Page 142 of Piece Us Together

“Not a single fucking one,” Maison promises.

Hunter sits with that for a moment, taking a deep breath, exhaling slowly. Then he turns, eyes flashing wide open, and grabs Maison by the back of his head. He kisses him hard. Enough to have Maison grunting, his body swaying back onimpact, nearly falling right off his stool. Hunter fists his hair and kisses him deeper before pulling away and looking into his eyes. “Thank you.”

A hitched breath comes out of Maison, heavy and loud, so damn close to a sob.

I find myself nodding, a sob close to surfacing from me too.

“I can’t talk about it,” Maison tells him in a choked voice. He clings to Hunter’s wrists where he has his hands up to frame his face. “Not yet."

“He’s safe?” Hunter asks. Then, looking at me, “You’re safe now?”

“Very, sir,” I say.

Maison follows it with, “I’ll protect him with my fucking life. The both of you, Hunter.”

Hunter’s eyes flutter closed for a moment as he seems to come to the realization that I’m part of the weight on Maison’s shoulders. Both of us, now that Maison has fallen for him too.

There’s nothing we can do about that. He’ll never let that weight go. I’d never ask him to. It’s not who he is.

Hunter is perfect, though. He knows just what to say. What to do. He looks at Maison, his smile proud, loving. He cups the back of his neck and looks into his eyes. He says, “When you’re in this house, I protect you.”

Maison is predictable. His lips twitch into a smirk. “Honey, you have no idea how to protect me. You don’t even own a gun.”

Hunter’s eyebrow raises. “How do you know that?”

Maison blinks, it most likely just hitting him that he gave something away that he shouldn’t have. “I—”

“No. Not a lie. The truth, Maison.” Maison starts to look at me. Hunter grabs his chin, forcing his attention. “The. Truth.”

“Background check.”

“That doesn’t come up in a standard background check. Try again.”

“I didn’t say it was a standard check.”

Hunter takes an incredibly deep breath in through his nose, then slowly releases it. He drops his hand from Maison’s chin and looks away from him. Maison’s shoulders go up to his ears as he ducks his head.

“Is Nolan safe because of you and your gun, or is he safe because no one is coming after him anymore?”

“No one is coming,” I answer for him. I look at Maison, waiting for him to lift his gaze to meet mine. “Right?”

“Right.”

“Then I don’t need a fucking gun.”

“I don’t need you to protect me, then.”

“What if you need to be protected from yourself?”

Maison turns his face away from both of us, his chest expanding as he sucks in a breath. “Red.”

Hunter’s hands curl into fists against the counter.

“Red for everything?” Hunter asks, his voice tight with perfectly controlled emotion. “Or just that topic?”

“Talk about Nolan,” Maison says, his voice shaking with emotions completely out of his control. “Please.”

“That’s easy enough. To review, we’ve agreed you have control of your relationships, your phone, our meals, and your clothes unless you ask for help.” He pauses, waiting for me to nod in agreement. “Let’s talk about kneeling.”

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