“Wait. You don’t want to walk downstairs hand in hand and announce our engagement?” I teased.

  Luckily, he laughed at my joke. “Of course, I would. Who wouldn’t want a whirlwind romance? But you know, weddings are expensive, and I’m a poor musician who shovels cow dung and scrubs bathrooms all day.” His gaze fell onto the piano keyboard. “And you’re a sailor who’s only in town for a day. Now, if you’d gotten me pregnant, that would’ve been a different story…”

  “Well, if that was your goal, maybe I shouldn’t have been the one bottoming—and we should’ve skipped the condom.”

  We chuckled together. I buried my face in the sheets to muffle my laughter. Things could have ended so differently if life hadn’t been cruel. At least, we both agreed on how to handle it.

  When I looked back up, he was leaning against the bed frame, his head resting on the blanket. His lips were pressed together as if yearning for a kiss. He was so close. All I had to do was reach out and tilt his chin to turn his face toward me.

  I rested my right cheek on the mattress, still staring at him.

  “What?” he asked softly.

  “Nothing. I was just thinking about how good a kisser you are.”

  A melancholic smile tugged at his lips. “Well, that’s a compliment I can definitely return.”

  “How about one last make-out session?”

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

  “All the other decisions we’ve made were bad, so what’s one more?”

  “That… sounds about right.” He glanced at my lips and licked his own. “I guess it’s also our last chance.”

  We stared at each other for a few seconds—like the two fools we were—before I cupped his chin and pulled him in for a kiss.

  I scooted closer and let my hand wander down his chest. He sat up. As our tongues tangled, my hand brushed over his stomach and reached for his bulge. The thin fabric of his briefs confirmed that he had gotten hard instantly. I wrapped my fingers around his shaft and squeezed it.

  He sat up a little more, stretching his right arm across the bed until his hand landed on my lower back. He lifted his ass slightly, trying to reach farther, but after a second, he gave up with a chuckle.

  “Damn. I was hoping I could make it all the way to your ass.”

  “Say no more.”

  I crawled forward until I was close enough for him to grab my ass, using the shorter distance to slip my fingers behind the waistband of his briefs. I brushed through his short bush, twirling my fingers through it before grabbing his dick. He squeezed my ass as I jerked him off.

  Maybe this was a bad idea, but who even gives a fuck when it feels that good?

  Out of nowhere, he pulled his head back with a gasp. He froze for a second before darting his gaze to the door. “Fuck,” he said, pulling his hand away from my ass.

  A knock on the door made me yank my hand out of his pants.

  “One second,” he called, jumping up and heading for his shirt, which was still lying on the dresser where he had left it the day before.

  Not knowing what else to do, I jumped off his bed and onto the air mattress. I threw the spare blanket over myself and pretended to be asleep. It was just like in the old days.

  Alex’s feet paced over the carpet. He pulled the shirt over his head, and just as it slid down his chest, my dad cleared his throat on the other side of the door.

  “I only wanted to let you know that breakfast will be ready in ten minutes,” Dad called from the hallway.

  “Thanks,” Alex called back. “We’ll be there.”

  “Take your time,” Dad replied before I heard him walk away.

  I raised the blanket and peeked out from under it. Alex stood by the door, his hair disheveled, staring at me. He pressed both hands to his mouth to keep himself from laughing. Energized by that, I jumped up and stepped toward him.

  “That was so close,” he whispered.

  “I didn’t expect them to still be doing that.”

  “Every Sunday.” Alex smiled as if he actually enjoyed being woken up like this on the one day everyone else would rather sleep in.

  My hand instinctively reached for his still-elevated bulge. He looked down at it and then at the door.

  “Don’t you think we should go down there?”

  “He said himself we still have ten minutes.” Sure, we didn’t have enough time to repeat what we did last night, but it was enough to make him think about me for a while. “And we both know what we need those minutes for.”

  He squeezed his eyes shut and inhaled slowly, but after a moment of consideration, he shook his head. “Fuck it,” he said. “Or me, I guess.”

