Page 54 of Just a Bit Captivated

He simply didn’t want to do it.

That was the crux of the issue.

He didn’t want to let Aiden go.Just imagining putting Aiden on a plane and never again being on the receiving end of his smiles, touches, and lighthearted, teasing chatter made a vicious feeling twist his stomach into a hard, toxic knot. He’d never experienced this sort of possessiveness before. He felt like a dragon hoarding his treasure jealously, ready to breathe fire at whoever threatened to take it away. It was ridiculous and unacceptable. And a million other things.

“All right, I’m done,” Aiden said, switching the PlayStation off. The mere existence of this stupid console was proof of how bad things had gotten: Aiden had briefly mentioned wanting to play a new Spider-Man game, and Zain had bought him the console—and the collector’s edition of the game.

Aiden crawled into Zain’s lap and looped his arms around his neck. “Hey,” he said with a small, fond smile.“What’s got you brooding now?”

Fond. He had no business looking at him this way.Sometimes Zain wanted to shake him. He might not have kidnapped Aiden himself, but he had treated him horribly at the beginning. Zain didn’t deserve this fondness. He didn’t deserve these soft smiles.

He still craved them like a thirsty man craved water in the desert. He wanted everything—every smile, every millimeter of skin, every molecule.

“You’re weirding me out,” Aiden said with a soft laugh.

“Stop that,” Zain bit out.

Aiden blinked. Cocking his head to the side, he looked at him curiously.“Stop what?”

“Stop being—” He cut himself off. It wasn’t the language barrier. He’d never spoken as much English in his life as he had done this year. The language came naturally to him these days. No, it was… He didn’t want to put his thoughts into words. Make them real. Make it obvious how bad this shit was.

His jaw clenching, Zain said tersely,“Have you already forgotten that I’m your owner, not your—friend?”

Aiden blinked a few more times before smiling. He had the nerve to lookamused, the little shit.“Translation from Zain-speak: I’m experiencing some soft, icky emotions, so I’m going to overcompensate and act like an asshole. Did I get that right?”

“I don’t act like an asshole. I am an asshole.”

Aiden grinned.“I know. You’re a dick, there’s no denying that. Now kiss me, you grump. I missed you.”

Zain buried his hand in Aiden’s hair and crushed their lips together.

Aiden was still smiling as he kissed back.

***

Aiden was fast asleep beside him when Zain’s phone buzzed with a notification.

Zain reached for it and tensed up when he saw who the message was from. It was his head of security, Abdullah. Apparently, he had the information he wanted.

Carefully, Zain pushed Aiden’s leg off him and got out of the bed.Aiden made an unhappy little noise but didn’t wake up, hugging Zain’s pillow instead.

Tearing his eyes away, Zain walked onto to the balcony and called Abdullah.“You know who he is?”

“Yes,” Abdullah said. He sounded uncomfortable.“I was able to identify him using my connections in the intelligence agency. The man is an Italian—”

“I gathered,” Zain said, very dryly.

“He’s a member of the Sicilian mafia, Sheikh. Rumor has it, he’s the right hand of the new boss.”

Zain frowned.It made no sense. He’d never had any dealings with the mafia. Why would they even be looking for Aiden? He lived half a world away from Italy.

“I’ve also found out that Lorenzo has approached several high-profile businessmen lately, for reasons unknown.”

Probably the other attendees of the party Aiden was sold at. Lorenzo clearly knew Aiden had been sold at that party but wasn’t sure to whom.

But it could be only a matter of time before he found out. The auction might have been anonymous, but as Zain had proved, that didn’t guarantee anything. Granted, it had taken Zain considerable effort to find out who had bought Aiden’s friends, and he could only do it because he had access to all CCTV cameras in the city.

“Anything else?” Zain said.

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