Page 65 of Sparring Partners
“In here, nice and comfortable with a good bottle of red.” Luca laughed, but the idea was folding its arms around him and holding him tight just as much as Adrian was.
It didn’t take long to gather together the blankets and a couple of cushions. The rain that had been so much a feature of the last couple of weeks had moved away, leaving clear night skies and the first signs of early morning frost.
Taking a bundle each, Adrian switched off the house lights, plunging them into darkness before a sharp shaft of light lit up the way as Adrian turned on a torch. Setting themselves up in the middle of the bumpy lawn, Adrian doused the light. Cuddling against Adrian, Luca blinked into the blackness. He sucked in a deep breath. Under cover of darkness, he needed to be open, honest, and truthful.
“Alex came to see me at the hotel a few days ago. He’d been away on business, so he couldn’t come before. He wanted to make sure I was okay.”
Beneath him, Adrian’s strong chest seemed to rise and fall with the pulse of the stars above.
“And are you?”
“Yes, I am.” Luca shifted out of Adrian’s embrace. Propping himself up on one elbow, he gazed down at Adrian. His eyes, adjusting to the darkness, met Adrian’s.
“I’m glad,” Adrian said. “Truly. He did what any good friend would.” He drifted a hand through Luca’s hair, and Luca sighed as he pushed into the touch.
“He did, because that’s what he is. I wanted you to know.”
Adrian pulled him back down. Settling Luca in against his chest once more, he placed a soft kiss on his head as he held him close.
They lay in silence, snuggled under the wide sky. Luca circled a finger over Adrian’s chest, slow and lazy. He’d hesitated, at first, about telling Adrian about Alex’s visit. But he couldn’t not tell him. Secrets and lies. He didn’t want them in his and Adrian’s life together, no matter how small and insignificant. There was nothing more, now, to be said.
A light breeze rippled over him, and he shivered. Adrian pulled a spare blanket over them. Luca sniffed. “Is this one of Spud’s?”
Adrian’s quiet chuckle filled the darkness. “I thought you wouldn’t notice.”
The only sounds disturbing the quiet were the occasional whisper of a breeze and the furtive scurrying of a nighttime animal, but even they faded and dropped away to nothing. As Luca stared into the glittering void, it felt like the world had retreated leaving only him and Adrian. All the strains, all the stresses, all of the needless warnings melted like butter in a hot pan.
“Look, see that?” Adrian said, his voice little more than a whisper, part of the night rather than cutting through it.
And Luca did. A shooting star, trailing a glittering ribbon in its wake. “It’s beautiful. I’ve never seen a shooting star before.” The only sky he’d gazed at, when he’d bothered to gaze at all, had been filled with the sodium yellow hue from city streetlights.
Luca felt the rumble before he heard it. “You’re such a city boy.”
“Guilty as charged. But I think I might just be changing into a country boy.”
“Are you?”
“I think so.” Luca smiled as Adrian’s arms tightened around him. They were strong and warm, holding him tight but not hard. He could pull away, but why would he when he was exactly where he wanted to be?
“Every country boy worth his salt should be able to read the night sky. It’s got its own language, everything has meaning.”
“That’s — poetic. Like stories attached to them, you mean?”
“There are lots of tales about the night sky, many of them centuries old if not older. But for farmers, they studied it for practical reasons. Like when to plant, and when to reap. My gran used to tell me stories of her grandfather, how he farmed according not just to the seasons but to the phases of the moon and where in the sky certain constellations were. I know some farmers who take the same approach. They’re mainly born again pagans who’ve escaped their corporate jobs in the city for a smallholding, but their intentions are good.”
“Tell me about the stars. Read the sky to me.”
“Really? Wouldn’t you just rather look at all the pretty twinkles and get romantic?”
Even in the dark, there was enough starlight for Luca to see Adrian’s smirk.
“I’ll let you get all romantic with me later. In bed. But for now I want you to tell me stories about the stars.”
Adrian’s smirk melted into a smile. “I’d love to,” he said quietly. “Look, do you see that clear line of stars? The way they reach a slight peak before bending down?”
Luca squinted. All he saw was a jumble, no discernible line, no?—
“Yes, I can. What is it?”
