We get to the truck and I open the passenger side door for him, freezing where I stand when I catch the thick tears leaking from his eyes.
“Fuck, baby, did he hurt you?” I whisper, crowding his space to run my thumbs over his cheeks.
He sniffs and pulls his brows in, staring at me for a long second, but then his expression morphs into anger and he shoves me back. “No, Kade, you hurt me,” he chokes out, punching me in the chest when he realizes I’m not about to move. “What you just did… this is exactly why I wish I never told you about me. You’re just like them.”
He hits me again and I bat his fists away, pushing him back against the truck with my hand wrapped around his throat. “I didn’t punch him because he’s gay, you idiot,” I grit out, so close my lips are brushing his. “I punched him because you’re mine.”
Silence follows and he swallows against my palm, staring up at me with his mouth parted, breathing heavily against my face. “I… what?”
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
He starts to say something else but I slap my free hand over his mouth, squeezing my eyes shut when I feel his hard dick mashed up against mine. He squirms beneath me and I tighten my grip to keep him still, dipping my head to press my mouth to my knuckles, lightly resting my forehead against his.
“Get in the truck, Nicky,” I say quietly, warning him with my eyes not to fuck with me right now.
After a full five seconds of hesitation, he does as he’s told and I glance at the house over my shoulder, constantly at war with myself because despite what I said just now, he’s not mine.
He can’t be mine.
I repeat that thought as I walk around to the driver’s side, but even then, the fact remains the same.
Of course he’s fucking mine.
CHAPTER 9
KADE
Seventeen years old…
Something’s wrong.
I can tell by the way he’s run the water in the bathroom four times in the last twenty minutes, almost as if he’s washing his hands or brushing his teeth over and over again.
I know he hates sleeping in his own bed, but he’s never up all night like this and he’s making me nervous.
Five times.
Just as I’m about to get up, Arianna places her hand on my cheek and pulls my mouth back down to hers, frowning when I snatch my face away to stop her.
“What—”
Ignoring whatever she’s about to ask me, I pull out of her pussy and throw the empty condom away, tucking my dick beneath the waistband of my boxers while I walk to the bathroom. I push the door open and Nicky jumps a fucking mile, cursing himself when he accidentally knocks the ceramic soap dispenser off the counter. It smashes on the floor by his feet and he looks down at it for a second, avoiding my eyes as he bends down to pick up the pieces.
“Leave it,” I order, closing the door behind me to ensure Arianna can’t see him or his scars.
He pulls his hand away but remains crouched down on the floor, wearing nothing but his underwear and a faded black t-shirt that looks like mine. I cock my head when he continues to stay there, still refusing to look at me, and it’s only now I realize how hard he’s shaking, his black hair sticking out in all directions like he’s been trying to yank it right out of his scalp.
“You okay, Nicky?”
“Yeah,” he says, but I’m not an idiot.
He’s been acting like this a lot lately and I know he’s hiding something from me, that he’s lying to me about something for the first time in over fourteen years.
I don’t like it.
Careful not to cut my feet on the glass, I pick him up by his waist and set him down on the counter, fingering the fabric of the huge shirt covering his ass and the tops of his thighs. “You been stealing my shit again?”