Chapter 5
like claws plucking at his seams
“Thanks for the ride,” Kit said as they pulled up in the parking garage.
Carla threw the car into park. “Any time. Do you know your way through the building?”
Kit paused, his hand on the door. “James is at the top, right? CEOs are always at the top on TV.”
Carla stared blankly beneath her shimmery pink eyeshadow. Then she whipped out her phone. “I’ll tell him you’re here. Though he probably already knows.”
Kit liked Carla. She was strangely down to earth for someone who worked so closely with James. Or maybe that wasn’t so strange—someone would have to be down to earth to deal with James’s eccentricities. Carla looked tough, but she was incredibly patient with Kit’s driving lessons.
She’d asked if Kit wanted to drive today, but downtown still made Kit nervous. There were too many one-way streets and pedestrians.
Navigating an unfamiliar office building also made Kit nervous, but that was a challenge he needed to get past.
He could feel himself sinking into a brand-new trap. Another apathetic patch of quicksand. He could spend all day lounging around James’s house, or working with Bishop, or visiting Darius. But he sort of liked the strange taste of normalcy he had gotten from this misfit band of murderers.
Holden bringing up Dad made Kit want to retreat.
Retreating was the right move, of course, but just from that conversation. Kit didn’t want to slide back to the way he was before he met James and Bishop. He needed to fill his waking hours with other, better things.
Plus, today was December 7. A month and a couple of days since the Holden incident. Which meant a certain frustrating, self-imposed rule had finally expired.
Kit bid Carla farewell and slipped from the car. He didn’t feel alone as he followed signs to the marble lobby. Cameras glinted everywhere, just like James’s dark, watchful eyes.
Sure enough, a text buzzed through Kit’s phone.
Sexy: Well, this is a pleasant surprise ;) I’m on floor ten, reception will buzz you up.
Sexy: Reception is they/them btw
Surprisingly, Kit wasn’t the only one striding around the spacious lobby in jeans and a t-shirt. Though the other people’s casual affectation didn’t include magenta skinny jeans. Or lime green sneakers. Kit drew a few sidelong glances, but Reagan the receptionist simply smiled.
“Welcome to San Corvo Security,” Reagan said. Their heavy-rimmed glasses gave them an unnervingly watchful look. “The third elevator is unlocked for you.”
“Thanks,” Kit said.
He half-expected some sort of bellhop or butler in the elevator, but the elevator was relatively normal. Mirrored steel, glowy buttons. Kit pressed the button for the tenth floor, then fiddled with his phone.
He’d been toying with a list in his notes app for the past few days. It was a short list so far. He needed to figure out how difficult the first few tasks were before he went crazy.
Normal Things to Do
1. Get my GED
2. Drive better
3. Dress properly???
4. Go on a date
He was starting with the last and easiest option today.
A friendly if harried-looking assistant met Kit on the tenth floor and led him directly to James’s office. They passed conference halls and cubicles and more computers than Kit had ever seen in one place. James’s office was walled in pitch-black glass, and the heavy door slid open at Kit’s touch.
The door barely closed before Kit collided with its cold surface, pinned by the insistent heat of James’s body.
James delved into his mouth in a blazing hot kiss, drawing Kit to his toes. A strong hand supported Kit by the waist, until he could barely breathe. James pressed a shallow kiss to the corner of his lips, then dove back in for more.
“Hate to interrupt you on a workday,” Kit panted between kisses. “You must be so annoyed.”
James grinned, hoisting Kit up by the ass. The door shook. “Incredibly annoyed. You’re being very, very naughty.”
Kit preened with the attention. James’s eyes burned with adoration, directed at him alone. Kit felt like a fire, burning every piece of kindling he could find.
“Are you going to do anything about that?” Kit asked, feeling daring and secure at once.
Before James could answer, another voice sounded from across the room.
“I finished the assignment, Mr. Zhou,” Holden drawled. “Do you have another, or should I just watch you two fuck against the door?”
Kit tried to look past James’s shoulder, but James held him firm beneath the jaw. His hand spanned Kit’s entire throat. A grin curled James’s lips before he took Kit in another leisurely kiss.
Toes curling, pulse spiking, Kit surrendered to the possessive touch. Knowing that Holden was watching made it even hotter.
And an entire office full of people on the other side of the door. The glass felt so flimsy.
Only when Kit was dizzy with need did James set him down—then spin them both around. Kit pressed back against James, held by the hip and throat.
“You know damn well there are ten more assignments,” James said above Kit’s head.
The room was even bigger than James’s home office, with a classy little sitting area between the door and James’s desk. Holden perched on the white leather couch, an array of dormant cell phones spread on the coffee table. Hunger burned in his eyes, and he smiled.
“Hello, darling,” Holden said warmly. As if it was just them in the room. As if Kit’s lips weren’t wet and red from another man’s domination. “You look adorable today.”
