Page 43 of Damaged Prince
We’re both spent, a complete and total mess. Eli wraps me up in his arms and rolls us so that I’m on top of him. He keeps me firmly in his grasp, letting out a heavy, contented sigh.
“That was amazing,” he whispers.
“It was perfect.” I smile into his sweaty chest.
“It was more than that. So much more.” He kisses the top of my head as my heart fills with so much love and joy, I think I might explode. “Thank you.”
“No, thank you,” I laugh.
“Really,” he murmurs. “Thank you for making me feel... well, everything.”
I lean up so that I can look him in the eyes. “I love you.” I want him to know,needhim to know he’s mine. And I’m his.
His eyes mist as he gives me a wobbly smile. “And I’m so in love with you it kind of scares me,” he confesses, huffing outa laugh. “I meant it when I said I’ve never felt like this before. Because before you and Kai, I never felt anything. At least, not sexually. For a long time, I thought I was broken. And that's what I felt for Kai was a fluke. Like, because it was online, it didn’t count.”
“I don’t think it works like that.” I offer him a smile.
“Yeah.” His chest rumbles with a comforting chuckle as I bury my face against him again. He pulls me closer, pulling the blankets over us before rubbing a hand up and down my back. “I realized that when I saw Kai again. It was on school campus. I saw him walking along the path. At first, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but the longer I looked, the more I knew I was right.”
“And what did seeing him make you feel?” My fingers trace along the outline of one of his tattoos.
“A lot,” he murmurs. “Fear. Anxiety. And morbid excitement.” He sighs.
“Will you tell me how you two met?”
“Did Kai say anything?”
“Just that he met you online. That's pretty much it.”
Eli takes a deep breath. “I’m demisexual,” he states. “That much I know after a lot of research. But because of where I’m from, and the people I grew up with, I knew I wasn’t going to find what I was looking for in this town. So, I took a chance and tried to get to know some people online.”
“And that’s where you met Kai.”
“Yup. After making a good number of friendships, none of which turned into anything more that was, until I met Kai. Although I knew him as Micah back then. It started out like any other friendship I made, only with time, this grew into something a lot... more. I started feeling more than friendship for him, and that both thrilled and terrified me. I finally got what I wanted, but it was for a man I didn’t even know in real life.Someone behind a screen. But I was already hooked on him, and I didn’t want to lose what we had. So we kept talking and talking until one day, I found out who he was.”
“How did that happen?” I ask. “How did you learn who each other were? Did he know who you were before you found out who he was?”
“No. At least, I don’t think so. Not until that day. I went as E online, and he went as Micah. It wasn’t until I sent him a photo of myself. I wasn’t showing my face, but I was in my room. And well, I guess he recognized something in the photo because he called me out by my name and told me who he was.”
“Then what happened?"
Elijah is quiet for a moment before he speaks again. “I freaked out. Blocked him. Deleted the app.”
My damn heart breaks. “Why?”
“Because he was someone from my real life who knew a lot of things no one else did,” He whispers. “And I was afraid he would tell the world.”
“But he didn’t,” I say it as a statement, not a question, because the Kai I know wouldn’t do something like that.
“No,” Eli says. “But at the time, I didn’t know that. All the worst-case scenarios ran through my head. All I knew was I couldn’t let my family find out what he knew and I lived in fear that he would tell them.”
Silence hangs in the air. I don’t say anything because I’m trying really hard not to cry right now. What could have happened to this sweet boy that would fuck him up so badly? What would cause him to be so terrified of his dad and brothers finding out that he would react this way?
I don’t ask, even though I really, really want to. I don’t want to push him. Not when he feels so safe with me to open up this much as it is.
“And now? How do you feel about everything now?”
“Weird.” He huffs out a soft laugh. “Also skeptical.”
