Crossblood - Completed

Chapter 36

"What?!" My body shrinks into the blue sheets at the sound of his voice, Julius grabbing each of my broad shoulders and indenting the skin with his fingertips.

My cheeks dye a fleshy, warm pink under their paling confinement, my neck and ears warming from his touch. "I-I don't think...I-I can say it again."

"You love me." He runs a fast paced finger through his hair, pulling the brunette mass to the back of his head before laughing. "Holy shit you love me. Moon, you're in love with me." With each declaration I nod, an uneasy feeling conquering my stomach with each repition of the phrase. It's like I've eaten a cup of straight butter, my body a weighted down lump of skin and muscle before the overly joyous brunette. His arms make their way around my waist, head tucked into the curve of my neck and shoulder until we're stomach to stomach, our bare skin colliding with each stuffy breath we take.

"Can you not tell anyone?" Julius's laughing stops, smile fades as he draws away from my neck and holds me away at arm's length.

"Of course." It's a weird feeling, drawing towards a hand instead of away. His calloused hands cup my cheek, the heel of his palm under my chin and the tips of his fingers grazing under my eye. Without knowing I lean into him, the chill of his skin a comforting shock against my own as I pull the blankets higher up against us.

My nose buries under the feather blankets before being buried under lips of pure ice, a feeling I can't explain coursing through each pulsing vein as he draws away, breath steady and face composed as if that small movement had no where near the same heart stopping effect on him.

And all because of one word spoken aloud with only the wind as our witness. But it feels as if everything has changed, as if he's never made my breaths short and chest rapid and my cheeks burn with rushing blood. It's as if that declaration changed what we are, as if we're no longer servant and master, prostitute and businessman, but something of a common line with common tongue, touch, and kiss. Common hands and fingers and brushes and strokes.

A common love unspoken and sweet.

"I don't want to go downstairs," Julius's brows furrow at my tone, his hand moving down my arm and resting at my elbow before grasping my trembling fist in his . "they're waiting they'll want to know, Julius." Each word dances with a gasp, a panicked rush of air into my drowning lungs. I'm not ready. His fingers clench harder, the pressure never making it out of the back of my busy mind.

"We had sex. That's all you need to say." His fingers leave my fist barren, the frost coursing through my neck as he draws me close to him, steadying my face so our breaths intertwine and his eyes link with mine.

"Kaiien, Jesse, Matt-"

"They don't matter."

"Yes, they do."

"Look at me," With a firm pull I'm back to staring at him, his expression stern as I swallow hard, trying my best not to panic. "we had sex and fell asleep. Any more details aren't any of their business." His lips crack into a smile and he draws up from the bed, pulling me up into a sitting position beside him. I lean into his neck from his side, Julius's arm slipping around my waist to draw me closer to him.

When the silence grows stale I let out a sigh, turning into his chest before whispering against the skin. "Is this wrong?"

"Is what?" I can hear the worry on his tongue without needing to look up.

"Loving you." My lips move but the words don't come out, the syllables lost in my throat though he still manages to pull them out by ear.

"Moon..." My insides cringe at the familiar drawing out of my name, as if he's in some type of pain because of my being.