Burning Desire

12

It ended up being another week before Tristan was able to meet up with Amari, because the latter apparently had a bunch of meetings for the airline in Cincinnati which conveniently occurred whenever Lexi was gone.

Not that Tristan would dare bring up that fact that he knew Lexi to Amari, nor would he tell Lexi that Amari was his best friend who changed his life when he was a young adult running away from home.

He texted Amari and told him that he would meet him at noon for lunch, even though it was barely past seven in the morning. Tristan knew Amari liked to sleep in and he wouldn't get a response until later, but he sent the message anyway and set his phone down, laying his head back down on Winston's chest.

Tristan would never admit that he consciously cuddled up with Winston, and always claimed it was just his body seeking out heat. Even though he knew that Winston probably didn't believe him, Tristan would jump off a building and dive into concrete before admitting he liked the demon's cuddles.

Winston was still asleep and he wrapped both of his arms around Tristan, burying his nose into Tristan's soft hair with a small groan. He often did things like that in his sleep; grabbing onto Tristan and holding him as close as possible once Tristan got close enough to him.

The door to the room opened and Tristan tried to jump up when he heard a shriek, but he couldn't move since Winston was still holding him.

"Aw! You're cuddling!" Lexi's chirpy voice exclaimed as he pulled out his phone, the camera clicking as he took pictures.

Tristan whined and struggled in Winston's tight grasp. "Stop it, Lex!" he cried, face already burning in embarrassment. "Delete those now!"

"Make me!"

"I can't!" Tristan tried to kick at Winston, but his efforts were ignored by the sleeping demon. "This bozo won't let go!"

Lexi cackled and skipped out of the room. "Too bad then! Sorry, cutie!" he called, closing the door behind him.

Winston suddenly started laughing and opened his eyes. "Think he'll send me the pictures?" he asked, making Tristan give him a look of utter betrayal.

"You were awake this whole time?!" Tristan asked in anger, finally getting out of Winston's grasp. "You dick!"

"Sorry," Winston said, obviously not sorry at all.

Tristan huffed. "How long were you up?"

"Since before you got up and cuddled back into me willingly." Winston sat up and stretched his arms above his head. "Nice to know it's not just body heat that attracts you."

"It has nothing to do with you," Tristan growled. "Think of it this way: if a killer comes in and I'm cuddled into you, I can shove you in my way and escape through the window. You might die, but I'm safe."

Winston rolled his eyes. "You're forgetting the part where I'm immortal and create flames from my hands and any intruder would be a little pile of ash in seconds."

Tristan just glared as he got out of bed. "Go away, demon," he mumbled, stomping to the bathroom and combing out his wild hair.

"So petty," Winston chuckled, standing behind Tristan but not daring to touch him.

He had noticed that Tristan had been a bit more touchy lately, but it seemed as though he was almost scared to seek out contact. Like now, he could see Tristan glancing back at him like he wanted to touch his back to Winston's bare chest, but the human diverted his attention back to the mirror and fixed his hair.

"When do you want to leave?" Winston asked, moving to the other sink and wetting his toothbrush. "And when should I pick you up?"

Tristan shrugged. "I'll text you when to get me, but I need to be there by noon," he said, looking at his watch. "I still have, like, five hours. Enough time to steal Lexi's phone and delete those pictures."