Raphael /BoyxBoy/

||Eight||

I shook my head. "You think of one."

He raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure you want to do that?"

"No, not really, but I'm in no mood to dig up my own grave so you do it."

"Now you're just being dramatic. I'm not cruel."

"Oh? What ideas do you have so far?"

His smile was dangerous as he set his mug aside. "It really isn't so bad."

"That always means it's going to be bad."

"I just want to read through your emails with Nate."

My lips parted. "You're joking."

"No, I really do. I'll just skim through a few while you sit here and flip through some of my sketches and ideas. Deal?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Why do you want to read our emails?"

"I just want to understand why he's so special to you."

I bit the inside of my cheek.

This is a bad idea. A very, very bad idea.

"Is that the only thing you can come up with?" I asked.

"At the moment, but I promise they become more sinister the longer I take to think them up."

"Fine," I blurted out before I could change my mind. "Fine, you can read our emails."

He smiled and got up before disappearing behind a door.

I stared after him.

Definitely a bad idea.

Raphael wandered back with his laptop in hand and dropped it gently on my lap after plugging in his password.

"I can't believe you're making me do this."

"I'm not. It's called bargaining."

I ignored him, holding the laptop away just as he was about to grab it.

"Your sketches first."

He then grabbed a sketchbook from the coffee table and handed it to me.

I held on to the laptop as I grabbed the sketchbook.

"And," I added, "I want to see what you've drawn on yourself."

"That wasn't part of the deal."

"It is now."

He raised an unamused eyebrow before he grabbed at the edge of his pants and pulled them down.

"What-," something warm pooled into my stomach. "Oh."

My eyes fell to a drawing on his inner thigh, a lively picture of a cherry blossom with a few stray flowers falling from its billowing branches.

I noticed a faded image of the mountains he'd referred to before on his other leg.

"It's beautiful," I breathed, moving closer to his leg.

He backed away, tugging his pants back on.

I felt myself flush and quickly moved backwards, handing him the laptop without looking him in the eye.

"I'll be on that chair," he said carefully, moving up from the couch.

I nodded and clasped the sketchbook in my hand, taking a few deep breaths before I flipped open the cover page.

I wasn't prepared for what I saw on the first page, and instantly felt my breath lodge in my throat.

What I did expect to see was a brilliant drawing of something. Maybe scenery, a city landscape, a random street dog, a portrait.