Page 48 of Kaz
Kaz held his gaze for a few heartbeats, and then he dropped his head back, muttering, “You’re gonna be the death of me.”
Miles smiled proudly to himself, that smile turning softer when Kaz crawled back into bed, pulling Miles against his chest. He curled into Kaz’s side, humming contentedly when Kaz pulled the covers over them.
They stayed there for a while, enjoying each other’s warmth in comfortable silence. He listened to Kaz’s heartbeat, the steady rhythm nearly lulling him to sleep before Kaz spoke.
“Did you tell Ezra what happened to your parents?”
The mention of his parents always brought a mix of sadness and happiness with it. Happiness because he loved them, and sadness because he missed them and always would. His life would’ve been so different had they survived. Everything would have been different. But he and Kaz would’ve found each other, no matter the circumstances. He knew that deep in his soul.
Kaz had pushed up onto his elbow, head resting on his hand as he looked down at Miles. He met Kaz’s gaze, knowing that tender look in the man’s eyes was reserved for only very few people, and it sparked butterflies in his stomach to know that he was still one of them.
“He knows, yes, but he’s also one of Auggie and Skinner’s boys.”
Auggie was the OG Kings’ Treasurer and hacker, and his partner Skinner was an OG Disciple. Skinner ran a program for troubled youth in Baltimore, and they had a habit of bringing home some of those boys. Auggie had taught Ezra everything he knew about computers, and he knew Ezra would do a great job as Kaz’s Treasurer.
Kaz nodded, his jaw set tight. He didn’t like that. He didn’t like there being secrets or half-truths between them.
“Ez is my best friend. We’ve never fucked. Never would,” he said, watching Kaz closely.
Kaz’s brows rose, and the amused gleam filling his eyes had Miles’s heart thundering in his chest.
“Oh, I know,” Kaz said, smirking down at him.
Miles squeezed his eyes closed with a whispered curse.
“The fuck was that, then?”
A sharp sting in his scalp had him snapping his eyes open, his hair fisted in Kaz’s hand as he stared down at him with a dark expression.
“Even just the thought of someone touching you brings this out in me. It makes me want to wring their necks for ever having had their hands on what’s mine.”
Miles swallowed hard at the threat he saw in Kaz’s eyes.
“Remind me not to tell you the names of my exes.”
Kaz cocked a brow at him, the sly smile on his lips making Miles’s heart race.
“You wouldn’t actually kill them, would you?”
A part of him was horrified. The other? Well, that part of him was fucked up. It was probably the part of him that had let him fall in love with his childhood bully in the first place.
“Only the ones who hurt you,” Kaz said, the growl in his tone making Miles freeze for a second. He reached up, palm resting against Kaz’s cheek as he said, “I’ve had enough death.”
Kaz turned his head, lips pressing a kiss to Miles’s palm.
“I could stick to maiming?”
The suggestion was asked with a teasing tone, but Miles knew there was some seriousness behind it.
He shook his head.
“They didn’t hurt me. Actually, I think I probably did most of the hurting. After all, Ididcompare them to you.” He loweredhis voice to a whisper on his next words. “I always found them lacking.”
He barely drew in a breath before lips were against his, insistent, claiming. Kaz was letting him know who he belonged to, and in turn, who Kaz belonged to.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Miles
