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thirteen

*ADEN*

N oel seems to suck everything up that happens around us like a dry sponge. I didn’t expect him to be so interested in the whole event, in Lynn, and in everything surrounding me. Somehow, the realization makes me both happy and terrified.

“How about we get some fresh air?” I offer. “It’s getting really crowded in here.”

“Good idea.”

Noel follows me through the two halls, still crowded with people, before we step out onto a broad balcony.

“Wow!” Noel stretches, sucking in the fresh air of the night. “I didn’t realize there was a second balcony, and it’s so big too!”

“Perks of knowing this place,” I chuckle. “No one comes here. Everyone frequents the balcony on the front.”

Noel turns to me. Against the moonlight, he looks so magical that my fingers twitch slightly, wishing I had a pen with me to draw a sketch.

I need to ingrain this onto my memory and then put it to paper later.

I haven’t drawn anything or anyone in ages.

The last one to stir that interest in me was Emil, but ever since he passed, I just didn’t feel the motivation or the muse anymore.

The fact that Noel does that to me, so suddenly, is unexpected.

I was intrigued by Sterling’s paintings, but I know better than to insert myself too much into an artist’s muse.

However, meeting Noel in person changed everything.

I was expecting to meet a melancholic young man, but instead I met someone fierce, sassy, and slightly mysterious.

He pulled me in from the moment I talked to him.

“What are you thinking about?” Noel asks me, curiosity in his voice.

“I was thinking about how I need to draw this moment.”

“What, me here?”

“Yes,” I say. “It’s truly magical. You are beautiful.”

Noel’s whole face seems to heat up, his cheeks turning pink, as do the tips of his ears. “How can you say that without sounding weird?!”

I shrug. “Because it’s true.”

Noel stares at me like I have lost my mind. I can’t help but find him so adorable when he is confused. I take his face between my hands. “Certainly, you have heard that before?”

“No,” he says. “Well, I have had my ass complimented a couple of times, but only if someone wanted to get into my pants. But usually no one sounds sincere when they say nice things.”

“And I? Do I sound sincere?”

“You do, and that’s so fucking confusing.”

I don’t loosen my grip on his face, but instead pull him closer, until our lips brush against each other.

“You are not toying with me, are you?” he asks, his voice so small it pulls at my heartstrings.”

“I would never toy with anyone, let alone you,” I say.

“Okay, because I pretty much like you.”

“It makes me happy to hear that, because I like you too.” I don’t know the last time I told someone I liked them.

Emil. I loved Emil and told him so. He was the only one I ever said ‘I love you’ to.

But even back then, the words barely left my lips, and until now, I usually don’t tell anyone I like them.

With my hand at the back of his head, I tilt it up slightly before claiming his lips.

Noel's fingers dig into my suit, holding onto me while he answers my kiss, almost hungrily so.

I brush my thumb over his chin before gripping it to keep him in place, my teeth grazing his bottom lip.

Noel gapes, allowing my tongue to push past his lips. For a moment, we battle for dominance, until he just seems to melt in my arms.

Fuck, that’s hot!

I loosen the grip on his chin and move my hand down to his ass, squeezing it through his soft pants.

Then my phone vibrates.

“Damn it,” I mutter.

Noel draws back slightly, his lips damp and his pupils dilated. I don’t know what I would have done if my phone didn’t distract me, but I am sure it wouldn’t have stayed at just kissing him. I put my arm around him to pull him against my body before I take my phone out of my pocket.

The name popping up makes me frown.

“Work?” Noel asks me.

“No, Kayden,” I mutter more to myself than to him. Raising my gaze, I can see something flash in his eyes. He looks hurt all of a sudden, and once more anxious. Right, I should probably clarify. “He is one of my brothers.”

Noel turns red. It’s endearing how easy it is to read his expression.

I switch my phone to silent, putting it back into my pocket.

Noel looks at me curiously, but doesn’t push for answers.

Instead, he keeps casting me glances. It seems like he wants to say something, but the minutes pass by without him saying one thing.

“Okay, what’s wrong?” I ask instead.

He lets out a frustrated sigh. “It’s going to sound pathetic and weird, or creepy and pathetic, or—”

“Let me judge that and just ask.”

“Aden, are you going to ask me to go home with you tonight? I have never been in such a situation where I actually dated someone. I don’t know the cues. I know I said I want things to move slowly, but we obviously already… well…”

I eye him thoughtfully. I absolutely want to take him home. There is no denying that I want to fuck him, even if we barely know each other. However, he has a point when he says we wanted to take it slow. “Do you want me to take you home with me?”

