Chapter 28 Jace
JACE
Shane takes my hand and lets me pull him to his feet. He still looks shell-shocked and unsure, but he’s not running away, and my instincts say he’s telling me the truth.
“Come on.” I motion for him to follow me to my computer.
“What are we doing?” he asks as I slide into my chair and he stands next to me.
“Go grab Jax’s chair,” I tell him as I flash up my computer. “What time do you think your room got broken into?” I ask as he drags Jax’s chair over.
“Sometime between four and seven.”
“When the key logs were off,” I say distractedly and pull up the security cam in the hallway outside his room. “But that doesn’t matter because we should be able to see whoever it was as long as they’re not a ghost.”
“How the hell did you do that?” He looks between me and the screen. “Hacking?”
“Hacking,” I confirm and cycle through the feed until I find the day and time I’m looking for. “Now let’s see who wanted you to think I broke into your room.”
“I’m really sorry I thought it was you,” he murmurs.
“You don’t need to keep apologizing,” I tell him. “I believe you.”
“I feel like shit.”
“You should, but it’s not your fault.” I pause the video as someone stops in front of Shane’s door, then go forward frame by frame until their face is in full view.
“That motherfucker,” Shane practically growls as he glares at Dan’s image. “I’m going to fucking kill him.”
“Get in line, babe.”
He swings his gaze to me, his mouth hanging open in shock. “Babe?”
“You don’t like it? We’ll workshop something else,” I give him a smirky smile. “Now close your mouth and focus on the task at hand.”
“I didn’t hate it,” he mumbles and dutifully looks at the screen.
“Didn’t hate it? Or liked it?” I ask as I play the video and we watch Dan pull a key out of his pocket and unlock Shane’s door.
“Liked it.”
“Good to know.” I fast-forward through the next thirty or so minutes of footage until Dan leaves the room, a laptop and tablet tucked under his arm, and locks the door again before dashing down the hall.
“So Dan is definitely the one who tried to frame me.” I switch out of the feed and pull up a copy of the report about the fire.
“And this report is true. It really was just a series of glitches. Myles and I went through the system with a fine-toothed comb and checked every line of code, and neither of us could find anything that even remotely suggests it wasn’t bad coding and human error. ”
“You did all that?”
I nod.
“Why?”
“To make sure no one was trying to hurt you.”
“Well, fuck,” he mutters and scrubs his hand through his hair. “The one time they tell us the truth, and I don’t believe them.”
“I didn’t either, which is why I went through the code to make sure.” I open the files Jax copied when we stole the blackmail drive from the Kings. “This is what Dan was talking about.”
Shane watches the screen as a guy who looks a lot like him, only younger, stumbles into the frame and is followed by another guy who pushes him up against the wall and kisses him. His brother kisses the guy back, and the passion between the two men is palpable, even through the screen.
Shane’s eyes go shiny as he keeps watching, and he blinks rapidly when the video ends.
“Are there any more of him?” he asks, his voice hoarse with emotion.
“A few.” I open the next one. It’s not nearly as spicy and is just KJ and his mystery man walking through the woods while they hold hands and talk about something. But it’s the adoring looks they keep giving each other that show whatever was going on between the two men wasn’t just a fling.
“That’s Cooper.” Shane clears his throat and turns his face so he can quickly wipe his eyes. “He and KJ were best friends. I haven’t seen him since the funeral.” He swipes his hand over his eyes again. “Are there any more?”
“I’m not sure you want to see it,” I tell him.
“What’s on it?”
“Your brother on his knees while Cooper enjoys his attentions.”
Shane huffs out a laugh. “Yeah, I don’t need to see that one.” He chews on his lip. “Can you make me a copy of the other ones?”
I reach into my desk and pull out one of my flash drives. “All the video files are on here, along with any info I found about you, your brother, or your family.”
He takes it and offers me a weak smile. “Thank you. And thanks for not killing me. I know I fucked up, and I also know that you didn’t have to listen to me, but you did. So thank you.”
“I don’t really understand why I did,” I tell him honestly. “Jax is the only person who’s ever been able to get through to me when I get like that, but for some reason, I just couldn’t do it. Not without hearing what you had to say first.” I study him for a few beats.
“What?”
“Remember when I told you I sometimes feel something that’s the closest thing to being happy I can feel?”
He nods.
