Zane tightened his hold on Roach, as if he wanted to protect him.
“I know you didn’t want this to happen. But we can’t change it anymore. We can only move on.”
Roach took a deep breath, but it couldn’t stop the tears running down his cheeks. He dared look up at the man he’d hurt so irreversibly, ready to offer his life in any capacity Zane might demand if it could make his pain a bit more bearable. “How can we move on? No wonder you hate me. I’m rotten. Even if I wasn’t born that way, he made me that and there’s no going back.”
Zane’s teeth pulled over his bottom lip, the lip Roach had so carelessly burned, and he cupped Roach’s face, as if it were made of thinnest glass. “I’ve forgiven you long ago. And I don’t hate you, Roachie. I love you.”
Roach was stuck, enchanted despite the sense that he didn’t deserve such kindness. But he’d accept it nevertheless, leaning in for a kiss. “I’m so… so sorry. I can never make it up to you.” Yet the revelation of Zane’s words made him want to take his own aching flesh and crawl under his lover’s beautiful skin and live there in the warmth of his love.
Zane hummed, opening his lips with the sweetest gasp. He was still cool to the touch, so Roach embraced him harder, until they sat together, perfectly aligned.
“You can,” Zane whispered against his mouth, holding on as if he were afraid Roach might toss him off some unseen cliff. “You can stay with me and love me back. Tell me you love me at least once a day. And forgive me if I’m being a shit sometimes.”
Roach’s heart glowed as he served it to Zane on a golden platter. “I love you so much. I wish they were alive just so I could kill them for you.”
Zane chuckled, staring back at him from so close it almost felt like they were one person. “We can piss on their graves. They can’t destroy this thing between us.”
Roach dived in for another kiss. His soul would remain heavy—that was baggage he could never get rid of—but he could become stronger to carry it with more ease, and shoulder Zane’s load too.
He’d loved Zane before, but their connection had never felt this strong. They were both broken in their own ways, but together they made a whole greater than either of them could have been on their own.
Zane had done what Roach hadn’t been able to. He’d burned Roach’s old life to the ground and let him start over.
Roach closed his eyes and while he still ached, his neck felt swollen, he could forget himself in the kiss. His tongue explored the warm, inviting mouth, the tender lips, taking care with the paler skin where the burn had been. The truth hurt, but it also liberated their hearts. Roach used to think he’d take his secrets to the grave, and here he was, with a man who knew all about his flaws, and loved him nevertheless.
“Roachie,” Zane whispered when they broke the kiss and he rubbed his cheek against Roach’s in the most comforting way possible.
“I love you,” Roach said again, excited to finally own those words. “I will take care of you no matter what. I know my feelings are real. They won’t change when we’re no longer cursed.”
Zane exhaled and nuzzled Roach’s cheek, smiling like he had before the terrible evening last night. “I promise I’ll pull my weight from now on. But… I’m not sure I want to break that charm anymore.”
Roach rubbed his forehead against him like a happy cat. “So now it’s a ‘charm’?”
Zane shrugged, his mouth twitching into a smile. “I don’t like how it came about, but I like to always know what’s up with you. It forced me to stop thinking only about myself, and take care of someone else for a change. And in turn, I saw you as a whole person. It might sound strange, but I’ve never been happier,” he said, squeezing Roach’s hands.
Roach leaned in, pulling his teeth gently over Zane’s top lip. “I will make you so happy. Do you still want to go to the witch? To find out? I would.”
Zane smirked. “I’d like to know the rules it works by, but I kinda like coming at the same time as you.”
Roach stroked the perfect threads of Zane’s hair. “That could be our porn gimmick. Have I mentioned I love you?”
Zane lifted his chin and got to his feet, pulling Roach with him. “If you love me, you’ll stop smoking. It’s bad for our health.”
Roach groaned, but he hadn’t been lying when he said he’d do anything for Zane. “I will. Fuck, it’s cold.”
“All the more reason to start walking. I don’t want to see this beam ever again,” Zane said and pulled Roach away from the spot where he’d almost taken their lives.