Josiah gasped. He leaned away from Mateo, which was exactly what he should do. Teo was poison for someone like Josiah. But damn, he didn’t want to be.

“Your dad made you do that?”

“I didn’t want to do it, Jay. I swear. He made me. If I didn’t, he’d hurt me. I shoulda let him. I shouldn’t have put my life over that guy’s, but I didn’t know what to do.” He didn’t realize tears were coming out of his eyes until they landed on Josiah’s hand. Mateo tried to wipe them away, but Josiah stopped him.

“You don’t hurt people now. You take care of them.” He cocked his head. “Has anyone ever taken care of you?”

He thought about his mom. She wanted to. She tried but the streets took her. “Not since my mom died.”

Josiah sat up. Mateo reached for him, groaning when pain slammed into him again, but he didn’t care. He’d go crazy if Josiah left him.

But then Jay’s hand went to Mateo’s side. Slowly his fingers slid Teo’s shirt up. He sucked in a deep breath as he looked at the bruises there.

Mateo couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, scared if he did, it would be over.

“I want to take care of you, the way you take care of me.” Leaning forward, he kissed Mateo’s side. Kissed all the bruises there. Each time his lips touched Mateo, pleasure shot through him, comfort, in a way he’d never felt. Josiah moved to his neck, tracing the scar with his lips, before he pressed his mouth to the bruise on Mateo’s head, too.

His body sizzled under Josiah’s touch. Every part of him wished it could last forever. His chest was tight, but it had nothing to do with the fight and everything to do with Josiah.

“I want to take care of you, too,” he said again.

“Why?” Mateo’s heart stopped as he waited for an answer.

Josiah turned off the light, lay back down, and covered them up again. “Because...I love you.”

Josiah’s words landed right in his chest, taking all the pain away. Mateo vowed right there that he would work hard to deserve Josiah’s love. That he would do any-fucking-thing in his power to make sure no one ever tried to take Josiah away from him.

“Te amo, mi precioso.”

“What’s that?” Josiah asked.

“The truth. Who you are.” Mateo kissed his forehead. “Everything about you is so fucking pure. I’m gonna deserve that. That precious fucking gift.”

He kissed Josiah again, lowered his mouth to his ear. “I love you. It means what you are to me. Precious.”

Chapter Thirteen

Josiah

It was a few weeks after the fight that Josiah went to Molly. Mateo had gone for a walk, being in one of his moods where he wanted to be alone. Even though his stomach was a mess, Josiah knew he wouldn’t get another time like this to talk to her.

She had her back to him, standing in front of the fridge, when he walked into the kitchen. “Molly...hey. Can I talk to you for a second?”

She closed the door and walked to the table. “Of course. What’s on your mind?”

They both sat down. Nerves gnawed at him but he ignored it. This wasn’t betraying Mateo, it was doing what Mateo did for him all the time. Taking care of him.

“I wanted to talk to you about Teo.”

She sat up straighter, frowning. “Is something wrong? Did he do something?”

Josiah’s jaw tightened as he fisted his hands. “What? No. Why would you think that?”

Her body slumped. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have assumed the worst. I don’t even know why I did. He hasn’t caused any problems since he’s been here and that wasn’t fair. Chalk it up to my not feeling so good lately.”

“It’s okay.” But still his body didn’t let go of the anger. It wasn’t fair the way everyone assumed the worst about Mateo. He wavered a little, unsure if he should go forward with what he planned to do. Maybe they could just run away together. It could be for the best. All he knew was he wouldn’t lose Mateo. Not for anything.

Which was exactly why he thought it best to take what Teo had confided in him and share it with Molly. Give them a chance to stay together without having to run away. Because I know he wouldn’t let me go... No matter how much I wanted to, he wouldn’t take me away from a home.

“Is Mateo okay?” Molly asked. Josiah nodded.

“I just... I wanted to talk to you about his birthday. I didn’t know if you knew it’s in July. That’s only two and a half months till he turns eighteen.” He wrung his hands together. “I know you don’t have any responsibility to him after that or anything, and I know you guys have already done so much to help us, but he has no place else to go. We wouldn’t cause any problems or anything. And once I turn eighteen, we could move out if you want.”