“You’re the only person other than my family I’ve ever felt that with. Did you mean what you said? Did you really tell your mom about me?”
His cheeks flush bright pink. “Yeah.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know,” he huffs out a confused-sounding laugh. “I told her I’m bi—”
“Bi?” I grin at him. “But I thought you were the straightest straight guy to ever straight.”
He backhands me lightly in the chest. “I thought so too, but then this guy I’ve hated for years rocked my world and made me realize that I’m not. Or at least I’m not with him.”
“Only with me?” I ask as a flare of possessive heat moves through me.
He nods, his expression soft and seeking. “You’re the only guy I’ve ever been attracted to, and the only person I’ve ever felt anything for.”
“And you told your mom that?”
“Yup. Well, I told her about a guy, and she figured out it was you because moms are annoyingly intuitive that way.”
I laugh. “They are. I swear my mom is clairvoyant half the time when she puts things together and figures shit out about me.”
“It’s annoying, but what can you do?”
“What about the other thing you said? About how you really feel about me?”
He swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing as his throat works. “That I might love you?”
I nod.
“I think I do.” He pulls in a deep breath. “I think I’ve always known deep down that there’s something real between us, but you were right when you said I didn’t understand what it was, and it confused the fuck out of me. So I lashed out at you because it was easier than acknowledging the truth.”
“Something happened when we were on the mission,” I confess. “When I was checking in on you through the cams while Jax was getting the drive.”
“What?” he asks tentatively.
“I think I was jealous. I saw you dancing with those girls, and I got jealous. The same when you texted me at The Crypt and mentioned all the hot girls.”
“You were jealous?” he asks, almost hopefully.
I nod. “I’ve never been jealous of anything or anyone. Not once in my entire life. I didn’t even think it was possible, but I was. And that night when I brought you home, you asked me to get into bed with you.”
“I did?” His eyes widen with surprise.
“You woke up from a nightmare and grabbed my arm when I went to check on you. You wouldn’t let go until I promised to get into bed with you, so I did.”
I can practically see him holding his breath as he waits for me to continue.
“It was the first time I’ve ever been comfortable having someone in my space.
” I lean back in my chair. “Not just the first time I’ve slept with someone, but the first time I’ve slept in the same room as someone who isn’t family.
And it was one of the best nights’ sleep I’ve ever had.
” I study him again. “I don’t know what that means, but it means something.
And I decided that night that you’re mine,” I tell him.
“You did?” he squeaks.
“I did. And I still think that.”
“You do?”
I nod. “I think I love you too. And I honestly think that’s the only reason I didn’t kill you when I realized you stole my card, and why I let you look through my stuff instead of ending you the second you walked through that door.
And it’s definitely the only reason I hesitated.
A part of me was still here, and that part of me didn’t want to let you go even though I thought you’d betrayed me. ”
“So what does this mean?” he asks, his voice barely above a whisper.
“It means you’re mine, Shane.” I lean forward and grip his chin in my hand to hold him in place. “Do you have an issue with that?”
“No,” he says quickly. “So are we together, or…?”
“We’re together,” I tell him. “And I will obliterate anyone who touches you, do you understand that? No one gets to share any piece of you from this moment onward. You’re mine, and I don’t share.”
He smiles, and the usual spark is back in his eyes. “Good, because I don’t share either. And you’re not the only one who’ll destroy anyone who dares to touch you.”
I grin and let go of his chin. “I like you all jealous.”
“Well, get used to it, because I’m a jealous asshole when it comes to you.”
“And only me?”
“Only you,” he confirms.
Slowly, I lean in, and Shane freezes as I gently press my lips to his in a soft kiss.
He immediately opens for me, and the soft sigh he lets out when I gently brush my tongue over his bottom lip sends a wave of that elusive happiness through me.
Shane is mine, and he will always be mine.
He tilts his head to the side to deepen the kiss, and every soft press of his lips and gentle swipe of his tongue is like coming home, like we were always going to end up here, and like he was made for me.
Kissing has never really been a thing for me.
It was always just something I did and not something I enjoyed.
But with Shane, it’s completely different.
I don’t just like kissing him, I fucking love it, and the possessive bastard in me really loves that I’m the only guy who’ll ever get to have him this way.
Before things can go from sweet and gentle to hot and heavy, I pull back, making sure to give him one more nipping kiss before we break apart.