

My phone chooses this exact second to buzz sharply on the side table where North must have put it last night.

I ignore it.

It buzzes again, and again, and I growl and remove my nose from North's hair. Fuck this person whoever it is for making me move.

I grab the phone with one arm, keeping the other wrapped around North. No way am I letting him go now.

I read the messages.

Then I read them again.

My eyes go wide.

"Shit."

North looks up. "What is it?"

I read the messages again to make sure I didn't somehow misread them. But no, there it is in black and white.

"He's coming. Here," I say numbly.

North frowns up at me. "Who?"

"My father."

"What?" Emotions flash across his face, confusion, shock, and then settling on anger. "Your dad's coming here?"

My phone buzzes again and I read the new messages.

Where are you?

Why aren't you at the house?

"No," I say. "He's already here."