“Do you hear me complaining?”
I laugh and press another kiss to his lips. Tate had experienced a lot of hurt in his life before he met me, and I’m glad that Will was there to help ease his pain and shield him from the worst of it. And I’ll be eternally grateful that I was able to help them both over the last several years. Tate is my everything, and I’ll do anything for him. Always.
Epilogue
Will
I wake wrapped in Corvin’s arms as he spoons me from behind and I consider making a scene, but Tate is happy, and I guess Corvin’s proven himself worthy. However, I’m kind of salty I didn’t get to have some fun with him first. Knife play can be hot. Judging by the way my body feels, the two of them had some hot fun of their own last night.
I’m happy for Tate and his newfound love with his best friend, but I can’t help the tinge of jealousy that coats my thoughts. I want what they have. I want Corvin for myself. If I thought Tate wouldn’t flip out at the idea, and if Corvin actually saw me as something other than Tate’s alter and protector, then I’d make my own move.
Corvin’s arm tightens around my body. The movement is intentional, and he’s letting me know he’s awake. Turning in his arms, I meet his eyes. His deep grey irises shine, the smile on his lips echoed within them. I can tell the exact moment he realizes it’s me and not Tate, but the smile never leaves his face the way I expect it to. He watches me as I rise up onto an elbow to look down into his face. It’s intoxicating to know he’s watching my every move. It’s the same way I’d also watched him a few times when he thought I was Tate before he learned to tell the difference: as if he’s the only one I’d ever need. But that can’t be right. Corvin loves Tate, not me. I’m just a violently annoying third wheel that comes with the territory.
“What?” he asks.
“What do you mean what?”
“Come on, Will. You’re glaring at me as if I committed some great offense against you.”
My facial expression must have given me away without me knowing, and for some reason I decide to be as honest about my feelings as he and Tate have been. “I was just thinking of how much I’d love to be able to love you the same way Tate gets to. Fully. Unconditionally. Forever. But I know that can never be.”
“Are you hungry? Pancakes?” Corvin rolls out of the bed and pulls on a pair of boxers as he heads out of the bedroom. My head is spinning at the sudden change in topic.
“Hey, Will?” I look up to see Corvin standing in the doorway watching me. “Never say never.” He winks and wanders off to presumably make pancakes, leaving me with a hope that one day I will have what he has with Tate. One day I will be the one who is loved.
About Faith:
Faith Ryan is wife to a handsome bearded man and mother to three, yes three, teenage girls. She lives in a small town in Ohio and is a weirdo to the max. She is in love with love of all kinds, especially the dark, dirty, and forbidden. She enjoys torturing her characters, sometimes figuratively and other times literally. Faith's writing leans to the weird, dark, and unconventional. Most of her stories include an element of the LGBT+, typically in the form of MM romance. If you like your stories a bit dark and taboo, you're looking in the right place. But don't worry, Faith also has a sweet side she lets out on occasion.
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Books by Faith:
Inhuman Behavior
Wicked Dreams (Reveries Duet #1)
Elastic Heart—coming soon!
Blossom In The Dark
A Flower In The Dark PrequelAlly Vance
Prologue
Zachary
Dad left today, he packed a bag and walked right out of the door. He looked right at me while I stood at the top of the stairs watching him, but apart from giving me a sad smile before averting his eyes, he didn’t acknowledge me or ask me to come with him. A part of me can’t blame him for leaving, but I wish he’d have taken me with him. Instead, he left me here alone with Mom and his precious flower garden, slamming the door closed on his life and his only son. I don’t understand why he didn’t stay here with me and just make her leave.
Two Years Later
Walking through the door after school, I sling my backpack on the hook by the front door. I don’t even bother calling out in greeting—I can hear the sounds Mom’s making in the living room the moment I step through the door. I shake my head in disgust and hurry through the house to my father’s…my flower garden. Tending it is the only thing that’s kept me sane over the past two years.
I bury myself in work, laying groundwork for the new patio I’m installing, finally finishing what Dad never started. The paving stones have been sitting under the tarp for three years. I look over the flat, exposed earth, wishing I could sink beneath it and stay there, taking root in the dark before blossoming into something magnificent.
A loud grunt cuts across my thoughts, filtering through the open back door, and I shudder when it’s followed by Mom moaning. I should have shut it when I came out here. I dig my fingers into the soft soil, feeling the dirt kick up under my nails and embed itself into my skin. The sounds of fucking grow louder, and I grit my teeth in annoyance, hating that I have to hear this every