  With no time to lose, his hands reached for my back and pulled me in for a kiss. I walked forward, pushing him back until his feet gently bumped against the wall. I slipped my fingers under the fabric and grabbed his dick.

  “Naughty,” he whispered, grabbing my butt.

  I moved my kisses from his mouth to his chin, then knelt before him. I pulled down his shorts, his hard dick flopping against my face. His glans glistened with a tiny drop of precum. I stuck out my tongue and licked it off, relishing the salty flavor. His hands combed through my hair as he leaned against the wall, pushing his hips forward to slip his dick into my mouth.

  With my left hand, I pulled down my underwear to free my dick so I could jerk off. Within seconds, we found a rhythm. My head bobbed up and down, and even though I tried to stay quiet, I couldn’t help but moan a little as he fucked my face.

  “Yeah,” he whispered, holding my head in place. “You like that, don’t you?”

  Guilty as charged.

  The harder he thrust his cock in and out of my mouth, the faster I jerked off. I wanted to etch this moment into my memory so I could cherish it later, when I would be alone in my bed again, taking a break from studying for my exams. I wanted to feel his cum shoot onto my body. I wanted to end our time together with the bang it deserved.

  I pushed my head as deep onto his cock until it nudged the back of my throat. Alex gasped, a small grunt echoing through the room. I pulled back, his dick slipping from my mouth and flopping against my nose.

  “Cum on my face,” I whispered, stroking faster as I licked his balls.

  His fingers rushed to his cock and wrapped around his shaft. He moved quickly, bumping his head against the wall, eyes closed as he lost himself in the moment. I could have watched him like this for hours, licking his nuts, waiting for him to reward me. I leaned back a little and opened my mouth wide. Just as I stuck out my tongue, his head dropped to his chest. His hips jerked forward as he came, streaking my chin and cheeks.

  The warmth tipped me over the edge, too. I bit my lip to keep myself from moaning as I came. I reached down with my left hand to catch my load before it hit the carpet. We both panted, riding out the sudden rush of pleasure.

  He let go of his dick, allowing it to flop onto my cum-drenched face, which only made me smile.

  “Let’s do this again next year,” I uttered, which made him crack up.

  We cleaned up, and when we were done, our mouths found each other for one last kiss. His hands stroked my back and pulled me in for a hug.

  “Thank you,” Alex said. “It was wonderful getting to know you.”

  “Likewise.” I broke free from his embrace, but kept my hands on his hips for a second longer. ”Now go downstairs before they suspect anything. I’ll wash my face and join you in a couple of minutes.”

  Not that I wanted to go—neither downstairs nor away from him—but if we put off facing reality, it would only make things harder.

  NINE

  THE SONG OF DEVIN

  ALEX

  The moment I left the room, Sebastian started to hum. His voice drifted through the door to my ears. It was ever so quiet, but since it carried the melody of the song I had written that morning, I stopped in my tracks. A small tingle spread from my heart through my chest. It started out faint, but the more I focused on the melody, the more unbearable it unfortunately became.

  No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t go back in there. I couldn’t tell him how much last night meant to me. And I certainly couldn’t keep listening.

  As I went downstairs, his voice grew quieter, but, like yesterday, it still reached my ears even when I entered the kitchen.

  The sizzling of pancakes frying in butter—a Sunday sound I loved because it reminded me of home—tried to drown out his voice, but couldn’t. Neither could the morning greetings from Laura and Dany, the clinking of dishes, or the crunch of my teeth as I dug into Laura’s pancakes after she urged me to eat so I would finish before the extended family woke up.

  I tried hard to ignore the hum. Not that it was unpleasant. On the contrary. In fact, it was so pleasant that I wondered how I was supposed to live knowing I might never hear it again in person after today.

  When Sebastian closed the door to my room as quietly as possible, it got even worse. Without the door between his voice and my ears, his humming forced its way into my brain so fiercely that I had to close my eyes and surrender to it. I stopped eating and just listened. It was probably my last chance to hear it anyway. Fortunately, Dany was engrossed in his newspaper, and Laura was too busy making more pancakes to notice.

