Free Make Me Whole by Marguerite Labbe

with threats and seemed like he harbored his hurt.
    He turned back to Dexios and Lykon, and somehow, the statue of them kissing mocked him. What would it be like to be locked in an eternal embrace with someone he loved? It had to be better than this hollow emptiness.
    He touched Dexios’s jaw and slid his finger over their joined lips. The metal held a chill that hadn’t been there before and was nothing like the heat of Dexios’s kiss. Last night had awakened feelings he’d buried months ago. He’d almost forgotten how much he loved kissing, loved having strong arms around him and the hot rush of desire they brought, the comfort.
    Getting the chance to see Nick again this morning had reminded him of so many other things. When Nick’s color rose and his eyes heated, Galen remembered all the little warning signs. Galen lost count of how many times they’d ended up naked when Nick got his temper going.
    He’d missed Nick’s intensity, the way he had of waking him up inside, making him feel more alive than dead, and that scared him too. If he woke up, he’d be vulnerable, and Galen had never wanted to go back to being vulnerable. When they had been together all those months ago, Nick made him realize he missed being held. He missed having someone to turn to in the middle of the night. And the urge to confide in him, to let him come closer, to surrender, had grown stronger with every encounter.
    And that made him run. He hadn’t recognized it then, but he did now. He’d run from everything Nick represented. Galen sighed and turned away, trying to think about what he might’ve done last night that had triggered Dexios to emerge and come talk to him. Unless he’d hallucinated the whole encounter.
    Galen had been looking at the first statue when Dexios had spoken behind him. No. That wasn’t right. He’d stepped back away from it when he’d been struck with the insane urge to kiss it. Dexios had even commented on it, something about preferring flesh and bone. Who knew how long he’d been watching?
    He glanced at the second statue and his cheeks heated even though nobody was around to see him. He checked over his shoulder to be sure. He could experiment and see what would happen if he knelt in front of Dexios, leaned toward the jutting, hard cock. He glanced at the security camera and his flush deepened. Idiot. Don’t even consider it.
    Galen returned to his office and tried to shrug away his embarrassment. Meeting Dexios had to have been a dream somehow shared between Nick and himself. Maybe if he explained that he’d passed out, it would placate Nick enough so he could keep the statues in his museum, though Nick would probably demand to know how Lykon had gotten to be part of the statue, and Galen had no answers for him.
    He still couldn’t believe that Nick had dreamed about last night’s encounter. How the hell was it possible? Galen had been spun into a world where normal rules didn’t seem to apply, and it was weirding him out. He would’ve thought it was a trick on Nick’s part, but there had been no way he could have known what had happened between him and Dexios.
    Galen leaned back in his chair and stretched out his legs on top of the desk. He knew he had fucked up what rapport they’d once had, but he’d never expected Nick to use such tactics. The little hope he’d harbored, that maybe they could give things another try, had faded. Maybe it was for the best. Galen wasn’t sure if he really wanted to open himself up to another person the way he had with Bryan, even if Nick tempted him. Nick had gotten underneath Galen’s skin and made a home. Seeing him today had reminded him of that fact.
    Galen had gone from being in a long-term relationship to being alone, and after a time the loneliness had driven him out to the clubs and bars. Hookups, threesomes, and random encounters had kept him going for a while, until Nick had made him realize how empty and self-destructive they were. And once he’d