Page 25 of Dirty Love

“Yeah?” I taunt, dragging my thumb over the column of his throat, making him swallow. “Does your friend know you’re only using him to torture me?”

“I don’t think he cares,” he answers, not even bothering to deny it. “He just wants to fuck me.”

“Is that what you want?”

“You know what I want, brother,” he says simply, bravely tipping his head back to look me dead in the eye. “But if you won’t give it to me, it’s nice to know I can get laid someplace else anytime I need it.”

“You little bitch,” I grit out, roughly digging my fingers into his jaw, but he just laughs humorlessly and shoves me back, purposely looking me up and down as he takes a slow step away from me.

“Yeah, well… I’d rather be a bitch than a pussy.”

* * *

Later that night, I find myself leaning my shoulder against the door between my bedroom and the bathroom, listening to him like a creepy stalker would while he brushes his teeth before bed.

He sat next to me in every class today, ate five bites of the lunch I put in front of him and got in the truck after school without issue, but he still went right back to ignoring me after I pinned him in the parking lot, wouldn’t even look at me unless it was to hit me with that painfully blank stare he seems to have mastered overnight.

The fucking silent treatment.

I’d rather let him punch me in the face a hundred times.

He’s doing everything he can to stay away from me and I don’t really blame him for it, but I’m not about to let him spend another night without me, either.

I’m done with this shit.

As soon as I hear him unlock the door on my side of the bathroom, I fling it open and walk inside to grab him from behind, completely disregarding my no touching rule to lock my arm around his waist. He squeals and looks at me over his shoulder, relaxing when he sees it’s me, but that relief doesn’t last very long.

“Get off me, Kade,” he growls, kicking his legs out when he realizes what I’m doing. “Jesus, are you crazy?”

I ignore that and carry him to his room to grab his phone from the nightstand, then I take him back to my bed and toss him down on it. He tries to get up but I’m faster, pinning him down with a single hand on his bare abs. He stares at me in shock and I plug his phone in to charge, carefully climbing over his body to take my spot beside him. He huffs out a breath but doesn’t bother to argue, and when I roll him over to his side and yank his back to my chest, I swear I can hear him smiling into his pillow.

He likes me crazy.

I pull the blanket over us and tangle my legs with his, linking our fingers together on his chest to hold him tight against me. It only takes him five minutes to fall asleep, if that, and as soon as I know he’s out, I’m right there with him, finally allowing myself to relax for the first time in days.

CHAPTER 12

KADE

The guy I’m fighting taps his hands on the ground and I remove my arm from around his neck, dropping his head to push myself off of him. Wincing at the probable pain rushing through his skull, he rolls over onto his back and covers his face with his forearms, his chest heaving with the effort it’s taking to breathe again. I leave him there and walk to the edge of the circle, glaring at the boys around me when I feel their hands on my shoulders. They back off a bit and I look at Nicky, slowly moving my gaze over his form while he takes the cash from Skully’s hand. He’s wearing all black tonight, his dark hair messed up the way he likes it, his fingers subconsciously rubbing his face over and over again, probably because I haven’t shaved him in a few weeks.

I should do that soon.

Just as I think it, our eyes lock and he chews the corner of his lip, looking down to shove the screwed up bills into his pocket. I sigh and take a seat on the log in front of me, still watching his every move while I grab the pre rolled joint he left me on my hoodie.

I hate this fucking wall between us now.

I hate the fact that he makes me want to tear it down and pull him into my arms.

And I hate myself for these stupid thoughts that won’t leave me the fuck alone.

I just want us to go back to the way we were before.

Before I yelled at him just for wanting what I want, too, before I lost my shit and called him mine, before I kissed him that night under the covers, before I started thinking about him in a way no guy should think about another guy, let alone his own fucking brother.

Goddamnit.

“You know, I’ve been thinking about it, and I think I’ve figured it out,” Jasper says, dropping his ass down beside me despite the fact I didn’t tell him he could.

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