Page 46 of Voices

“Hey.” I walk over to him and kiss the top of his damp head. He looks at the plates and his stomach lets out a loud grumble. His cheeks turn pink as he looks away. I chuckle and nudge his arm with mine. “Come on birthday boy, let’s eat.”

We walk to the table but he continues to the couch instead. Taking his lead, I follow and sit next to him, handing him his plate. His nose does that adorable scrunch thing as he looks at his food. He picks up a strawberry and nibbles on it as he sets his plate on his lap.

I grab my fork and dig into the eggs. As I’m bringing a bite to my mouth, I look over at him to ask if he wants to watch anything when I notice he’s staring at my plate licking his lips. We have the same food on our plates so I’m not sure what that look means.

He looks down at his plate as his stomach lets out another grumble. He looks up at me biting his bottom lip.

“What’s wrong? I only seasoned them with salt and pepper if you’re worried about spice. Or I can make your eggs a different way if you’d like.”

He nods but then shakes his head. He sets his plate on the coffee table and heads to the kitchen. Not sure if I should follow, I stay sitting and wait to see if he needs my help. I hear the fridge open then hear him gasp. I’m about to go in there when I hear it close, and he walks back in with ketchup.

He won’t look at me as he opens it and drowns his eggs in the red goop.

Gross.

He picks his plate up and mixes it so the eggs are unrecognizable. Ok, so he really likes ketchup. Noted. He sits back and devours his eggs like he hasn’t eaten in days.

“Want me to put something on TV?”

“Doesn’t matter.” He shrugs and takes a huge bit of his bagel.

I pull out my phone and turn on my Spotify playlist.Zombieby Bad Wolves comes on. Charlie looks at me with an approving look and a soft smile. Taking that as a good choice for music, I set the volume low and put it on the coffee table.

He nods his head along to the beat as he continues eating. He eats all his eggs, three bites of his bagel, and one strawberry before he sets his plate on the table and sits back holding his stomach. It’s not enough for a guy his size. I’ll just have to be here more often to make sure he eats.

Once I’m finished eating, I collect our plates and bring them to the kitchen. He follows, still holding his stomach. I toss the plates in the trash and start washing his one pan. As I’m washing it, I can see him out of the corner of my eye opening the cabinets and looking at the new contents.

As I’m drying off my hands, I turn to see confusion marked on his face. The space between his eyebrows has a single crease while his head is tilted and he’s biting the corner of his lower lip. It makes him even more adorable.

I walk over to him, smooth the line with my finger and pull his lip from his teeth with my thumb, letting it linger there for a second. His tongue comes out and pokes my thumb making a shiver run down my back. He looks up at me with those golden-brown gems as he sucks on the tip of my thumb. My breathing picks up as he steps closer to me, taking more of my thumb in his mouth. My dick thumps against his hip when he bites down.

“If you don’t stop, we’re going to have a repeat of earlier,” I say breathlessly.

He lets my thumb go slowly. He rises on the tip of his toes and leans in. He grips the sides of my head and pushes his lips to mine. He keeps his tongue in his mouth making for a sweet kiss. As he settles back on his feet, he takes a step back, flushed.

“Thank you for the food. You didn’t have to buy me any of it. I would have had Lily take me or something…”

“It was no problem. I felt bad for not staying by your side in the store, so this is my way of apologizing. I didn’t know what all you eat so if there’s anything here you don’t want just let me know and I’ll take it home to that human vacuum I share a condo with.”

He lets out the sweetest sound. His laugh. It has both of his dimples coming out and all his teeth on display.

His laugh makes me laugh and I never want it to end.

Once we settle down, he looks more relaxed than I’ve ever seen him. “Do you have any plans for today? Did Lily set anything up for your birthday?”

“No. I usually spend my weekends here. I don’t like going outside campus and that’s where she practically lives on the weekends.” He shrugs.

“Well, that doesn't sound like fun, especially on your birthday. Unless that’s what you’d rather do? I’d love to take you out to some of my favorite spots around Chicago. They aren’t widely known places, so they aren’t too crowded.”

He’s biting the corner of his lip again as he thinks about what I said. He looks at the closed door that has all his art stuff in it. Not wanting him to feel like he needs to choose between me and his art, I walk to the door and open it, holding out my hand for him.

His cold fingers slide between mine a second later as we walk in. I flip on the light and I’m instantly drawn to the tigeragain. It’s so breathtakingly beautiful. It doesn’t even look like a painting. The realistic side looks like he took a picture of a tiger and put it next to the rainbow side.

Still holding my hand, he sets up a chair next to the window and points to it. I take the hint and sit as he opens the curtains, letting in the bright sunlight. He moves things around until he’s sitting in front of me with a large easel and a blank off-white board. He unrolls a pouch that has a bunch of pencils in it and pulls out two, setting them on the table next to him. He looks up at me and tilts his head to the left and then to the right.

Biting his lip, he stands up and walks over to me. “Sit comfortably. Slouch if you want. Spread your legs or cross one over the other.” He steps back as I relax into the back of the chair. “I’ll be right back.” He rushes from the room.

O-kay.

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