He tilts his head. “I… it depends. Did I misinterpret things?”

God, what’s wrong with me? I usually don’t engage with this type of man. I like things simple, and easy.

It’s easy to quit when it’s simple.

Fuck, Lynn was right.

And who am I even kidding? Sassy, mysterious guys like him are exactly my type.

“If I sleep with you tonight, it means something,” I tell him. “Only agree if it means something to you, too.”

Noel purses his lips, his eyes looking at me defiantly. “Of course it means something! That’s why I asked in such a weird way, quite literally. You are the heartthrob here, not me!”

“I barely date,” I tell him. “You are the first guy in ages that I have introduced as my boyfriend.”

Noel sighs and leans his forehead against my shoulder. He mutters something I don’t quite catch, but I don’t push him to repeat it. It probably wasn’t for my ears anyway. Instead, I rub his shoulders. “Will you come home with me?”

Noel raises his gaze. “Obviously, the answer is yes.”

*NOEL*

If there is one thing that annoys me about Aden, it is how evasively he answers sometimes. He is so fucking hard to read, and his words are not always that clear either. Maybe it’s less annoyance and more anxiety, though.

Letting him fuck me is quite the step. Usually, I wouldn’t mind. Guys only want me for sex anyway, but with Aden it’s different. I want to sincerely date him. But I also want him to fuck me. Damn my primal urges!

“Noel,“ Aden opens the door to his house. It’s beautiful. Tidy, perfect interior, and with artworks everywhere. I expected a cold, neat apartment, but not an actual townhouse. In typical Aden fashion, it is perfectly clean, but it still has personality.

“Noel?”

“Sorry!” I turn around to look at Aden. “I was just too much in awe of everything.”

“I noticed.” Aden takes his jacket off and places it in its designated place. Then he does the same with his keys.

I don’t know why, but something seems to stir my nerves. What the fuck is wrong with me? This guy obviously likes me, or he wouldn’t have introduced me everywhere as his boyfriend, even to his own best friend. He is still here although I fucked up once already. There is no need to freak out.

To my surprise, Aden comes over and takes my hand. “We don’t need to do anything,” he says. “We can just talk or sleep. And if you still feel uncomfortable, I will take you home.”

Somehow, his words almost bring tears to my eyes. I can’t help but throw my hands around him and hug him.

Aden hugs me back, gently rubbing my back. “Talk to me?”

“I just realized I really want you,” I admit before grabbing his face and pulling him into a kiss.

“You are like a rollercoaster,” Aden says, but it doesn’t sound like he is complaining.

“And you like someone who doesn’t give a flying fuck about that.”

Aden’s lips curl into a smirk. Ah, yes. Back in the mood!

I grab him by his tie, dragging him forward to… where I think his bedroom is located.

Aden looks equal parts amused and intrigued. “First floor, second door to the left.”

He lets me pull him along until we reach his bedroom.

Again, I am slightly surprised. I was expecting something like black satin sheets, but his bedsheets are actually turquoise with little strings of gold going through them.

The walls aren’t fully white either. The one behind his bed is painted in a similar turquoise to his sheets, with petals flying across it. It looks like a Sakura petal storm.

I am so stupid. I don’t know why I constantly expect him to have bland taste when he is an artist himself.

“Did you paint that yourself?”

“Yes, all my murals here were done by me.” Aden grabs me by my waist to spin around so that I am back to looking at him. “You can check everything later. Now focus on me!”

The tone he uses sends a shiver down my spine in the best way possible. It’s low, hoarse and slightly bossy, making my cock stir immediately. Fuck, if he talks to me like that I might do anything for him.

Even more reason to push a little more! “It’s not my fault,” I say with what I hope is an innocent tone. “You are just not keeping me distracted enough.”

One of Aden’s perfect eyebrows shoots up. “Is that so?” he says.

Mateo sometimes talks in flowery words when he is in love. The last time, he told me something about a woman talking in a velvety voice, and I called bullshit on it. What the fuck is a velvety voice?

Now I know, this is it!

Aden tugs at my hand, forceful enough that I stumble forward and clash against his chest, his lips catching mine in an almost bruising kiss that takes my breath away, quite literally. One of his hands opens the buttons of my pants before slipping past them and into my underpants, squeezing my ass.