Page 203 of Dance of Defiance

She pulls away and sticks a finger in my face. “If you pull any bullshit with?—”

“Thanks so much for the vote of confidence,friend,” I mutter as she giggles and hugs me again.

“Hey, when one of my friends falls for another one...” She shrugs. “It needs to be said.”

“Then say it tohim, too,” I grunt, smirking as she turns to wave a finger dramatically in Roman’s face.

He smiles and looks up at me. “Could youpleaseput on some fucking pants before everyone gets here?”

They're all here:Evie, Dove, Brooklyn and Kir, Carmine and Lyra, Nico and Naomi, Nero and Milena, Tate, Miguel, James, Laz, and Bane.

Surprisingly, even my brother showed up.

“Youdidinvite me,” he says in that slightlytoodirect way of his.

“Yeah, but…”

“You didn’t think I’d come.”

“Not really.” I frown as I step close to him, tapping my finger to his chest. “For the record, my threat from before still?—”

“I’m not going to use Roman, or youandRoman, or anything about this situation in any sort of Machiavellian chess move,” he says dryly. “I promise.”

I nod stiffly. “Well…okay then.” I grin as I sling an arm over his shoulder. “Thanks for putting the psycho evil villain routine on hold for the evening.” I turn to him. “I reallyamglad you’re here.”

Leave it to Roman, closet case extraordinaire, to come out in thegayestway possible. I mean, the manthrows a fancy party, asks his guests to “dress up”, then calls their attention by tapping a teaspoon against his flute of fizzy apple juice.

I mean, thebougieness.

I can only get so fucking hard, you know?

But then he tells them—not haltingly, not awkwardly. He stands tall and proud, facing his close friends, and tells them the truth.

“I’m gay.”

There’s a moment of frozen silence, then everyone starts to clap and whistle and cheer all at once. I watch as Roman’s face lights the fuck up, his shoulders pulled back, his chest puffed out, as he faces them all unhidden for the first time.

Then he calls me over, takes my hand, and finishes his announcement.

Yeah, that’s me. I’m part two of the announcement.

After that, it’s one big blur.

All my ballet girls are rushing up to hug me or warn me with a laugh what I can expect to happen if I fuck Roman over. But that’s nothing compared to the psycho shit I get fromhisfriends.

Carmine tells me I’ve “garnered his attention”, which is just as creepy to hear in person as it sounds, trust me.

Nico congratulates me but then shows me the hunting knife that—for some fucked-up reason that truly escapes me—he brought strapped to the inside of his dinner jacket.

Bane starts to ramble on about how bodies can be disintegrated in a plastic oil barrel with the right kind of acid. Laz inquires if I have a high pain tolerance. Nero just plainly tells me he’ll cut my throat if I dick over his buddy.

Fun times. Solid memories.

But in the end, when they see the way he never leaves my side, and the way I never leave his, and how our hands stay locked together, the threats turn to firm handshakes and claps on the back.

Finally, long after midnight, the last of our friends have gone home, and it’s just the two of us.

It might not be daylight anymore, but Idofuck him out on the veranda, watching him ride my cock until he groans and slams his mouth to mine, kissing me as his hot cum sprays all over my abs. I hiss into his lips, biting and sucking as I follow him over the edge, my cock pulsing as I empty my balls into him.