Of Stars & Lies by R. M. Grace Page A

you ever see a person who you've never met, but feel an instant connection to? Not to the body, but something deeper? Perhaps we'll have that and get back to how we are now.”
    “ The odds are pretty stacked against that happening though.”
    “ We should enjoy the here and now even more then. Cherish every moment.”
    Love's hand drifts into the brunette locks where he strokes. The coconut and lichee scent fills his nostrils. He loves that smell on Cade, only it saddens him right now.
    “ What do you think I will come back as?”
    Love considers the question while he gazes into the great beyond. “A teenage girl.”
    “ What?”
    “ You'll come back as a girl, so you can listen to that cheesy pop music and get away with it.”
    Love feels the smile against his skin and laughs hard. “What do you think I'll be?”
    “ A horse,” Cade replies in an instant.
    “ Why?”
    Cade's hand squeezes his growing bulge.
    “ Oh.”
    “ Plus, you know girl's always beg their parents to get them a horse. Then I could ride you.”
    In one swift movement, Cade straddles his hips and pins his wrists to the dirt. He grinds his ass against his erection and leans closer to whisper in Love's ear. “Giddy-up then.”

 
     
    Seventeen
     
     
          He must have consumed a lot more alcohol than he remembers because his head is throbbing. When his eyes flicker open into narrow slits, his vision is hazy and unreliable.
    Matt comes and checks on him while he's sprawled on the bed, still fully clothed every hour, but he doesn't respond.
    He's been sobbing. He knows that much by the hitch in his throat, sting in his eyes and pang inside his chest. They are the aches no amount of alcohol can erase.
    The digital clock reads four in the morning when he comes around again. When the hand claps him on the shoulder he tries to tell Matt he should go because he's a grown man, not a baby that needs around the clock care.
    Hell, I can have a drink if I damn well please, and if I want to wreck the flat, I can do that too.
    His eyes try to adjust as he turns towards the figure, and he thinks he catches the rain's fresh scent.
    “ Matt?”
    Material shuffles above his head, but before he gets a clearer view, the lamp switches off.
    “ What are you doing?”
    “ Matt's gone home. I'm soaking: it's been raining for hours.” The familiar voice jolts his heart into life like an electric current.
    “ Cade?”
    “ You stink of beer. I thought you brought them for me. They're not for you to chug down like water.”
    Loveren tries to get a word in, but can't.
    “ You haven't drank in years, so tonight wasn't a wise idea, was it?”
    “ Where have you been?” Love reaches for him, but he moves around the foot of the bed, avoiding his fingers.
    “ I went for a walk to get my head together. I will get a cold now.”
    “ I'm sorry.”
    Ill for Christmas. Just another reason why this year won't be perfect.
    The bed depresses and sniffles come close within the darkness.
    “ You should have told me instead of lying. You know I can't stand lies. My parents did it to one another enough times, and I don't want us to be like them.”
    “ I'm sorry. I was—”
    “ Worried about my reaction? I know. You're scared I will get bored because I'm not getting any like I'm a damn animal.”
    “ I don't think that.”
    “ You think sex is the be all and end all for me. So, you put your life at risk. Do you think I find your anger attractive? No, it reminds me of my dad. You know, the dad that almost killed me.”
    Love rises to his elbows and struggles to pull himself against the headboard. As soon as he moves, his head swims with vivid sickness which forces him to groan.
    “ Hurts, doesn't it?”
    He can hear no sympathy in Cade's voice, but he expects none. He sure wouldn't give anyone else any for self-inflicted pain.
    “ Yeah, like a bitch.”
    “ Good, because I swear to God, if you pull any more shit like this, you'll be drinking a lot more.”
    “