  Sebastian hummed on his way downstairs, stopping only when he entered the kitchen.

  “Good morning, everyone,” he said, his voice suddenly half an octave deeper.

  “Morning, my dear.” Laura glanced at him but quickly returned her focus to the pan. “I’ll have these ready in a second.”

  “You can feed the others first.” Sebastian walked over and rested a hand on her back. “I’m not that hungry.”

  “You have to eat something! They only taste good when they’re fresh. We’re not waking the rest of the family for another half hour.”

  “Okay, I’ll have one,” he sighed.

  “There’s also fresh coffee,” Laura said, flipping one of the pancakes. “Help yourself.”

  She pointed to the table. Sebastian’s gaze followed her finger and landed right on me. His lips curled downward, suppressing a smile.

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  He squeezed past the counter, pausing in the walkway as he took in the seating arrangements. We had extended the table for the reunion so that as many people as possible could find a seat, which made the already cramped space even harder to navigate. Right now, it was still possible to move around, but only because most of the seats were empty.

  “Morning, Dad,” Sebastian said.

  Dany sat on a chair next to the fridge, his newspaper spread so wide it blocked the entire walkway on that side of the table. “Morning,” he grunted, straightening the newspaper in his hands and sending a sharp flap through the room.

  Sebastian ignored it entirely and scooted to the seat farthest from his father—the one right next to me.

  A hushed smile crossed his face as he sat down, but when Dany flapped the newspaper again, it disappeared.

  With a big smile lighting up the room, Laura walked around the kitchen island and set a plate with ten pancakes in front of Sebastian.

  “Let me know if you want more,” she said, her eyes shifting between him and me. “How about you, Alex?”

  “I’ll finish these first,” I replied, cutting a bite from the three remaining pancakes on my plate.

  “Sure!” Laura looked at everyone at the table, nodded, and walked back to the stove.

  Looking at the plate in front of him, Sebastian pulled his lips together, shook his head, and then reached for the coffee pot in the middle of the table.

  “How is everyone?” Mila sang as she came around the corner.

  “Good morning,” Dany and Laura replied in unison.

  As if that pulled Dany out of his trance, he lowered the newspaper and exchanged a sweet smile with Laura before his gaze fell on Sebastian and me. His eyes widened as he searched for Laura again, but she was already focused on the next batch of pancakes.

  Mila joined us at the table, dropping into a seat between her father and brother. As if Sebastian were a natural phenomenon, she stared at him while he took a sip of his coffee, frowned slightly, and added more cream. Her eyes wandered to me, her lips pressing together to suppress a smile, and then back to him.

  Dany watched the exchange of looks curiously. “So,” he grumbled, flipping his newspaper over to take a look at the back. “How did everyone sleep?”

  “Good,” Sebastian replied, glancing at me. “Thanks again for letting me stay at your room.”

  “No problem.”

  Dany raised an eyebrow but didn’t take her eyes off the paper. “You two sure do get along, don’t you?”

  “Is that a problem?” Sebastian asked quietly.

  “Not at all. I’m just curious.”

  “Well, the two of them certainly have enough in common,” Laura called from the stove. “And we’re happy about that, right?”

  “Right,” Dany agreed, nodding along mechanically. “I still wish Devin had spent more of the evening with his family.”

  “What are you talking about?” Sebastian’s head snapped back. “I talked to everyone for hours.”

  “True, but still⁠—”

  “Now, now,” Laura said in her softest voice as she brought over a small bowl with freshly cut bananas and strawberries.“Everyone’s supposed to enjoy the reunion in whatever way they want.”

  “Then why couldn’t Devin do that with us? We’re his family.” Dany asked, shaking his head wildly before hiding behind his newspaper again. “Whatever. No one listens to me anyway.”

  For a moment, everyone went quiet. Even the fridge’s cooling unit clicked off.

  His words echoed in my head. His family—the one I wasn’t part of.

  “Sorry,” I chimed in. “I didn’t mean to monopolize him for so long.”

