Soul Mate Service (boyxboy)

Chapter 12

THIRD PERSON POV

'He's handsome.' The petite man admitted to himself, body completely on autopilot as he reached out to place his smaller hand into the other man's calloused palm.

"I'm Aria..." He whispered out, still taken aback and feeling flustered by both the looks and kindness of the man before him.

"It's such a pleasure to meet you. Thaddeus told everyone to call you Bug, but for some reason, that doesn't quite fit you now that I have witnessed how cute you are first-hand." Uriah brought Aria's hand up a few inches, bending down at the same time. Keeping his smoldering gaze locked on the smaller man, Uriah didn't hesitate to press a soft kiss to the spot just above Aria's knuckles. "May I call you... peaches? You smell just like one."

Aria could feel the smile behind the larger man's lips as he pressed them to his soft skin. Aria's heart was beating at an alarming speed, and he let out a tiny squeak at the enforcer's unexpected action.

"You can call me anything you want." Aria breathed out, smacking his free hand over his mouth as he immediately recognized the flirty tone in his voice. He cursed himself in his head for how stupid he was being, unconsciously flirting with a man who definitely also had a Soul Mate. "I-I mean... I didn't -, I-" He stuttered, and Uriah just chuckled at the small man's poor recovery.

"I'm honored. Thank you, peaches." The enforcer finally released Aria's hand and shifted his gaze over to Andrea, but not without before shooting a wink in his direction. "I came here to party, let's not dwell on things we can't fix right now." His gaze then shifted to Andrea. "I can promise you no one will be mean to peaches tonight, not with me here."

Andrea huffed in defeat, blowing air out of her mouth and causing a wavy strand of hair to fly up before landing on another spot on her face. "Fineee. Let's just go take a shot before I launch myself across the room and end his entire bloodline."

"Andrea! Be nice." Aria scolded, but his words held little weight due to the smile and giddy feeling that had yet to leave after Uriah's kiss.

"Well, while you guys go shoot whatever it is you are planning to shoot, I'm going to go get a glass of water. So if you'll just excuse me..." Bug tried to escape, to use a water break as an excuse to get lost in the crowd and hide in the bedroom for an hour... or twelve.

"Uhh, I think not!" Andrea immediately looped her arm into Aria's, grinning at her best friend. "If there's one person that needs a shot, it's you!" She explained, leading her friend toward the coffee table in the middle of the living area which held various glass bottles filled with Elder-Approved alcohol.

"But... but I'm scared of needles!" Aria tried to pull his arm from Andrea's tight grip in the crook of her elbow.

Andrea paused in her pursuit of the table of alcohol, an amused expression breaking out on her face as she looked at her friend with wide eyes. Aria looked around, confused by the chuckles that suddenly left both Uriah and Mitty, who had been following close behind.

"What are you laughing at?" Bug pouted, scrubbing his front teeth with his tongue as he wondered if maybe they were laughing at him because he had left some food stuck between them or something. Uriah reached out, placing a gentle hand on Aria's cheek. The enforcer thought that Aria was absolutely adorable, his innocence refreshing to the man who typically dealt with people who broke Society rules all day.

"We are not talking about a shot with a needle, peaches. We mean a shot of alcohol. We use tiny cups and those are called shot glasses." He explained patiently, rubbing his thumb across the warm expanse of Aria's cheek as he gazed back up at the man with a look of surmounting confusion.