Page 34 of Heat Haze
Before I finish my sentence there’s thisloudthrashing in his room. A strained yell is barely muffled by the thin door, followed by the sound of something hitting the wall and clattering down to the floor.
“Told ya he was prone to tantrums.” Damien chides, leaning up against the wall like this is totally cool and not at all worrying. “He tried, I guess. Tried to be normal for ya. Ain’t that sweet?”
He says it mockingly, and if he wasn’t so capable of hurting me I'd probably say something back to him. I grumble, stepping up to the door and putting a hesitant hand on the doorknob. The noise inside has come to an eerie halt, and he probably needs me right now.
Putting any worries I have aside, I push the door open and step inside. It shuts softly behind me, and at first I don’t even see Toro. But when I notice him sitting in the corner faced away from the rest of the world, my heart cracks. His knees are up to his chest, arms wrapped around them.
The room didn’t have much in it to begin with, but now there’s even less. The radio he had been so happy about is destroyed now, with little bits and pieces all over the floor.
“Toro…?” I call out to him but he doesn’t shift an inch. He just stays there, breathing so heavily that I almost don’t want to get closer. But if I was scared of him, what the hell would be the point of any of this?
His father would be right, and I’d rather die trying to disprove that than let that cocky asshole treat his own son so awfully. Just because they see Toro as nothing more than amutt doesn’t mean I do. Padding across the room, I drop down to my knees behind him.
With no hesitation my arms slide around his waist, hugging him from behind with as much warmth as I can muster up. His body tenses at first, but after a pause he completely dissolves into my touch.
A dreamy little sigh escapes him, and he’s suddenly leaning back to sprawl out across my lap. The dopiest smile creeps up on my face, and I just look down at him—admiring every part of this lovable not-so-little farmhand.
His eyes sparkle with tears, his cheeks are wet and his nose is all snotty and gross. But I don’t care. Not when he’s smiling at me like the rest of the world just disappeared. As much as I want to coddle him I know letting this be ignored would be wrong.
“You broke the radio,” I say.
His smile fades a little, a look of shame replacing it. “...Sorry.”
“Now we can’t listen to music.”
Toro shifts uncomfortably, giving me his signature doe-eyed look. “Mad?”
“Not mad.” I mean that, but I feel a little bad when he starts smiling again since I know what’s coming next. “Just upset.”
That wipes the smile clean off his face, a panicked noise escaping him as he shoots up so we’re sitting knee-to-knee with each other. Toro is hunched over, face concerned while he leans in even closer.
“Sorry,” he repeats.
“I know.”
He whines again, clearly not finding the answer he wants. Toro probably wants me to forgive him completelyand hold him, but he did a bad thing and a bad thing has consequences. My boyfriend is antsy, shifting and bobbing before finally mashing his forehead against mine desperately.
“Nico…” He lets out in a tone I’ve never heard before. My heart begins racing, and just like that my last line of defense has crumbled against the man who knows how to push every single button I have.
“It’s okay,” I whisper. As much as I want to kiss him I need to find some tissue first, but Toro doesn’t seem to get that because his face is not-so-secretly inching closer and closer.
A hand keeps him at bay, but before he can let out another one of his battered little puppy noises I quickly speak. “Let’s clean you up, okay?”
“Kiss.” He shakes his head, bringing his hands up to hold my wrist. Toro doesn’t actually pull it away, but signals that he wants to.
“Clean up first,” I say in arguably the firmest tone I can muster up, a half-assed attempt to put my foot down. “Then we can kiss.”
Toro squirms a bit, but he doesn’t argue. Instead he shoots up, disappearing into the bathroom. I hear the sink running, and when he comes back out his face is glistening with a thin layer of water. He kneels back down and pulls me into a greedy kiss.
I sputter before his lips capture mine, and even though my face is getting damp I don’t even care. I reach up to hold his face with one hand, letting him scoop me up into his lap.
“Toro.” A breathy groan follows our kiss. “Um… I…” Why do I feel nervous all of a sudden? This isn’t out of theordinary for us, but something about the way he’s holding me and giving me his full attention is making me feel all timid for some reason.
“Iloveyou.” I mumble, hiding my face in his shoulder. Without missing a beat Toro pulls me back, hands moving to my shoulders. He seems overjoyed, studying my face. I know he believes me, but he looks shocked every time he hears it—like he can’t believethis.
“Love you,” he replies, hugging me properly. He plants kisses all at the top of my head, getting super giddy while picking me up and carrying me over to the bed. “Love you, Nico. Love you, love you.”
Toro holds me close to him, the bed screaming under our combined weight. I’m surprised this thing hasn’t collapsed yet. All I hear is his heartbeat intermixed with our breathing, so fast and all for me.