  “I’m not mad at you,” Dany said.

  “Are you serious right now?” Sebastian asked, glaring at the back of the newspaper. “If you didn’t want anyone to talk to Alex, then why did you invite him?”

  The newspaper whipped through the air as Dany yanked it down. “Don’t twist my words. You know exactly what I meant.”

  “I know you wanted to make it clear that you’re mad at me. But you didn’t hear how insulting what you said was to Alex, did you?”

  Dany turned to me. “Alex, you know I didn’t mean it that way.” Then he turned to Sebastian. “Don’t twist⁠—”

  “I’m not twisting anything. You just don’t hear how mean what you said actually was. You invited him to take part in our family traditions. That means he had every right to connect with anyone there, however he wanted. Sorry, not sorry, that it was me.”

  “That wasn’t even the topic.” Dany glared at him, then looked at Mila and Laura for confirmation.

  “I’m with Seb on this one,” Mila said, shooting me an apologetic glance.

  “Can’t we all just enjoy the morning?” Laura asked, stepping behind Dany. “And I agree with De... Sebastian.” She turned to me. “I am happy that you joined us, Alex, and that the two of you had… such a wonderful evening.” She patted Dany’s shoulder and walked back to the stove.

  Dany folded his newspaper and set it on the table. He let out a heavy breath. “I’m sorry, Alex. “I really didn’t mean it that way.”

  “I know,” I said quietly. “Sorry again for taking up so much of Sebastian’s time.”

  “You don’t have to be sorry. The others are right. Everyone should enjoy the reunion however they want. Although I still get to feel sad that my son spent more time with someone he wasn’t related to than with us.” He turned to Sebastian, clearly trying to keep his voice calm, but the longer he spoke, the harsher his words became. “And, unlike your mom, I don’t think this will lead to you coming over more often.”

  The mood in the room shifted. After a moment of silence, chairs scraped across the tiles as everyone started talking at once.

  “For Pete’s sake, Daniel,” Laura called out. “Why can’t you ever just enjoy a moment⁠—?”

  “Because I care about Devin⁠—”

  “Dad—“ Mila interjected, but Sebastian cut her off by slamming his hand on the table.

  “If you really cared, you wouldn’t call me by that name anymore.”

  “It’s the name I gave you. The one you were fine being called for twenty years until that stupid record label put it on some posters and you decided it needed to be erased from earth.”

  “Of course, you wouldn’t understand.”

  Laura slammed two more plates of pancakes on the table, the clatter slicing through the raised voices as if it were her final warning to end the fight immediately or face her wrath. She placed one in front of Mila, who thanked her quietly. Then, she sat down in front of the other.

  Dany leaned back, clenching his jaw. Sebastian took a deep sip of his coffee, hiding his face behind the mug.

  “So, how’s college?” Laura asked in an overly cheerful voice.

  Sebastian broke off another small piece of pancake and put it in his mouth, chewing on it for ten seconds before answering her question with a tight-lipped “Good.”

  Dany crossed his arms over his chest. “Come on, son. We were kind enough not to open that can of worms yesterday. You can tell your mother a little more than that.”

  “As I said, it’s good,” Sebastian said louder, clenching his teeth. He kept his voice flat. “Classes teach me things. I have grades. Only half a year to go. Woohoo.”

  “Damn. I thought you were studying hospitality, not hostility.” Dany picked up his newspaper again.

  Laura put on a smile. “How’s your friend doing? The girl you share an apartment with? What was her name again?”

  “Nora,” Sebastian replied, keeping his eyes on his plate as he sat up straight. “She’s doing well. She’s all lovey-dovey with her new boyfriend.”

  “A new boyfriend?” Laura asked.

  “Yeah, Raul. He’s an exchange student from Spain. We all met at a party, and they hit it off right away.” Sebastian kept his voice low, almost as if he were only telling them this because he had to give them something, and this was the least incriminating thing he could say. “He’s over at our apartment so often that I joked he should just move into her room so we could all save on rent.”