Page 15 of Gates of Tartarus

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By the time I get to Lachy’s I’m actually sweating and shaking slightly. Though the shaking may be because my cute hoodie is paper thin, the swift breeze off the Sound icing my zipper and running a cool dagger up my sternum. I move towards the cabin as slowly as possible, coming to a complete stop staring down at the muffins about ten feet before the steps to his porch.

“Fuck,” I say. “Fuck. Here, Lachy, have some fucking muffins. Agh!!!”

I jump as Lachy opens the door, amber eyes glowing in the early morning light off the sound, gaze serious as he takes me in before he steps forward. We stare at each other for an agonizing, incredibly painful moment that feels like knives slicing my skin, and then Lach breaks the silence.

“Kai….” he breathes out quietly, his voice half thanksgiving and half prayer, my name something holy and precious in his mouth. “Kai…”

“You didn’t call,” I blurt out plaintively, all hopes of maintaining my cool gone.

“I wasn’t sure you would want… at first... and then no service in the hospital, and then…” He holds up a bent phone.

“Oh no.Again,Lachy?” Forgetting the awkwardness, I move forward and examine his phone. “This is like the fifth one! Just get a different brand for heaven’s sakes.” I move to grab it from his hand, but he flips his hand around and grabs mine, pulling me in against him and wrapping me up in warm, strong arms.

Face bent and buried in my neck, he mumbles, “I’ll go find a new one if you come with me. You can even pick it out, Suge. Pink sparkles or some shit. Whatever you want. I tried calling from my sister’s phone, but...”

A warm little fire banks low in my stomach as his lips brush against my neck, his beard lightly scratching my skin, and cool ripples dance along my skin in little bursts of happiness. “But I never pick up from numbers I don’t know. I know.”

“I missed you,” he breathes against my skin. “I wanted to come over last night when I got back. I had to force myself to wait until this morning. Christ. I feel like a teenager.”

Pulling back, he runs his nose lightly across my skin, inhaling me, and then, sending lightning streaks of pure bliss through me, so bright they almost hurt, he kisses me. The kiss is... it’s… all the gods above and below must have agreed together that, at one point in history, there would beoneperfect kiss, just one, and then they threw it to the Fates, because every second of his warm, soft lips against mine is divinity on earth. Sparks crackling electricity race along my skin, lighting up every molecule until I’m glowing. His lips part, and he deepens the kiss, pulling me up against him so I’m pressed against every inch of him, and one of his hands threads through my loose hair, tugging gently so I bend back and open to him, liquid in his arms. A deep, satisfied hum rumbles from the back of his throat, and the sound ignites every nerve in my body, pooling low in my stomach, sending shivery ripples through every part of me. This kiss is a promise, and everything in me wants to stay here forever, tucked away from the world, from the outside, safe in Lachlainn’s warm embrace. It’s perfect and overwhelming, calming and petrifying all at once. I smile against his lips and feel him smile back against me.

“Not to complain, but what’s pressing against my back?” he rumbles softly, and my smile turns into a full-blown grin.

“I brought you muffins?”

“What? Were you baking? What’s wrong?” Worry enters his voice, just on the edges, and I laugh.

“No, Gemma made them. It was… She gave them to me to help me figure out how to come over here.”

He pulls back from me, looking dubiously down at the plate. Gemma has many, many amazing talents. She can make a mean stir-fry, is obscenely good at art, is a surprisingly good gardener… but on her own, alone, baking in the kitchen... Lachy pokes gently at the muffins on the plate and forces a smile. “Well,” he begins slowly, “maybe with coffee they’ll be... softer? Or harder? I can’t tell. Come on, you,” he says, opening the door behind him for me, “let me make you breakfast.”

He holds out his hand, and I reach out to grab it. Pausing in the doorway, he pulls it up to his face and kisses my palm softly with a smile. “You’re wearing your bracelet,” he says, voice suffused with happiness.

“Of course,” I reply. “Home, right?”

Looking up, he catches his breath, cupping my face in his hands, and kisses me again. “Home,” he whispers against my lips. “Wherever you are.”

We go inside together quietly, each smiling secret little smiles, glancing at each other, and I try desperately to ignore the feeling in the pit of my stomach. Lachy goes to the kitchen and makes a quick breakfast of bagels and fruit, and I make us coffees with his fancy machine, then we head to his balcony to sit together.

Sitting down, he looks at me, face serious now, and some of the happiness from earlier pulls back. I tense, wondering where this conversation is going.

“Kai,” he says slowly, “I don’t want to assume anything regarding us. If there is an ‘us’. I wouldlikethere to be an ‘us’. Just putting that out there straight away. But I’d like to know where you are in this.”

Bagel halfway to my mouth, I freeze and set it down, fumbling with my napkin. “I’d like there to be an ‘us’, too, Lach. I... You’re my best friend. In the world. I don’t want to lose that. You help keep me sane.”

His lips twist into a painful half smile, and I grab his hand. “No, Lach. It’s not… it’s not an expression. Youactuallyhelp keep me sane. With my…” I wave my hand around my head. “... With the thing. Something about being with you resets all the buttons in me. You bring me peace. Like, true peace.”

A brief flare of satisfaction flashes across his face, but his energy is still hesitant, still waiting.

“When I’m with you, it’s theonlyplace I want to be. Like, in the entire world. Our little island here, together.”

He strokes his thumb across my hand, making my fingers look diminutive in his grip. “I’m sensing abut, Kai.”

I shake my head, the words caught in my throat, and he looks up at me with tired eyes, the bright amber dimmed slightly. “Kailani, it’s okay to hesitate at the beginning. It’s the way we figure out our paths in life. You hesitate before you commit to the way you’re going to walk. Iwantyou to hesitate now, if you need to, because when you decide to walk down the path towards me, I don’t want there to be any doubt.”

I grab his hand like he’s going to pull away from me. “Lachlainn,” I say softly, fingers white against his, but he doesn’t flinch or complain. “I’m... I don’t know how to do this, or even if I can. Do you understand? I want this… us... I swear to you I do. I don’t doubt you. But…” I think back to my time with Dustin, and I start to shake. Lachy moves next to me and pulls me into him.

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