Page 20 of Destined Prey
Jack shook his head rapidly, making himself a little dizzy. “You said ‘Please. Please let him listen to me. God, I can’t blow this,and the traps—they can’t put out the traps. My family could be killed.’” Jack thought he was beginning to hyperventilate. “Tell me you didn’t think those words. Tell me I’m hallucinating. Tell mesomethingthat makes more sense than you…than me…than us being—I don’t know!” Jack just managed to tone down the wail, to keep from being loud enough to alarm Rhett. He barely spoke above a whisper, his throat so tight with fear.
And, disturbingly enough to him, his stupid cock was filling, growing erect. Maybe that shouldn’t have come as a surprise, considering how gorgeous Ben was. He rolled out from under the bed and came up onto his feet in a fluid movement that Jack envied.
Then he stopped envying and just stared, becausehot damn!Ben was hung. “Jesus.” Jack knew he was probably drooling, but he couldn’t help it. Ben was tall and perfect, from his big feet to the top of his head. There were scars, some newer than others, some worse, deeper than the rest. Those piqued Jack’s curiosity, unlike the muscles, the curves and angles, the golden-brown hair that was sprinkled liberally over Ben’s legs, torso and arms.Thosethings made Jack so horny he would have begged Ben to fuck him…under different circumstances.
Ben was watching him with unmistakable hunger. Jack reached down and adjusted his dick. There was something seriously wrong with him. He should be flipping out, screaming for Rhett, bolting because there was a nude man who’d hidden under his bed, and there were odd bits of memories Jack wasn’t certain were real. Gold eyes, a rough whisper in an alley, heat at his side where a stranger’s hand had rested. Each piece clicked toward a picture he didn’t want to see whole.
Ben stretched his arms up over his head. The pull and ripple of muscles under golden skin stunted Jack’s thoughts. The rumbling, contented sound Ben made sent a shiver through Jack.
Ben lowered his arms, then casually sat on Jack’s bed, seemingly unselfconscious about his nudity. “Are you sure your brother won’t come in here? I’d be hard pressed to explain to him.”
Jack gave himself a shake. “You’re going to be hard pressed to explain to me.” He forced himself to move, to walk over to the nightstand and open the drawer there. He picked up his phone and held the button down to turn it on. “I’m not locking myself in here with you.”
“I won’t hurt you. I couldn’t.”
“Can you—?” Jack coughed, trying to clear his throat. It’d gone dry when he’d glanced at Ben. “Cover up, please?”
Ben didn’t smirk or argue. He took an edge of the blanket, then pulled it over his lap, covering his gorgeous dick and balls, as well as part of his thighs and belly.
Jack’s lungs loosened a fraction. Not because the blanket hid anything important, but because Ben did what he asked without pushback. Obedience wasn’t the right word. Consideration, maybe. It steadied him more than it should have.
“Better?”
“I can at least think now,” Jack grumbled. His phone emitted several notification tones for texts, missed calls, voicemails and emails. There were so many, and from what Jack could tell, most of them were from Alex. “Jesus, go away already.”
“Er, I could head out the window—”
“Not you,” Jack said, interrupting Ben. “My ex. He agreed to leave me alone, and he’ssonot doing it.” Now why had he told Ben that? Honesty came out of him sideways around this man, like his mouth had stopped taking orders from his common sense. He didn’t know if that was terrifying or a relief. Jack’s hand trembled as he cleared off his notifications and set up the music app. He had soothing jazz playing seconds later, and he set the phone down before connecting it to the charger. Thenhe turned to face Ben. He was surprised Ben hadn’t asked any questions about Alex.
Ben was staring down as he fidgeted, running his thumbs over the tops of his fingers repeatedly. “What do you remember?” he surprised Jack by asking.
“Just tell me what’s going on,” Jack demanded.
Ben looked at him with a serious expression. “Jack, I need to know what you remember, Otherwise, I might put you through more than is necessary.”
Jack scowled. “That makes perfect sense—not. Either you tell me the truth, all of it, or I’ll call the police.” Empty threat, his better judgment scoffed. The rest of him clung to it anyway, a cracked shield held between them while his pulse jackhammered at his throat. Some small voice inside of him argued that he would do no such thing. Jack ignored it. “I don’t care how attracted I am to you—I have a brain that overrides my dick and libido. Talk.”
“You were just freaking out on me,” Ben said pointedly, one dark eyebrow arching up. “Now you want explanations, regardless of what it might do to you?”
Jack bristled. “I amnotweak.” He tucked his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “Despite what I was babbling about. I passed out.” He felt his cheeks heat with a blush. “You think I’m a wuss because of that.”
Ben shook his head. “I don’t. I just hesitate to blow your reality out of the water.”
“Myreality? Because it’s different than yours? You live in an alternate world or something?” Jack asked scathingly. He was angry, scared and still horny, which made him both angrier and more scared. “You’re sexy as hell, I’ll give you that, but I’m not sure you’ve got your full bag of marbles.”
Ben surprised him by laughing, then quickly covering his mouth to muffle the sound. Ben’s chest heaved as he continued to be amused at Jack’s expense.
Jack’s fear was quickly being drowned out by anger…and lust. He folded his arms over his chest and gave Ben his sternest look. “I think you need to leave.”
Ben’s amusement died instantly, and he uncovered his mouth. “No, wait. I’m sorry. It’s just that, if you think I’m crazy now, you’llreallythink so once I tell you the truth.”
“So this is one of those cases of truth being stranger than fiction, then?” Jack didn’t doubt it. “Considering you were naked and hiding under my bed, and the last thing I remember before that was going outside with a baseball bat to check on…” His mind raced with images and sounds. “On…” Ones he couldn’t believe were real, but he couldn’t explain away.
Ben’s expression had gone blank. Even so, Jack heard the mental chaos start again, with Ben’s pleading voice asking someone to not let Jack flip out on him.
“I hear you,” Jack murmured, sure of it this time. “Ihearyou, even though you aren’t speaking.” He also felt panic pulse from Ben to him. “You’re really afraid I’ll want nothing to do with you.”
Ben nodded curtly. “I don’t know what’s happening.”
