TIGERLILLY- THE BRAVO BOYS [book two]

Chapter FORTY EIGHT

Frankie Xiao

River looks up at me from his knees with the shine of tears in his adoring apple-green eyes.. Tears that don't quite fall, because he holds them back while my heart is gripped by the vulnerable sight of his suffering.. He is the sweetest man, so gentle inside yet so beastly on the exterior.. My lips tingle at the very thought of the taste of him as the trembling apex between my legs yearns with a flooding wetness.. "Oh, my sweetheart.. Did I hurt you too much? I'm so sorry--"

He shakes his head.. "No, Frankie.. Ye' could never hurt me.. Ye've freed me.. Ye've done so much good for me, supported me through some of the most difficult days in my life, ye've made me stronger and I dunno how I am s'pozed to return that kindness to ye'.. I get this feelin' like ye' are still keeping so much to ye'self.. Ye' make everythin' about me, and-- I appreciate the way ye' care for me.. I really do.. But if I'm ever gonna make ye' happy, I have to be the man ye' can trust with all yer' dreams.. Not just yer' fantasies and desires.. Those real dreams that I know ye' must have in ye' heart.."

"You want-- all my dreams?" I whisper, clutching my hands to my chest where my heartbeat pounds so heavily he must be able to hear it..

I know I can!

The Tiger buries his face against my belly and holds my knees adamantly to his chest, as if he can't get close enough.. "I want ro make the possibilities of yer' future as beautiful as ye've made mine.. I wanna follow ye' to all the places ye' wanna go.. I wanna carry the weight of ye' fears so that ye' never have to.. I want to be the man who really makes yer' dreams come true.. If I could be more than a sex-toy to ye', I would.. If I had more to offer, I'd give it.. If there is somethin' ye' need, I'd find a way to see ye' hold it in yer' hands.. Do ye' know what I mean?

"M-maybe--"

He pauses to take a settling but shaken breath and in the silence I smile down at him, bathing in the glow of his glorious gaze.. "Frankie, I love ye' more and more, every second of every day, from the deepest part of my heart, in a way I didn'ae know I could.. I wanna be worth all of the effort ye' make.. Tell me how to be that man for ye'.. Tell me what the future looks like in yer' mind.. What do ye' see?"

He holds onto my hips so tightly as I reach down to cup his cheeks in my hands.. Smoothing over his spiked stubble with my thumbs and relishing in the meekness to his masculinity, seeing the loving side of him that is all mine.. There are so many things I want, most of all River.. Without him, I would not be able to breathe, I'm sure of it..

The way he adores me is pure and without prejudice.. He sees me as so much more than I ever saw myself and has taught me as much about who I am as he proposes I have done for him..

"I want to learn more.. To be smarter.." I confide in him my greatest doubt.. The weakness I recognise in myself that fills me with fear.. "Sometimes I feel so silly because I don't understand.. Like I'm two steps behind everyone else and I'll never catch up.. I feel strange-- like I don't belong.. I know I'm not normal.."

"Ye' aren'ae stupid at all.. Frankie.. Yer' insightful and inquisitive, surely ye' are smarter than me.. And there is no such thing as normal.. Everybody is afraid of somethin'.. Everybody has insecurities and those who'll tell ye' they don't are liars.. But I understand, ye' missed out on the education ye' should've had.. I can'ae imagine where ye' might'a been today if ye'd been allowed to pursue knowledge of ye' choosing.. To finish school, go to college.. All of it.. Ye' are capable and bright, ye' could be anything.."

"I--I do want to go back to school.." I reply truthfully with an excited pitch.. The idea that I could pick up where my old life had ended is like a fantasy I never dared to dream of down in the basement..
There, in the dark, I had learned to keep my expectations low and to suppress my optimism.. I could only live in my socially detached reality and accept it..