Page 30 of Wanted
“Hell yeah,” Liv said and proceeded to mix everything up into pale gruel.
“I also have chocolate sauce,” Dex offered, but Liv was already trying the food and relaxed into the chair with a moanso suggestive Knox pressed his thighs together to contain the sudden jolt in his balls.
This morning had fucked him up, and he didn’t fucking know how to handle this new reality.
"Can you pour me some?" Knox asked, reaching for his bowl, but then Cyborg grabbed his chin and forced him to look back at the wound.
"We need to deal with this first, so stop moving."
And Knox did. In fact, he was so taken aback by Cyborg's confident tug that he sat still in confused silence, feeling as helpless as when Liv had held him by the wrists.
The guy broke into his personal space as if it was his God-given right, and in any other situation Knox’s first response would have been to lash out. But he couldn’t. Not against the guy who came over to help him. Cyborg's presence was stoic and confident. It made Knox simmer down right away, obedient like a well-trained dog. Maybe it was because he needed to accept the other guy’s superiority and expertise, given the circumstances?
Cyborg’s good eye, pale gray and intense, met his for way longer than necessary, as if rules of regular male-male contact did not apply to him. Knox stilled, feeling his heart speed up, but not because of his illness. He was… what? Curious? Flattered?Interested?
He’d never given much thought to the possibility of other men finding him attractive. Such things didn’t happen to guys like him—average, masculine dudes just minding their own business. Sure, he wanted to be considered good-looking, took care of himself, tried to dress well, trained to be good in fights and worked hard to not be some broke-ass loser. So women would pick him over other men.
But to a gay guy… was he hot?
Liv slapped Cyborg’s hand away from Knox’s face, turning toward them so abruptly his knee poked Knox’s, setting it onfire. “You need to deeply gaze into his eyes to have a look at his arm? Unless you’re one of those quacks who read people’s health from the eyeballs, keep your paws off my boyfriend’s face.”
Knox’s heart went into overdrive.“My boyfriend”.Yesterday’s joke now felt almost too real, and he had no idea how he felt about it. Because the urgent question of whether he liked dick dug holes in his mind like a worm that wouldn’t stop until it consumed his whole brain.
Most of all though, Liv couldn’t know that Knox was pondering this at all, so he laughed, playing along. “My face is fine, no need to worry.” And why was Liv this bothered by another dude touching Knox anyway, if he was the one to come up with the whole let’s-be-gay thing?
Cyborg shook his head and opened a backpack filled with bandages and other medical tools. He glanced at Liv. “Maybeyoushould have looked into his eyes less when you were patching him up.”
Dex cackled and poured some honey into his mushy cereal. “Oh, man. I love me some drama.”
Ezra kept quiet, but Knox had no doubt he was drinking everything up and would report it to Frank. What. A. Clusterfuck.
Liv swung his arm over Knox’s shoulder, pressing so close his warm breath teased the back of Knox’s ear. “Oh, I’m the only one with the instruction manual to this guy, and I know all the buttons to press, don’t you worry.”
Cy held his gaze, and being stuck between the two powerful presences made Knox break out in a sweat. Before tension could have triggered his fight-or-flight response, Cy let go of his hand and pulled out a bottle and some fresh bandages.
“You did a decent enough job, all things considered, though I wouldn’t hope for a pretty scar from this King of Stitching of yours,” he said, pointing out Liv’s handiwork.
Knox felt Liv’s hand ball into a fist against his chest, so he spoke.
“I don’t care how pretty it is. I’m just glad we’re alive after what we’ve been through the last few days.” After a moment of hesitation, he leaned his head back and gave Liv a quick kiss on the cheek, hardly believing they’d made out less than half an hour ago. The morning stubble poked at his lips, making Knox’s toes curl under the table. Wasthiskiss for real? He needed to get a grip on it fast.
Dex nodded. “Yeah, Frank told me you’re, like, wanted by the cops, and can’t leave, and that you killed some dude with a machete?”
Ezra stilled and rubbed his forehead. “Do we really have to do this at breakfast?”
Dex shrugged. “I just wanna gather the facts.”
Cyborg stayed quiet as he disinfected Knox’s wound, and he didn’t seem bothered by these revelations.
“It was an accident. We’re not some psycho murderers!” Knox said to ease Ezra’s discomfort.
Dex pointed at him with a spoon. “That’s what a psycho murderer would say.”
Liv hugged Knox to his body and shoveled a spoonful of porridge into Knox’s mouth. “Some of us joke about fucking corpses as they put people in acid, others kill in self-defense. We’re all one big family.”
Ezra rolled his eyes. “I see you’re already friends.”
Knox swallowed the porridge. He’d expected it to be bland, even if filling, but it tasted like dessert with all that honey, banana, and strawberries. He gave Ezra a thumbs up before turning his gaze to Dex.
