Page 39 of Raise Up, Heart
“We really shouldn’t think that’s funny.”
“And yet you do!” Damon says.
Cole takes another bite of chili, letting the spicy heat of it warm his stomach. They’d made love when he got home—fucking Damon calls it. Cole doesn’t mind. The way that Damon looks at him, he knows what it means, that it’s not just sex, and that it’s never been like this for Damon before, either. It’s making love.
“Grandpa suggested plastic surgery,” Cole says softly. “He says doctors can meet us at the plane so that it can be done as soon as we touch down. He says that it’ll make it safer. More secure.”
Damon munches at his burger, swallows the coffee that wasn’t nearly as piping hot as Cole had hoped once he got back to the cabin and they’d both achieved orgasm. Damon shrugs. “Seems like I fought pretty hard to get this body, and it’s pretty inarguably hot. But what the hell? Change me up.”
“You wouldn’t mind?”
Damon rolls his eyes. “If you’ll still want to fuck me, I don’t mind.”
Cole minds, though.
Cole told Grandpa no. No way in hell. He loves Damon, and if the day comes when they have to take that route, then fine, he’ll accept a Damon who has a different nose, a different chin, and brown contacts in his eyes. But until then—no. He wants him just like this, the man that he’s wanted to see for so long. He doesn’t think he can handle it if Damon’s face is taken from him again so soon.
Cole says, “We can do that later, if we need to. Why go the most extreme route to begin with? It might not even be necessary.”
“It’s surgery, chemo, and radiation, versus surgery alone.”
“Not a doctor, remember? Not following.”
“It’s the conservative plan versus the aggressive plan,” Damon says. “You’re choosing surgery alone. Cut out the problem areas and hope that we don’t have to destroy the good cells along with the bad.”
“I just want to see your face when I wake up in the morning. Not some stranger.”
Damon looks at him, evaluates his expression, and says, “Sentimentality never does anyone any good.”
“It’s important to me. Imagine waking up, looking over, and there I am looking like someone else entirely!”
“Is he hot?”
“Damon.”
“Fine, I get it,” Damon says. “We’ll take the conservative choice for now. But I’m not giving you up, do you understand? If it means changing my face and calling myself Ralph, then I’ll do it. Nothing will keep me away from you.”
Cole’s chest is tight, and he gets to his knees, crawls the short space to Damon’s lap, and buries his face there, breathing in the scent of Damon’s crotch through his jeans. “I think you’ve already proven that enough for two lifetimes. Let’s hope we don’t need a third.”
CHAPTER 8
Cole hopes thatonce they’re out of Maryville it won’t be so difficult to convince his sister that he’s okay, so she’ll stop harassing him. She’s called twice since he’s gotten back to the cabin, both times to “check in,” and is obviously unhappy when Cole tells her that he’s spending the night with his friend again.
“Cole, you’ve never been secretive about the men in your life,” she says.
“Man. There was just one.”
“Exactly! That’s why it’s worrying me. Is there a reason you don’t want us to meet this guy? Is he in the closet? Is hemarried?”
Cole replies, “Rosanna, you’re letting your imagination run away with you. It’s nothing like that.”
No, it isso muchmore questionable than that.
“Then why don’t you bring him to dinner tomorrow?” she chirps. “I can make sure Dad is there, and invite Emily, she’s your best friend these days, right?”
“Rosanna, I already told you. This isn’t that kind of relationship.”
“What kind of relationship is it, then?”
