Chapter 71: A Peaceful Moment Interrupted

Chapter 71: Chapter 71: A Peaceful Moment Interrupted

He climbed onto the king-sized bed, dropped onto the mattress, and turned his back toward the balcony.

Outside, Henry unlocked the phone and navigated to the Recently Deleted album. He found Vance’s deleted photos and videos and restored them. Then, with a few quick taps, he transferred the files to his own phone before permanently deleting them from Elisha’s device.

Satisfied that he had saved what he needed, Henry locked the phone and slipped it into his pocket. He glanced toward the bedroom, where Elisha was still sulking on the bed, and a mischievous smile crossed his face.

He quickly got up and headed inside to deal with his grumpy fiancé.

Henry climbed onto the bed and crawled over to Elisha, who was lying on his stomach, before launching into a playful tickle attack. Elisha tried to maintain his stern expression, but he quickly broke into helpless laughter as Henry tickled his ribs.

"Stop—stop it, you little demon!" Elisha wheezed through his laughter, finally rolling over and catching Henry beneath him.

Henry grinned at him, breathless from laughing, his hands resting against Elisha’s chest. "Alright, alright, I surrender! But just so you know... I already deleted them from your phone for good. But I sent them to mine."

Elisha stopped, narrowing his eyes playfully. "Why on earth would you want that trash on your phone?"

"As proof," Henry replied smoothly, his expression becoming more serious. "And because I know Vance isn’t going to stop here. I have a feeling those pictures and videos might come in useful against him one day."

Elisha’s expression softened, and he let out a quiet sigh. "Alright, baby. Do whatever you want."

Henry reached up, pulling Elisha down by the collar of his shirt. "You really don’t have to be jealous, you know," he murmured, looking up into his eyes. "It’s only your cock I love... and it’s only yours I ever want inside me."

A warm smile finally eased the tension from Elisha’s face. He leaned down and kissed Henry softly, letting the quiet moment help them put the stressful events of the day behind them.

They stayed quiet for a while, lying close together beneath the duvet.

Eventually, Elisha broke the silence. "I really hate it when someone refuses to respect another person’s boundaries after they’ve already been told no."

Henry looked up at him and tightened his arms around Elisha’s waist, pulling him closer.

Elisha looked down at him and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead. "Do you know one of the things I’ve always respected most about you?"

Henry blinked and looked up at him. "What?"

Elisha was quiet for a moment before continuing. "Back when we first crossed the line, when you came to my house that morning..." His voice trembling as he remembered what had happened. "I told you we shouldn’t talk about it anymore. I told you we should just pretend it never happened."

He swallowed and held Henry’s gaze. "You said alright. Even though I knew you were hurting, you never made things difficult for me. You never brought it up again, and you never let it affect our friendship. The next time you saw me, you acted like everything was normal."

Elisha gently ran his fingers through Henry’s hair. "That honestly scared me. I felt so guilty that I started keeping my distance from you. There aren’t many people who could go through something like that after being close friends for so many years and still handle it the way you did. I half expected you to ask me to take responsibility for what happened or insist that we talk about it instead of simply letting it go. But you didn’t."

He murmured. "You gave me the space I asked for, even though I knew it hurt you. And somehow, seeing how you handled everything only made me fall in love with you even more."

Henry listened quietly, a faint, bittersweet smile appearing on his face as he traced a finger along Elisha’s jaw.

"I was hurting," Henry admitted softly. "But I didn’t see any reason to make a scene or force you to deal with something you weren’t ready to face. I knew I couldn’t force you to talk about it."

He held Elisha’s gaze for a moment. "I always wanted someone who would love me because they truly wanted to, not because I had to convince them. What would have been the point of forcing you to talk about it when you weren’t ready? If I had forced you into anything, it wouldn’t have been real."

A playful spark appeared in Elisha’s eyes. He leaned closer, lowering his voice as he spoke near Henry’s ear.

"Then consider your wish granted, because I’m completely possessive, completely obsessed, and entirely, hopelessly in love with you," Elisha said. "I’m obsessed with everything you do. I wake up thinking about you, I go to sleep dreaming about you, and I spend every second thinking about how I can love you even more. Pretty, I’ll never stop loving you. I’ll always try to be the man you want and hope for, and I hope you’ll always love me just the way I am. And I’m sorry about the past. I really am."

Henry stared at him for a moment, clearly touched by his words. A small smile appeared on his face as he reached up and gently touched Elisha’s cheek.

"I love you too, heartbeat," Henry whispered, his voice full of emotion. "And you don’t have to keep apologizing for what happened. I forgave you a long time ago. What matters now is what we have ahead of us. I only want us to focus on our future, not the past. And I promise I’ll always love you just as much as you love me."

Elisha smiled, a sense of peace settling over him. He leaned closer and peppered soft kisses across Henry’s forehead, eyelids, and cheeks. Henry wrapped his arms around Elisha’s neck, pulling him even closer.

"I love you so much, baby," Elisha whispered.

"I love you more," Henry replied with a smile.

They settled back into each other’s arms, holding one another close for a few quiet moments.

A moment later, Elisha’s phone buzzed on the nightstand. He reached over, picked it up, checked the message, and placed it back down.

He turned to Henry with a soft smile. "How about we play a little music and just enjoy the moment?"

Henry nodded against his shoulder. "Okay."

Elisha slipped out of bed and walked over to the control panel beside the wall. He selected a song and pressed play.

The soft acoustic chords of Ed Sheeran’s "Perfect" began playing through the room’s built-in speakers.

Just then, there was a knock at the bedroom door.

Henry blinked and sat up. "I’ll get it."

Elisha nodded, a small, excited smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Okay."

Henry walked across the room and opened the bedroom door, expecting to find one of the maids.

Instead, he froze.

The first thing Henry saw was a large...