Page 195 of Envious Of Fire
“I’ve been saying for months now,” mumbles Kyle.
“And finally the situation with Nico … who still hasn’t woken up. Is that normal? To sleep so much right after you’ve been—?”
“I slept for a week.” Kyle shrugs. “Apparently.”
“A week …” Elias rests his chin atop Kyle’s head with a sigh. “Do you think Drake did it right?”
“I don’t know. Nico’s still breathing.”
“Does Nico … even know? Like, what he is now? Is he aware what happened?”
“Probably not.”
“You seem awfully calm about this.”
“I have to be.” Kyle twists his head to get a look at Elias. “If I think about anything too much lately, I scream. So to avoid letting out any freakish screams, I just think less. It’s a good motto. You should try it. Just think less.”
“Think less.” Elias peers up at the hazy night sky.
“You’ve softened up about Drake.”
“Huh?”
“I can hear it. In here.” Kyle pats Elias’s chest, chuckles. “You aren’t so opposed to the guy being around anymore. What did the trick? Our little moment in the church basement together?”
Elias tenses up. “Kyle …”
“Oh, that hit the horny nail on the head. I felt it right away. Itdiddo the trick.”
“Do me a favor and keep thatReachoutta my pants, will you?”
“Why? I thought you like when Ireachinto your pants.” Kyle brings a finger to Elias’s chest, starts to draw shapes on his shirt. “You know … if you wanted to do it again …”
“Kyle.”
“… I’m not opposed to it. I know it excites you. It also makesyou feel empowered, the way you relinquish yourself to me … and to him. One you trust completely. The other, a mystery. Y’know, you said to me not that long ago how you’re not the jealous type. Well, maybe I’m not the jealous type, either.”
“All this stress is making you delirious,” Elias decides. “You’re just … just talking out of your dick, and—”
“I’m giving you permission. I’m letting out my thoughts. It’s only fair,” Kyle points out, “since I have my Reach, and all of your emotions are pretty much out in the open when I’m around. Now I’m reciprocating in the best way I can. I’ve let you know some of my feelings. I’ll beyourReach whenever you want me to be.”
Elias sits with that for a while. The two draw quiet once again as the night sky continues to stretch on with its hazy nothingness, all the stars hiding, the moon along with it.
Something peaceful touches Elias’s heart. He finds himself smiling. “Is it crazy to say I miss when things were boring?”
Kyle chuckles at that. “When have things ever been boring? Our relationship has been a nonstop freight train of action. The most boring thing that’s ever happened to us is falling straight to sleep out of exhaustion the night we got back from Vegas.”
Elias perks up. “Huh? We definitely had sex that night.”
“What? We definitely didn’t.”
“Uh … no, sir, we definitely did.”
Kyle lifts his head from Elias’s shoulder, makes a funny face at him. “I’ve been right here at this clinic by my brother’s side since we got back. Unless we banged while I was passed out holding my brother’s hand, we definitely didnothave sex.”
Elias smirks, peering deeply into Kyle’s eyes, then brings his hand to his boyfriend’s hair and rakes his fingers through it. “Are you less-than-subtly telling me you’re in the mood?”
Kyle sucks in his bottom lip. “I’m not saying I’m not.”
