Page 125 of Should Our Hearts Catch Fire

“Your eyes. When I looked at you just now, they were glowing.”

Holy shit. “How’s that possible?”

Gabriel chokes out a laugh. “Beats me. It’s never happened before.”

Well, that’s helpful. “What about now?”

“They’re blue again.”

Ellis is oddly disappointed. “Oh.”

“I think,” Gabriel starts, caressing Ellis’ sides. “I think the connection was just that strong. Our energies might’ve blended together.”

“Oh.” Seriously. Words.Now.“That’s…pretty amazing. Right?”

“No. It’s really fucking amazing,” Gabriel corrects, grinning ear to ear.

Ellis grins back. “You’re right.”

“Shit. I can’t feel my legs,” Gabriel says, sounding happy about it.

“I can’t feel my brain.”

“Can you ever feel your brain?”

“I never thought about that.”

They laugh, meeting each other halfway for a lazy, perfect kiss in a perfect moment.

The next moment is not perfect. The next moment is the stuff of nightmares coming to life.

“That was beautiful, boys,” comes Carrie’s voice from the other side of the wall.

For a long time, they just stare at each other, eyes like saucers and faces pale. Ellis can feel a laugh starting to vibrate in Gabriel’s chest, his hands coming up to cover his mouth.

Ellis burrows his face in a pillow and screams.

Chapter 22

“Ellis, come on. It’snot a big deal,” Gabe tells him for the gazillionth time. He’s spent the better part of the morning convincing Ellis to leave the bedroom with no luck.

“I can never look your mother in the face ever again,” Ellis whines, for the gazillionth time. The covers are pulled up to his chest, arms folded on his drawn up knees, hiding his flushed face.

If Gabe wasn’t so annoyed, he’d find it adorable. Not annoyed at Ellis, but at his mum. Sure, he’s not without guilt—it was his idea to have sex with his mother next door (who he assumed was fast asleep!), but there was no need for her to announce she was awake and had heard the whole thing. She totally did that on purpose!

Gabe will make her pay. After the best sex of his life with the man he’s head over heels for, and being so attuned to each other that his energy sneaked over to mingle with Ellis’, he wantedto bask in the afterglow and cuddle. Instead, he spent the night taming Ellis’ anxiety and talking him out of moving to Siberia.

“Ellis, it’s fiiine. She’s caught me doing much worse.” Well, she caught him jerking off, but it was just once (Gabe learned to lock the door after that), but Ellis doesn’t need to know that.

“This is so embarrassing,” Ellis mumbles into his arms, barely decipherable.

“Would it help if you imagined her naked?”

“Why on earth would I imagine your mother naked?!” Ellis shrieks.

“Well, that’s what they tell you to do if you’re nervous giving a presentation in front of a lot of people.”

“I’m not giving a presentation!”