“Dgnt!” he shouted, then slammed his fist into the wall next to the door. His frustration was coming off him in waves as he tried to repeat the word. But it just came out sounding like a mix between a hiss and a grunt. He kept hitting the wall and then he disappeared into the room. I jumped when I heard something crash onto the floor. Loki came rushing out of the room and dropped to the floor outside the door. A low whine emanated from his throat.
I was moving before I could even consider what I was doing.
Dallas was in a rage as he tore at the stuff on top of his dresser. Pictures went flying. The crash I’d heard earlier had been the TV hitting the floor.
“Dallas,” I said softly. I knew his rage wasn’t directed at me, so I wasn’t scared. But the sight of him tore something open inside of me because it was finally hitting me.
What his life had become.
And it had happened long before he’d gotten locked in a world of silence.
No one had ever really loved the real Dallas Kent.
Yes, he’d been valued for many things – his good looks, his athletic talent, his charm. But he hadn’t been loved.
If he had, there would have been someone left when he’d lost all those things. There would have been someone who knew how big his heart was and how badly he needed to protect others. There would have been someone who recognized how much Dallas still had to say, even when he couldn’t speak the words. They would have seen that beautiful smile and twinkling eyes and done anything and everything in their power to make sure he never lost those things.
Dallas stilled when he realized I was still there. His eyes were wild as he snatched a big fat magic marker that was about to roll off the edge of the dresser. He gently grabbed my wrist and then pulled me farther into the room until we were standing in front of a large expanse of his bedroom wall. He used his teeth to rip the cap off the marker and then he began writing on the wall.
Don’t go.
Please don’t go, Nolan.
Love you so much.
Sorry.
Please don’t go.
Love you so much.
Sorry.
He kept writing the same phrases over and over again, his hand moving frantically as he did so. I reached out to cover his hand with mine and he let out a soft keening sound in his throat.
I eased the marker from his tight grasp, then wrote on the wall next to his words.
I love you, Dallas, always and forever.
I love you, Dallas, always and forever.
I love you, Dallas, always and forever.
He let out a choked little sob every time I wrote the words. I didn’t stop until there were more of my lines than his. When I lowered my hand, he turned into me and wrapped his arms around me.
As I placed kisses against his shoulder, his neck, his temple, my world righted itself again and I smiled to myself as it finally hit me.
I, Nolan Grainger, had finally come home.
“Give it back,” I said with a laugh as I tried to grab my Kindle. Dallas rolled away from me and kept reading, then turned back to me and pointed at the screen. I flushed when I saw what he’d been looking at.
It was one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite gay romance novels.
A particularly steamy scene.
“What?” I asked as I took the Kindle back. “I mostly skim the sex scenes anyway,” I murmured.
He pointed to the small bookmark icon on the top of the page. I knew I was blushing when I pushed his hand away and said, “You probably did that when you grabbed it from me.”
Dallas grinned and then he was pushing me flat onto the bed. He kissed one cheek, then the other, then motioned to the Kindle. Then he motioned between us.
If I’d been blushing before, I knew I was flaming now. “You…you think we should try that?” I asked, my voice sounding like I’d swallowed a frog or something.
Dallas nodded and kissed me, then pointed at me first, then himself.
When I didn’t respond, he did it again. I knew very well what he was saying to me – that he thought I should do the thing in the book to him.
The very raunchy thing in the book.
My ears burned as I nodded. “Um, yeah, we can definitely talk about that.”
He laughed. Whereas in the past he’d always tried to hide his expression from me when he would laugh without sound, he did no such thing this time. It was a testament to how far we’d come. Nothing was off-limits with him anymore. Any question I asked, whether it was about the scars on his body that had been a result of the accident or if I was just checking in to see how he was feeling that day, he answered without hesitation. He also hadn’t hesitated to say yes when I’d asked him if I could go to his doctor’s appointment the following week.