Page 109 of Wear It Like a Crown

“Haven’t booked it yet,” Leo admitted, almost sheepish. He glanced away with a little shrug. “Didn’t know whether you’d want me to stay, and traipsing around the country all by myself would have been stupid.”

There was really no better option than to kiss the spark of remembered uncertainty right off Leo’s face, so that’s what Joshua did—littered Leo’s cheeks and chin with butterfly kisses until he was laughing and pushing at his shoulders, then tangled both hands in Joshua’s hair to drag him into a deep kiss that ended with him sprawled on top of Leo, pressing him into the mattress.

“We still need to talk,” Leo squeezed out. “And I need to call James.”

“We have half an hour,” Joshua told him. “That’s totally enough time to talk, call James and get off in the shower.Notin that order.”

In spite of that, Joshua went easily when Leo shoved him off, stretching out next to him on the bed. He did pout though, which made Leo lean in to nibble on his bottom lip, all sharp teeth and laughing eyes. “Civil disobedience,” Joshua exclaimed, wriggling away, and Leo smirked at him.

“Darling, I don’t think you quite understand the definition of that.”

“Call James,” Joshua told him. His put-upon frown fell short of its mark, and his smile broke through as soon as Leo bopped him on the nose.

He shifted closer when Leo reached for his phone. Putting his head on his shoulder, he listened in when Leo did indeed call James. They received instructions that basically told them not to get photographedtogether until a strategy had been worked out. “We need to look at all options,” James said. “Is there anything you wouldn’t do? Any no-goes? Say, if we consider spinning this in a way that relies heavily on the fairy-tale aspect of this? Noble heritage, prejudiced parents that led to rough times, picking yourself off the ground and finding true love in the process. It’s a beautiful story. Would sell like hot cakes. But,”—a significant pause—“it would affect your parents.”

Leo was quiet for a short while, staring out at the blinding brightness of the sky. Tucked into his side, Joshua stayed silent. “Let it,” Leo said eventually, voice firm. “They don’t deserve my protection. Just keep my sisters out of it.”

As soon as Leo had ended the call, Joshua wrapped a hand around his wrist. He felt the flutter of Leo’s pulse under the pad of his thumb. “Hey,” Joshua said quietly, yet it seemed loud in the still room. “Are you quite sure you want to do that?”

“I don’twantto do that, no.” Leo’s tone was calm. “Which is new, because before I met you, I might have enjoyed hurting them out of spite. Now, it’s simply a question of… If this is our best chance to make things work, makeuswork, then that’s what we’ll do.” He twisted his wrist out of Joshua’s hold, but only to lace their fingers. His eyes were warm. “I’m choosing you, see? Simple.”

It didn’t feel simple at all to Joshua; it felt massive, felt like Leo had casually handed him his heart with an off-handed, “Oh, hey, thought you might have some use for this.”

Breathing through the ache in his throat, Joshua tightened his grip on Leo’s fingers. “What about your sisters, though?” he asked, and Leo’s gaze lowered, exhaling on a sigh.

“They’re old enough to handle it now. It’s been a decade, you know? Charlie is… twenty-two now? Twenty-three?” Leo paused, frowning. “Holy shit. Yeah, she should be. And Rosie must be eighteen, almost nineteen. If I talk to them before, make them understand…”

Oh. So there were two of them, around five and ten years younger. From what little Leo had let slip before, Joshua hadn’t been able to tell much, but now that Leo’s walls had crumbled to dust and ashes… Well, there was plenty of time to learn. Joshua wanted to learneverything.

Tugging Leo closer, Joshua draped his legs overhis lap and kept all urging out of his voice. “How come you haven’t contacted them before? You never thought about it?”

Leo turned into the contact and didn’t answer immediately, swallowing a few times in rapid succession. “Of course I thought about it. Often, at least in the beginning, but eventually, it just… faded.” He wrapped an arm around Joshua’s waist and hid his face against his neck, words fanning out in a warm rush. “At first, I just wanted to get away, leave everything behind. Fresh start. And I suffered from the delusion that I’d show them all, that I’d make it big on a little starting cash and some song writing and piano skills. So when that didn’t work out, you know… I felt like a failure. Not the big brother the girls would look up to.” Leo gave a thin laugh.

Hugging him close, Joshua’s ribcage might have been the only thing holding him together. He wanted to punch anyone who’d ever contributed to the self-deprecating humour in Leo’s tone, a hot flare in his stomach that took him by surprise. He inhaled through it, forced it back down and settled for holding on tightly.

Once he felt Leo relax, he eased his hold and said softly, “You’re not a failure.”

Leo stirred, then raised his head. His eyes were unnaturally bright. “No, I guess things worked out for me in the end. I mean, hey, I’ve got a job I love, and I get to help people and be useful. Even make enough money to pay off a small flat and put a little aside to help out some kids in trouble. Oh, and last but not least…” His expression softened, and Joshua’s stomach gave a gentle tug in response. “I fell in love with a beautiful prince. Which is about to flip my life upside down, but hey. Worth it.”

“You’re a bit of a sap,” Joshua told him. It came out like an endearment.

“How very dare you,” Leo said, tipping up his chin and narrowing his eyes. A grin lurked around their corners. “I am tough and hardened by my years on the street, by hunting for a warm meal and a safe place to sleep. Brave men cower at the whisper of my name.”

Snorting, Joshua traced the curve of Leo’s cheekbone, moving down, then letting his fingertips rest against his jaw. “You’re a marshmallow on the inside. Those songs you wrote, I bet they were cheesyballads about finding true love and making it through the hardest times.”

“Lies,” Leo declared, grin coming fully alive. “Lies and guesswork. You cannot prove a single thing. Also,”—the curve of his mouth tilted into something a little thoughtful—“I haven’t written anything in years. Maybe I’ll give it another try at some point.”

“I could buy you a piano,” Joshua offered without thought, and Leo stiffened. Sudden sharpness defined his tone.

“No, you won’t. You will not buy me anything.”

Joshua dropped his hand, flinching back as though he’d been slapped. His instinctive response was to curl away and question everything—why had Leo reacted like that, quick as a whip? Why didn’t Leo want him involved?

Joshua opened his mouth to ask, Leo watching him with a steely expression. Then Joshua remembered something Mo had said not that long ago, something that—oh. Shit.I didn’t ever want you to feel like you were paying for my company.

Joshua snapped his mouth shut and grappled for a way to respond. After a long moment of silence, Leo’s features relaxed, suddenly contrite. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be so… harsh. But you really can’t.”

“It would be my pleasure,” Joshua said carefully. “Not anything I feel I’d have to do, just something I’d like to do. And if you think it would make me question your intentions, you’re wrong. I wouldn’t, and I also won’t hold your past against you like that.”