Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 130955 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 655(@200wpm)___ 524(@250wpm)___ 437(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130955 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 655(@200wpm)___ 524(@250wpm)___ 437(@300wpm)
Yev pulled him close and kissed the fluff on his head, eyes closed as he relaxed against this boy, who made him feel so illogically protective. “You know I’ll help you, right?”
Radek nodded and smiled at Coal. “Hear that, sweetie? We’re not on our own. It will take time, but I’ll work it out.”
“You guys… need a minute?” Emil asked, and Yev pulled away from Radek as if lightning had hit the bench between their hips. Intense heat flooded his face, but refusing to look up did not help, because he still saw two pairs of legs of the men, who very obviously walked in on them hugging.
Radek’s cheeks inflated like two red balloons, and he squinted at Yev with the what-to-do? question written all over his forehead.
Unsolicited revelations about the nature of their relationship were not coming this time. Yev knew there was no point in lying when both their hosts were gay. He’d never been in this situation before. He’d always been in queer spaces on his own terms. Here—everything felt out of his control, but he needed to be a man about it. “No, it’s fine. We’re… a thing.”
“Told you,” Adam said, even though he’d only ever seen Yev in passing. His short hair was the color of sun-kissed wheat, his eyes blue like the sky in the summer, and the loaf he was holding smelled of vanilla, and yeast, and butter, and sported the most glorious layer of crumbs at the top. And while there was nothing strange about him, Yev sensed a weird jolt under his skin when their gazes met.
Radek released the breath he was holding and his face lit up. "How would you know?"
Adam shrugged as he put the cake on the table. "Oh, please. You just happen to live with the forest ranger for no apparent reason? Your mom might believe that, but that’s about it.”
Emil cocked his head, watching them both as if they were performance art. “So… You have a baby together?” He pointed at Coal with a smirk as he put down the tray with plates and steaming mugs of tea.
Radek rolled his eyes. “Very funny. Yev’s been helping me get back on my feet.”
Emil snorted, hiding behind a cup. “More like on your back.”
“Don’t talk to him like that,” Yev said, stabbing Emil with a sharp glare from across the table.
Emil stilled but then put his hands up in defeat. “Okay, okay. Keeping it clean then.”
Yev wasn’t sure what to say, or whether Radek was happy about his intervention in the first place, but Adam smiled as he offered him a generous slice of the cake.
“I get you. I’d give him hell if he said something like that about me in front of other people,” he said, but squeezed Emil’s hand on the table.
“Just kidding!” Emil met Radek’s eyes, and they both had a silent conversation Yev couldn’t decipher.
It only unnerved him further. Because he wouldn't be staying in Dybukowo long enough to develop that kind of bond with Radek and his whole being was already throwing a fit about it. To say things with just a look, to understand without words the way they already did in bed.
“Are you staying then?” Adam asked.
Radek licked his lips and grabbed a piece of cake with his fingers while holding Coal away from it with his arm. “I mean… I’ll need to go back to Cracow at some point, but it’s all so up in the air right now.”
“Yeah, everything is still fresh,” Yev mumbled and spread some of the softened butter on his cake, sweating under his clothes. He cleared his throat. “You have a very nice house,” he said, briefly frowning at a small bowl of scraps placed on the floor in the corner. It was mostly vegetables, but maybe the dog liked more fibre in his diet?
“We built it together,” Emil said and bit into the cake. “My grandparents’ house used to stand here, but it burned down. We were able to use the foundations and some leftover stone elements. If you ever want to test your relationship, build something together. I swear I was on the verge of killing Adam at least twice.”
Yev had said that they were a thing, because getting into the explanations of how he and Radek weren’t a real couple would get far too awkward but could this ever become his life? Coming over to friends for tea with his boyfriend?
Radek laughed, unaware of the dark clouds gathering above Yev’s head. “Good you didn’t or we wouldn’t have this amazing cake.”
Yev stuffed his mouth with a piece and hummed when the buttery, plump texture melted on his tongue. “Yeah. Let’s agree it would have been a waste of culinary talent.”
Emil laughed and gave Adam a quick kiss on the temple. “But those ideas you had ended up working so well. So I suppose I was wrong about them.”