Page 75 of Moonlight Hearts

I squeezed his arm, almost pinching him.“They’re our friends, Soyer.Yours too.I won’t tell anyone if you’re afraid about your evil reputation being ruined, but they are coming to see both you and me.”

The muscles in his jaw tensed before he glanced at me.He opened his mouth, but then said nothing, turning his attention back to the road.

I watched him as he thought about it.The city’s lights were flickering, painting his face yellow and orange, the colors of a phoenix flame.

“I’m looking forward to it, Amory.I am.”

Shivers like the feathers of a giant bird ran over my back.Perhaps loneliness was oily, stubborn like a grease stain on a fine shirt.If so, I figured I’d just have to be more stubborn than a stain, and that couldn’t be so hard, not when it was for the man I loved.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Thenextweekwentby in a flash.Thursday wasn’t as slow as Wednesday had been.After that, well, I was off, and Soyer took full advantage of that.He brought out an antique-looking chess set, and while I had the rules down and had played a bit here and there, I wasn’t as good as him.But he taught me the tactics behind it, gave me practice matches, and that was fun.Seeing the expression on his face when I was able to use the tactics he’d taught me made it even better.

We also went for walks.Not too far away from Sundial Tower, there was a perfectly square park with a fountain in the center.It wasn’t big, but it was framed by large trees that were inhabited by both crows and squirrels.Soyer had brought a bag of seeds and nuts, and those attracted both the crows and squirrels as well as the neighborhood pigeons.It was fun watching the lot of them try to get the best bits.

More than anything though, we were lazy.Really lazy.We spent so much time in bed, so much time in each other’s arms, and yet, I found myself wishing time would stop when Soyer held me, when we tried to watch a movie or a show in bed and ended up talking all through it.

By Sunday evening, I found myself sort of…dreading having to go back to work.Except that wasn’t it.Work was going to be exciting.On the advice of Elias, the Moonlight was going to be closed to the human clientele until Thursday, which meant Tuesday and Wednesday were going to be the grand opening for everyone in the underground.It would be busy, but fun.

Yet, I’d have to leave home, the home that was mine and Soyer’s, and given that it was less a place and more him, well, I had to leave him, and I wasn’t excited about that.

“What’s that face for, Amory?”he asked me around noon on Monday while he poured me a drink of his third trial batch of apple cider.He’d transferred it into a pitcher, and the pitcher was sitting in the middle of our table.We were having a cold lunch of leftover sandwiches using the bread he’d made when his levain had finally arrived—sent by mail from heavens knew where—and a mango, onion, and cucumber salad.

I pointed.“This is my face.You’ve told me you like it.”

He huffed.“Fine.Penny for your thoughts, then.”

I sipped more of the cider.This one had strong anise and ginger notes, and I liked that.

“The weekend was fun.Can we do this again next weekend?”

He crossed his legs and tapped his plate with his fingernail.I’d watched him apply a fresh coat of black to them only yesterday.“Wait… Are you telling me youenjoyednot working?”

“I enjoyed being with you.”

“Hmm.I’m not going to press you, because that would be pressing my luck.Yes, we will be doing this next weekend and every weekend after.We’ll be doing even more relaxing things when you are on vacation.”

“Huh?”

He grinned.“Dwayne’s rule, not mine.You have to go on vacation.”

I bit the inside of my cheek.“With you?”

“Obviously.”

“Then I don’t mind.”

He raised his left eyebrow.“Wow.”

“Don’t make fun of me.”

He shook his head.“Never.My heart, I know how lucky I am to have your attention, your love.Do you remember?When we met, when you dared be ashamed of your old apartment for it not being as grand as this?”He gestured at our home.

“Oh, yeah.Hard to forget that.The couch was really bad.”

“Hush.We shared our first breakfast on that couch.Listen, when I told you back then how you impressed me with the fact that you had worked for everything you had, that you had managed to attain everything you had without help, without any kind of support, I meant that.When I tell you now that you giving me the time you used to spend at the diner to work so hard for all of that humbles me, I mean that too.You are impressive, Amory, and you never fail to impress me.I’m grateful to be found worthy of your time.”

I wrapped my hands around my cider cup, enjoying the warmth I could feel through the glass.“Come on, I’m just—”