Page 43 of Psycho
August didn’t knock, just breezed in the door with a brown paper bag in one hand and an overnight bag in the other.
“Whatcha got there?” Lucas asked.
August raised the brown bag as he brushed a kiss across Lucas’s ear, making him shiver. “The best thing you’ve ever put in your mouth.”
Lucas raised a brow, unable to stop the smirk forming. “Is that so?”
August’s mouth hitched up on one side. “That’s what the girl at the bakery said.”
“Did she say it with a straight face?” Lucas asked.
August paused as if lost in thought. It occurred to Lucas then that he was recalling the conversation—verbatim if Noah was to be believed.
“Is it true you remember every word ever said to you?”
“Did Noah tell you that?” August asked, dropping the dessert on the counter and his overnight bag on the barstool.
“He said you always wear headphones to drown out the noise. I’ve never seen you wear them.”
August brushed his hair aside, removing the tiny earbuds from his ears. “They’re not on. I don’t wear them around you.”
“Why not?”
August frowned in confusion. “Because I want to remember every word you say to me.”
It was such a casually breathtaking thing to say. August was somehow insanely romantic without even trying. Lucas crossed the room and slanted their lips together, catching August off guard. He recovered quickly, gripping Lucas’s jaw as he plundered his mouth. Lucas’s hands ran along his biceps, jumping back when August hissed in pain.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just had a little incident tonight.”
Lucas frowned. “Incident? What kind of incident?”
August slipped his shirt over his head, revealing a deep two-inch gash along his arm. “How did that happen?”
August grimaced. “I underestimated her. She caught me off guard while I was on the phone.”
Lucas rolled his eyes, tugging August into the guest bathroom and forcing him to sit on the shut toilet lid. “Well, why did you answer the phone in the first place?”
“Because it was you,” August said, as if the answer was obvious. “When your significant other calls, you answer.”
Significant other. Is that what they were? Their relationship was moving at warp speed. Arranged marriages took longer than dating a psychopath, apparently. “We’re not in a relationship.”
“Says you,” August murmured, flicking his gaze upward, his tone letting Lucas know he found his resistance amusing. “You’ll come around.”
“Consent is a thing,” Lucas reminded, but his tone was light.
“Is this nonconsensual?” August asked. “Do you not want me to keep pursuing you?” Lucas looked back over his shoulder, watching as August grew broody and confused. “Am I pushing you into something you don’t want?”
Lucas stopped rifling through his things to stand and sooth August. Who knew psychopaths were so sensitive? He sighed, cupping August’s face and tilting it upward. “I want you to keep pursuing me, but I need to feel like it’s not already a done deal. I’m an adult and I have bodily autonomy. ‘I licked it so it’s mine’ isn’t a thing in dating.”
August’s hands came around to grip Lucas’s ass, his gaze heated as he said, “I did, though. I want to do it again. Right now.” Lucas shivered at the thought of August’s tongue probing all the parts of his body, trying not to get swept away by memories of last night. “I’ll try to be more mindful of your feelings.”
Lucas snickered. “Did you read that in a relationship book?”
There was no humor at all in August’s answer. “Yes.”
Lucas’s heart flip-flopped in his chest. “You did?”