Okay, Holden actually seemed well aware of what Kit looked like. He was just far more intrigued than jealous. Or he was hiding the homicidal jealousy better than he used to.
Holden had to know the month was up. But he was infuriatingly patient.
“What are you doing?” Kit asked, faltering as James’s hand spread across his stomach, pulling him closer.
Holden gestured at the phones. “I’m taking these apart and putting them back together.”
Kit could feel James’s cock hard against his lower back. “Why?”
James nuzzled Kit’s hair, inhaling, which wasn’t weird. Okay, it was weird, but Kit fucking liked it. “Because it’s tedious and annoying. I have twenty more models for him for tomorrow.”
“Last week, we worked on coding.” Holden lounged back, watching languidly. “He’s been trying to figure out what I’m good at.”
James scoffed. “I’ll see if you’re good at scrubbing toilets next.”
“I’m probably amazing at it,” Holden said, unbothered. “I’m very thorough.”
Unexpected. James seemed to be taking this internship seriously. Kit could address that later. Right now, all he could think about was the cock burning against his back, and Holden’s gaze, intense enough to take Kit apart.
Thorough. Yeah, Holden and James had that in common.
“I don’t want to think about toilets right now,” Kit said, his stern expression foiled when James reached down to cup his cock. He squirmed, sudden pressure and friction lighting up every nerve.
“What do you want to think about instead?” James said into his ear. His fingers curved, pulling the magenta denim tight. “What exactly did you come here for in the middle of the workday?”
Arousal tugged Kit’s thoughts in every direction. The hand on his throat massaged lightly, keeping Kit’s attention there as much as on his cock. “I wanted to ask Holden out on a date.”
Holden lit up with angelic glee.
James squeezed Kit’s cock harder, almost to the point of pain. “Is that so?” He sounded dangerously delighted. “Your boyfriend is grabbing your sweet little cock, and you’re asking the intern out?”
Kit rocked against James’s hand. “That’s the gist of it, yeah.”
“Shameless little slut,” James murmured, and the loving degradation nearly made Kit come right there. James raised his voice. “Are you going to answer him, intern?”
Holden shifted against the couch, legs spreading. He looked away from Kit for the first time since Kit had entered the room—at James, above Kit’s head. “He hasn’t asked me anything yet. He just said he wanted to ask me.”
Fuck. Why was it so hot, the way they talked over him?
They weren’t ignoring Kit. Their attention was clear, like claws plucking at his seams. They were just treating him like his presence was a given. Of course Kit was caught between them, and of course James and Holden would meet his desperation with equal fervor.
“Is there something you wanted to ask?” Holden prompted politely.
“God, you’re both jerks,” Kit panted, squirming again. His body was learning to respond to James’s slightest touch, and there was nothing slight about the teasing grip on his cock. “Do you want to—ah—grab coffee or something?”
James abandoned Kit’s cock just before he could come, hand creeping under his shirt. His touch blazed against Kit’s lower belly.
Holden’s eyes followed. “That sounds lovely, sweetheart. Let’s go back to that ladybug place, unless you have another idea. I never got to try their lattes.”
Kit had exactly zero ideas besides getting someone’s cock in him right now. “Ladybug Brews is fine. Um. When are you free?”
“That depends on whether my boss will let me take the afternoon off,” Holden said. “He’s a real stickler for someone who gets in at eleven every morning.”
“I work from home in the morning,” James said serenely as he shoved Kit’s shirt all the way up his chest. “I like to wait out traffic.”
‘Waiting out traffic’ was a funny way to phrase ‘fucking Kit over the kitchen counter.’ But Kit couldn’t point that out while biting his lip on a moan. James toyed with his nipples, gently, insistently teasing the sensitive nubs.
Fuck, maybe Kit should ask James to gag him. The entire office would hear him unless James let up.
“What was so urgent about this date that you had to ask in person?” James asked, his fingers still moving.
“You’re easier to persuade in person,” Kit answered honestly.
James and Holden laughed at the same time—Holden giving a slight, fond chuckle, James’s laugh vibrating through Kit.
“You’re very persuasive,” James said. “Fine, I’ll be nice and let Holden out early, on two conditions.”
Kit rested his head against James’s chest, feeling strangely safe with the hand still around his throat, his body humming with arousal. “Let me guess, the first is that you have to crash the date.”
“It’s like you know me.”
James inhaled Kit’s hair again. Which couldn’t have smelled too interesting, unless James really liked the scent of his own shampoo in Kit’s hair. Fuck, he probably did. He was a possessive bastard, which meant his next condition was no surprise.
“The second condition is that I fuck you over my desk, and you sit through your little coffee date with my cum inside you.”
The idea struck Kit like lightning. Wordlessly, he looked over at Holden, who tilted his head.
“Are you asking my permission, sweetheart?” Holden asked. Then he once again spoke to James. “Do you have a plug in here? We really should be thorough.”