Finding Forgiveness(49)

Grabbing his phone from his pocket, Hunter glanced up to make sure no one was in his immediate path and then began typing out a text to Roman.

Miss you.

He was in the process of putting the phone away when it vibrated in his hand. When he saw Roman’s name, he automatically smiled but as he read the text he couldn’t help but frown in confusion.

Miss you too. Look up.

Hunter was about to start typing another message when a new text popped up.

Look up.

Exasperated, Hunter finally looked up and then stopped in his tracks when he saw Roman standing near the stairs that led up to his dorm. Not caring who was watching, Hunter hurried across the space separating them and threw his arms around Roman without hesitation.

“What are you doing here? Did you miss your flight?”

Roman gently pushed him back and said, “I can’t really miss my flight since it’s my plane.”

Under any other circumstances, Hunter would have remarked on that interesting tidbit that Roman had failed to mention but something in the way Roman was holding himself had Hunter going on immediate alert. “What? What is it? Are you okay? Did something happen?”

“I’m fine,” Roman quickly said though he actually stepped back when Hunter tried to touch him. “Who’s the guy?”

“What?” Hunter asked in confusion. “What guy?”

“The guy back there,” Roman said, motioning to the corner behind him where he’d said his goodbyes to his classmate.

“Oh, um, just this guy I met in my physics class. I’m a couple weeks behind everyone else since I transferred into the class and he was offering to help me get caught up.”

Roman nodded slightly but didn’t say anything and Hunter’s fear went up another notch. Why wouldn’t Roman touch him? Look at him the way he always did…like he was exactly where he wanted to be?

“Roman, what’s going on?”

Roman’s eyes dropped to the cement sidewalk and his hands disappeared into the pockets of his long coat. “Can we talk in your room?”

Hunter managed a nod but nothing else because it felt like he’d swallowed a beach ball. This was it…this was the moment he’d been secretly fearing since he’d woken up in Roman’s arms after making love to him by the lake. Roman had finally come to his senses.

By the time they reached his dorm room, Hunter was already mentally trying to figure out where his nearest lighter was because he could already feel the black swirl of pain churning deep in his body and spiraling out to his limbs. He tried shaking the sensation away by subtly clenching and unclenching his fists but it wasn’t working.

“Where’s your roommate?” Roman asked as he closed the door.

Right, because Roman wouldn’t want an audience for what he was about to do. “Um, he’s gone for the week…some kind of family vacation I think,” he answered dully.

“Hunter…”

“Roman, I need you to do this quick, okay?” Hunter interrupted. “Just say what you need to say and then go.”

Roman was still near the door so Hunter forced himself to look up. Roman was fidgeting like crazy and as heartbroken as Hunter was, he couldn’t stand to see Roman struggling so he said, “It’s okay, Roman. I get it. I mean, it was just a few days, right?”

“What?”

“You felt a responsibility for me after that night in the club and when you didn’t hear from me, you felt obligated to make sure I was okay…”

Hunter ignored the way Roman stilled and his jaw hardened.

“You want a clean break-”

Roman was striding towards him before he could even finish his sentence and when Roman’s forward motion continued, Hunter had no choice but to back up until he hit the wall just beyond the kitchen cabinets.

“You need to stop talking right now,” Roman growled. “Because I didn’t just spend the last hour and a half trying to figure out how to tell you I love you only to have you ruin it with some bullshit about responsibility and obligation.”

What?

Hunter opened his mouth to ask that very question when Roman pinned him with a hard stare and he snapped it shut again.

“What you saw downstairs and here just now was me trying to find the courage to tell you how completely in love with you I am. And yeah, I know it’s too fast and I know you’re probably better off with some guy like that twat down there who couldn’t keep his eyes off your ass-”

Hunter was about to interject but Roman cut him off with a hard kiss.

“He was totally checking out your ass,” Roman said. “Little bastard is lucky I didn’t rip-”

This time it was Hunter’s turn to yank Roman down for a kiss but where Roman’s was brief, Hunter made sure his wasn’t and by the time he released Roman, all of Roman’s insecurity seemed to have returned because he couldn’t hide the tremor in his voice as he said, “I don’t need you to say it back but I need you to know I’ve never said those words to another living soul before and no matter what happens between us, you’re it for me.”