Page 102 of The Piece You Stole

I wait to see what he wants to do more: kill Leandro or help me.

His moment of indecision doesn’t last long, maybe five seconds, before he retreats to the wall beside the window, where bright sunlight streams into my room and casts shadows over the foot of my bed. “He dies later then.”

Aden’s lips twitch. “Carnage or death. Sometimes I wonder if there’s anything else you like more.”

Kade’s silver stare settles on me. “There are one or two things I like more.”

Heat floods my body because I can think of exactly what those one or two things might be. I spend more time in his bed than this one, which I think is supposed to be mine.

“Is Dariel going to kill him?” I ask a little desperately, as I drag my gaze from Kade to Aden.

“If he doesn’t, I will,” Kade promises.

Kade’s dark threat draws my focus as Aden carefully peels back my bandages. I’m guessing to confirm my palms really aren’t bleeding.

For the longest time, I do nothing but study Kade. He’s trying to protect me, and I love that he is, but I can’t let him. Not when I know what will happen if I don’t leave. “You shouldn’t have come after me.”

Whatever they would have had to do to get me back means they’ve painted targets on their backs. A part of me is still waiting for Dariel to make me leave unless Aden and Kade dragged Dariel into my mess because I can’t see him wanting to help me.

I’m nothing, after all.

Aden grips my chin with a finger and thumb and turns my face to him.

He peers into my eyes; a long searching look I can’t read.

I don’t know what he’s looking for, but all I’m feeling right now is a sense of looming dread. Simon helped me, and he paid for it with his life. I can’t let the same thing happen to Aden and Kade. I don’t like Dariel, much less trust him, but not even he deserves to have Rylan after him.

Aden’s expression clears as if he’s found the thing he was looking for.

His gaze dips to my lips, and his hazel eyes soften.

I freeze, holding my breath. When he leans toward me, I half lift my hands, intending to push him away because I need to make him understand that his life is in danger.

I shouldn’t be letting him kiss me.

But I do.

Let him kiss me, that is.

Kade once told me that Aden could make a woman beg him never to stop with the things he could do with his tongue. Kade wasn’t being honest because Aden doesn’t use his tongue. He doesn’t need to. The first kiss he gives me is soft and light. There’s no demand in it, just him giving me a thing so sweet and luscious that my eyes flutter closed as I lean into it, parting my lips so he knows I want more.

But he pulls away.

I blink my eyelids open, wondering when I framed his face with my hands, and why they don’t feel the least bit sore. Slowly, I lower them as I lick my lips, still tasting his kiss and wishing the sweetness would never fade.

His hazel eyes are so full of heat I want to drag him right back because what he gave me didn’t feel like enough. Not nearly. “There was no question about leaving you there. You belong with us, and you stay with us.”

He closes his hand around my nape, leans close, and touches his lips to mine in another sweet caress before releasing me to stand. “I’ll be back with fresh bandages. Don’t go anywhere.”

If I was sure my legs wouldn’t immediately crumple beneath me, maybe I would.

After he’s left the room, I shift my focus to Kade, knowing exactly what I will find: him leaning against the wall, arms folded, those silver orbs I will never get enough of, locked on mine. “How did you like Aden’s kiss, angel?”

He liked what he saw.Morethan liked it. If I’d somehow missed the hunger reflected in his stare, there’s no way I can overlook the bulge in his black sweatpants.

Heat spills over my cheeks as I drag my gaze away, shrugging as I feign a casualness I don’t feel. “It was okay.”

“Maybe you’ll like his tongue better.”

---