Page 63 of Cover Up

“Felix,” Dei said, interrupting him before he could get the most painful part of his sentence out. He laid his hand over Felix’s and pressed down. “I can’t predict the future. I have no idea how we’re going to feel about each other when real life kicks back in. But I know for a goddamn fact that even if the worst happens and we decide to go our separate ways, I won’t regret this.”

Felix laughed softly—a little bitterly. “You have no idea how many times I’ve heard people in my chair say that.”

Dei moved his hand and hooked a knuckle under Felix’s chin, drawing in his gaze. “Am I people in your chair?”

“No,” Felix breathed out.

“Am I just people to you?”

“No,” he said again.

Dei cupped his cheek. “I mean it. This isn’t just because you make me feel amazing, okay? Or that we’re in some honeymoon phase that’s gonna fade in six months. I want this from you because I trust you with every inch of me—including all my soft spots that could take me down to my knees.”

Felix swallowed past a lump in his throat as he looked at Dei. “Okay. I trust you too.”

He could easily say Dei believed every word that was coming out of his mouth now. Felix had heard the most impassioned reasons for people getting ink, and in that moment, the words were utterly and completely honest.

But he’d lost count of how many return clients he’d had over the years who came in—sheepish and embarrassed—with a cover-up request. Felix always did his absolute best to never, ever say I told you so and never, ever make them feel humiliated for being wrong. But there was a small part of him that wished people would listen to him the first time.

Still, as he stared down at the knotted, scarred skin on Dei’s leg, he didn’t have that same feeling of warning in his gut. He had nerves, because he couldn’t fuck this up. But there was something else behind that. It was warm and careful, and he never wanted to stop feeling this way.

“Do you have something in mind?” Felix asked.

Dei shook his head and grinned as he leaned back against the chair. “This time, I want it to be something from here.” He pressed the tip of his finger against Felix’s sternum.

Now, that was a lot. It was more than he really wanted to deal with, but it didn’t matter. He didn’t even need to think. The design came unbidden and willing into the pads of his fingers. He wouldn’t even need to draw it.

“You know, don’t you?” Dei asked.

Felix looked up and took a fortifying breath before nodding. “Yeah. I know.”

* * *

Felix hadn’t anticipated taking more than an hour, but he also hadn’t anticipated going freehand on a piece that took up most of the top of Dei’s thigh. Over the valleys of his scars, he inked wings that stretched up toward his hips.

He could tell Dei was in pain through it, but he didn’t complain. Not once. Not even when Leif came and sat beside him and asked him a thousand questions about how he was injured and how he’d survived.

When he was finished, Felix cleaned him up, then spread the plastic shield over his skin, laying a kiss to where it was feverishly warm. He knew Leif was watching, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He looked up into Dei’s face, but Dei was staring down at the image on his skin.

“Is it okay?” Felix had to ask.

“It’s my owl. You remembered,” Dei said quietly. He traced the outline of the bird, then looked at Felix. “I said that minutes before you were asleep.”

“I still listen. I always listen,” Felix told him.

Dei groaned and dragged him into a kiss. “We need to get the fuck out of here.”

Felix couldn’t agree more. He’d said all of his hellos to everyone, and while Max had gently suggested that Felix make the day a little tour of his past, he realized this was enough. There was only one stop he wanted to make, and now that it was days past the funeral, he felt safe to do it.

“One more stop?” he asked.

Dei nodded without looking even a little disappointed that they couldn’t rush back to the rental and fuck like rabbits.

It didn’t take long for them to clean up, and as Dei was getting his leg back on, Leif dragged him into another hug. “Do me a favor and don’t ice me out anymore,” he said when he pulled back. “I know this place wasn’t the best for you to recover after all that shit happened, but you were my friend. You are my friend.”

Felix bowed his head and nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know what else to say except I’m sorry.”

Leif shook him by the shoulder. “I know you won’t remember my face, but you got my number. Use it.”

---