Page 45 of Worse Fates

Chuckling, he returns his head to my chest. But I see a blush kissing the tips of his ears—jealous, I kiss each one, only causing the pink to spill into red. “A few times.”

“A week?” He stays silent and I sit back. “Golden, you’ve onlyevermasturbated a handful of times?”

“Was that a pun?”

“What?” I splutter. “Of course not.”

Golden snorts. “Alright, so once someone paid me. Then twice when…actually.” He coughs. “Forget the other times.”

This piques my interest. I reach for him, carding my fingers through his curls and tilting his head back towards me, delighted when a shiver runs across his skin. The sweet as honey scent of his arousal melting into the warm, woodsy scent of the fireplace.

“Well, now you’ve made me curious, beautiful,” I drawl, my voice dropping low and seductive, “and I can be very tenacious when I’m curious.”

His eyes flutter away from me. I run my thumb up and down his pillowed cheeks.

“Tell me,” I entice, the closed room and low light cocooning us in a secret world.

After a moment, he looks up at me through his impossibly long eyelashes. “Twice last a few days ago, when I was in a shitty hotel room hiding from you.”

“And you thought of me,” I growl; leaving no room for my words to be anything but a fact.

“I thought of you,” he whispers, a little breathless.

The sudden, near feral, need to pull Golden into my lap strains my fingers. I crave to lick the salt from his skin, fill mylungs with his sweet lust. An ache to uncover the softest and hardest and silky smooth parts of his body could take me to my knees; where I’d discover just how much he needs me. But now is not the time, and I cling onto my patience with both hands.

Breathing out through my nose to calm myself, I say, “The arousal you feel, that sweet ache deep in your gut, I feel it, too.”

“You…you do?”

I nod.

Golden rakes shaking fingers through his hair. “Kai thought I was asexual.”

I tilt my head, that would explain his lack of desire, but the way he said it I question the truth of his friend’s statement. “If you are, that's fine.”

His nose scrunches. “I’m not. I want to have sex with you an embarrassing amount, to be honest. But I know Kai wasn’t right because, well…”

“Because?”

He looks away again and I let him this time, but keep my hand twined into his curls.

“I felt like there was no reason to have sex or watch porn because…there was always this feeling inside me that…well, something would show up. I had no idea what, I just knew that one day ‘something’ would happen. So I was even less fussed about trying sex.”

My eyes darken. Has he always been waiting for me?

“It’s confusing, I know,” he admits, shoulder slumping. “But does that make sense?”

“Yes, beautiful. It makes complete sense to me.”

He lets loose a long, relieved sigh. “I knew you’d understand.”

Possessiveness spikes through my blood like a shot of adrenaline—to have a better understanding of Golden than someone he’s known longer is the deepest satisfaction.

“Kai always says he’s got a one true love, but still sleeps with other men. Obviously I don’t care, but it fucking annoyed me when he thought I was ace. Like he’d made up his mind already.”

“What do you mean, Golden?” And I stroke his hair, offering all my comfort.

“Everyones always giving me titles,” he huffs. “Mixed race, even though I never knew my mum or dad. Orphan, my parents dropped me at a random fire station, so who knows if they’re still alive. Ace. Soulmate. None of them are bad but…”