Page 33 of They Break Beauty

He lingered on my gunshot scar to the left, teasing it with his thumb, before continuing down to the waistband of my black pants.

I snatched his hand before he reached the target of his interest. “Uh uh. It’s not hard for you.”

“I didn’t expect it to be. It is hella interesting, though. That’s how much you’re into this girl? Sporting a hard-on for her before she even gets here tonight?”

“You know how the anticipation of a scheme coming together gets me off.”

“Seems more than that. Seems all about her.” He eased his hand from mine, but not without giving it a kiss. “I can see why.”

I tensed. “What?”

“She’s got a real powerful aura about her.”

Him and his aura shit.

“I’d say yellow with the confidence and peace in herself that I felt from her, combined with green with the kind and loving heart of hers that I picked up on. But there’s also some black, because I was sensing a blockade—walls she’s put up to protect herself from something, or because of something.”

All right, he was pretty damn good. “You got all that from briefly talking to her to invite her here?”

“To coerce her here for you was more like it. And it wasn’t exactly that brief. It was fascinating talking with her. She hides it behind that bubbly and bright Barbie-like personality she puts out there around campus and town, but there’s a harder edge just below the surface. I was only able to bring out sparks of it, but it was there all right. It’s gotta be what’s got you drawn to her. Although, if that’s the case, Mason isn’t exactly gonna be on board. Having that from her and the vicious edge in you coming together could be explosive, in the worst ways for Mason, causing a fuck load of chaos.”

I lifted a shoulder.

Let them both think what they wanted. Their theories on why I was drawn to Brianna Walker were just pieces of the overall big picture. It was so much more than that.

But until I was able to get through to her and pull her close, I wasn’t ready for either of them to know the truth. It would only complicate matters and likely create more barriers in my path. After years of waiting for the time to be right to do this, to approach her like this, there was no way I was willing to risk more complications or possibly deterrents from them getting in my way.

So I did all I could do in this particular moment.

I redirected. “You’re circling around it, but it sounds like you’ve taken a liking to her.”

“And if I have?”

“We don’t share women. Not like that at least. You and Mason have your threesomes once in a while, but that’s all superficial.”

“What if we did share?”

I shifted my weight and folded my arms across my chest. “You’re serious?”

“Why not? You know I’m not set in my ways, I like branching out, exploring new avenues and passions. And you know I’m not gonna step on you, because I like you leading the way with other things. I’ll just follow your lead with this like I do with everything else. Plus, if we bring Mason in on this, it could really help him to finally relinquish that insane control that’s slowly killing him. It could help him to let loose like he’s needed for a long time.”

“I hear what you’re saying, brother,” I said, laying my hand on his shoulder. “But she’s not just a girl to me. There’s more here, more I can’t get into yet.”

“We’ll see how it pans out then, take it slow.”

“You do realize that she’s an actual person? Not a doll to be played with?”

“I do, but the fact you seem to is shocking to say the least, Lev. It’s not your usual way of doing things. You’ve always been a hit-it-and-quit-it type. Those fight bunnies were just warm holes for you to get off with.”

“I don’t think I was ever that crass about it.”

“Debatable. But either way, seeing as though you seem to be showing genuine care toward this girl, I’m gonna help you out in any way I can.”

“You are?”

“Damn straight, brother. I’m retracting my initial worry about this. I’ve never seen you like this before. And as long as you can tone down the vicious and Hellraiser side of you, this could actually be really good for you. It’ll take some of the worry when it comes to you off Mason too, which I’m all for.”

“Well, thanks. I really appreciate it.”

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