Page 32 of Breaking You Open

“He’s staying with me. Temporarily.”

“Wait a minute.” His jaw drops, and he gestures wildly with his hands. “So now you’reliving together?”

“You missed one word: temporarily.”

“Yeah, sure.” A smirk spreads over his full lips. “All pleasure is temporary.”

I groan and lean my head back, working a kink out of my neck. “It’s not like that at all.”

“Oh yeah, just keep denying it.” Ravi nudges me in the side with an elbow. “I know you want a piece of that twink ass.”

“Stop talking about him like that.”

“You’re the one who let him suck your dick.”

Ugh. Ravi can be real annoying when he feels like it. He’s only a couple years my junior, but sometimes I think he might as well fit in with the twentysomethings currently fighting each other over the cue stick by the pool tables.

“Well, only because he wanted to,” I say, and it’s true, of course. It’s likely he wanted to start something again last night when he leaned his head onto my lap, but in that moment, I cared more about the softness of his hair than the tightness of his throat.

“Yeah, and shouldn’t you keep giving him what he wants?” Ravi drawls. “Who are you to deny him?”

I send him a dark glare. Ravi knows not to anger me when I’m in this mood, yet he can’t resist. Fucker. “I said shut your mouth about him.”

“Okay, okay.” He holds up his hands, and a few seconds later, he nods to the entrance. “Speak of the devil.”

A small figure emerges between the swinging doors. Sparrow. He’s not dressed in his usual sweater and jeans—no, underneath his parka, he’s put on a tight turtleneck that makes him look both older and younger than he is, and is that…mascara? He’s brushed his hair too, and his lips look pinker and plumper than usual.

“Are you fucking kidding me,” I mutter under my breath. He looks like he came here with the purpose of finding someone to fuck, but I can’t imagine that’s what’s on his mind. He looks like it, though, and that’s bad enough.

“Yo, Sparrow!” Ravi calls out, sucking all the attention of the bar to the three of us.

In the corner of my eye, I see Maurice perk up and set his glass aside, eyes fixed on Sparrow. Hell no. There’s no way I’ll let Maurice have him. There’s no way I’ll letanyonehave him.

I squeeze myself out of the bar and stop Sparrow in his steps. He almost bumps into my chest with how fast he walks toward me.

“What are you doing here?” I grunt.

“Oh, I was…I was just wondering how to turn on the dishwasher.”

“The dishwasher?”

His cheeks turn a hot pink. “Yeah, um, but besides that, I wanted to see you.”

“You’ll see me when I get home,” I say, low enough to not let the others hear over the music. I want them to know he’s off-limits, but at the same time, I don’t want them to think he’s mine. Because he’s not. And he won’t be.

“Well, maybe I wanted a drink,” Sparrow protests.

“You’re underage.”

“Just by a few months! One beer, please, Louis? Then I’ll go.” He puts his palms together in prayer.

I sigh and lead him to the bar with a rough grip on his upper arm. “Get him the weakest beer we’ve got,” I tell Ravi.

“Sure thing.” Ravi grins and taps him up a Bud Light, so weak it might as well be water.

Sparrow sips it with tiny gulps, grimacing with his obvious dislike of the taste. In the meantime, I glare around us, catching several of my brothers eyeing Sparrow like he’s a piece of meat and they’re a pack of lions. I better not keep my attention off him, but at the same time, I need to work.

“Didn’t you say that ex of yours can pop up anywhere?” I grumble.

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