Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 42461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 212(@200wpm)___ 170(@250wpm)___ 142(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 212(@200wpm)___ 170(@250wpm)___ 142(@300wpm)
He leapt out of the SUV and bounded up to the door hollering at the racoons that ran away with a chewed-up container of food and scraps of a plastic bag.
Royal knocked repeatedly on the hardwood door. After four or five minutes with no answer, he began calling Stone’s name so loud it hurt his throat.
Refusing to give up, he ran around the back of the cabin and pounded on the bedroom window, not caring if it broke.
“Bo, please! It’s Royal! I’m home! Please, open the door! Please!
The silence that followed stretched on too long. Royal’s mind reeled, and his fear escalated with each passing second. Was Stone just on the other side of the door watching him or peeking through the curtains waiting for him to leave.
“Bo!” he hollered, “Let me in! I’m back, baby, I swear it! I’ll never leave you again, please.”
Royal slumped against the door, feeling defeated, his voice hoarse from the cold. “I’m home…let me in, Bo.”
Damnit.
Just when he thought he might commit a crime and break a window, the front door creaked open.
Stone stood there wrapped in a heavy quilt, his face ashen. His hair was unkempt, his beautiful blue eyes were bloodshot, his posture reflecting defeat. This wasn’t the strong man he’d come to know…or the man he’d fallen in love with.
“Bo,” he whispered, stepping forward, his voice trembling. “Can I come inside?”
Stone didn’t move or speak. Royal shivered at the block of ice forming between them.
He stood there for long moment, unable to understand the blank expression on Stone’s face. But he did recognize the pain and exhaustion.
“I’m so sorry.” Royal’s voice was barely audible. “I never meant to hurt you. I hated to leave like that but I thought you’d understand or appreciate me trying to help you, to help Mrs. Pearl. The town needed money, and that’s the one thing I’m good at, is making money. I thought I was doing the right thing.”
Stone didn’t move, didn’t even look up. But Royal saw his fingers clench around the blanket.
He stepped forward, hesitant, not wanting to push too hard too fast. But he couldn’t stay suspended in this unknown any longer, not when everything inside him was screaming to get as close as he could.
“Why didn’t you answer my calls?” Royal sighed, “I explained what I was doing and that I’d only be a few days. Why…why didn’t you…”
Stone reached out and yanked Royal to his chest. It knocked the last of the breath out of him but he didn’t care. He wrapped his arms around Stone’s waist and squeezed him back. The pressure was unbearable, suffocating in the best way. It was a hold that yelled of fear and deep, resonating relief.
“I couldn’t. I couldn’t look at your text. I couldn’t answer your calls. I thought…I thought you were going to tell me goodbye, that you had to stay in New York.” Stone’s voice was raw and gritty as if he hadn’t spoken since Royal left. “I just…I couldn’t bear to hear it.”
Royal closed his eyes as Stone began to tremble, his breath coming in uneven gasps.
“No. I’m yours, Bo. I belong to you, and you are all mine. If I’d known what my leaving would do, I never would’ve done it.” Royal buried his face in Stone’s chest. “Forgive me, please.”
Royal pulled back enough to see Stone’s face. The vulnerability he saw was like nothing he’d ever seen. True fear that he’d be left alone again.
“I thought maybe I could just go on, that you didn’t meant everything to me already…but I was wrong.”
“So was I.” Royal stroked Stone’s beard. “Those three days almost killed me. All I wanted to do was get home.”
“I’m so damn scared, Royal,” Stone gritted. “I can’t go through this shit anymore.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Bo.” Royal’s own voice was breaking, the tears spilling over, as he peppered kisses along Stone’s throat. “I swear to you, I’m not leaving. I love you. I’ve never known this feeling, this kind of hurt and fear…so I know it’s love. The thought that I’d lost you caused an ache in my chest that was ten times worse than anything I’d ever felt before.”
Stone’s body began to relax as he searched Royal’s face, maybe looking for any signs of dishonesty. But he’d find none.
“I want to believe you.”
Royal gently cupped Stone’s cheek. “I’ll prove it. I swear.”
Stone leaned in, his lips trembling as he kissed Royal with a kind of desperation that only two anguished souls could understand.
Stone
Royal whined into his mouth as Stone deepened the kiss. His feelings were all over the damn place, but he chose to only focus on Royal’s lips.
He’d really thought he’d lost him. It’d been the most torturous three days he’d had in eight years. But now Royal was in his home, confessing his love and making vows. Stone was so afraid, but he’d take this risk and believe him because he was helpless to do otherwise.