Chapter 8 Oxley
OXLEY
I chew the inside of my lip while I arrange my thoughts. I’m not sure he’s going to appreciate my response. “They were too far away,” I say.
I’m carefully watching his face. His eyebrows raise, creating lines on his forehead. “Where are they?”
“In the hall closet,” I say. “By the front door.”
The surprise is cute. “That’s… why?”
“The only time I use them is when I’m not home. I don’t bring anyone home. Ever. So…” I shrug. “I have no use for them in here. And I didn’t want to go get one because I was afraid you’d change your mind.”
I’ve grown up perplexed by facial expressions. I’ve learned to live with rarely knowing or understanding how to read what another person is feeling. But right now, I’d give anything for a little insight.
“Come here,” Huntley says. I climb onto the bed, mindful of his leg. He reaches for me and pulls me down onto his chest. I’m stiff because I’m not sure what he needs right now, but I can’t help pressing my face into his skin and just breathing him in.
“I’m not changing my mind,” he says quietly.
“I want to keep you,” I blurt and then wince. Fucksake, Oxley!
“What does that mean?” Huntley asks.
I swallow the doubt that’s lodged in my throat like a golf ball and force myself to shift over him. I rest my forearms on either side of his head so I’m looking down at him, and I can see his entire face clearly. Not that it’ll help.
“I want to keep you,” I repeat. “Here with me. To take care of you and give you things. I want to lose myself in your body and make you feel good. I want to see you smile and know I put it there. I want you to be mine. But… I want you to want that, too.”
He searches my face as he chews his lip. “You don’t really know me,” he says quietly. “How are you so sure that’s what you want? You might hate me next week or next year.”
“I think I knew when I first saw you,” I say. “And it’s more likely that you’ll hate me. I’ve been told I’m very difficult to be around for long periods.”
The way his face scrunches tells me he’s either upset about something or… confused. “Come here,” Huntley whispers and pulls my face to his. His lips are soft when they touch mine. “I have a feeling I’m going to hate learning how people have treated you,” he says.
His words make my heart dance. “Can I keep you?” I whisper.
Huntley nods. “Yes, but… Ox, we don’t really know each other.”
I wrap my arms under him, pressing my face into his neck. “Oxley. Not true. My soul knows yours.”
His heart beats faster as his arms tighten around me. One of his legs—his uninjured one—hooks over mine as if he’s trying to pull me closer.
Once again, my phone interrupts us. I’m still not sure how he feels about the no condom thing or how he’d like me to clean the rest of him. Huntley still has my cum and lube in his ass.
With a sigh, I rise off Huntley and fish for my phone that’s sunk within the blankets. This isn’t going to be a pleasant call.
“Hello?”
“Where the fuck are you?”
I frown. “Home.”
“Then why am I taking over your fucking squads? Don’t you think I have my own shit to do?”
“I didn’t ask you to take over my squads. Nori would do a better job anyway.”
I can feel Kairo bristle. That might have been the wrong thing to say since I know how he’s going to take it, and it’s not how I meant it.
“Fuck you, Oxley.”
“Nori knows my squads,” I explain, too late since I’ve already further pissed him off. “She should be taking charge of them. And she’s local.”
“Well, big brother seems to think I need to leave my squads to handle yours. If you’re home, what are you doing? Are you sick?”
“No.”
He waits, but I don’t give him any more than that.
“Then get your ass back to work.”
“No.”
“What’s your fucking problem? You insisted you wanted Anaheim, so do your fucking part, asshole.”
“I’ll speak to Arath. I don’t want you near my squads.” I hang up before he can respond. My phone rings almost as soon as I drop it onto my bed. Since I know Kairo won’t stop calling, I block his number and then call Arath.
“That was a mistake,” I tell him.
“What was?” he asks.
“Asking Kairo to take over my squads. I’ve had to block his number.”
Arath sighs. “I’m sorry. I made it clear he should leave you alone.”
I roll my eyes. “Because you telling him that has worked well in the past.”
He chuckles. “What do you want to do, Oxley?”
“Nori. She’ll be thrilled.”
“We’re going to have bodies to deal with,” Arath says warily.
“Probably best.”
“I’ll talk to Nori. And Kairo. Keep him blocked for a while.” He pauses. “How’s your injured?”
I look at Huntley. He’s watching me intently. “Well. Healing.”
“Good to hear. Keep me posted.”
The call ends, and I drop the phone for the third time. I hate talking to Kairo. We’ve just never gotten along. I’m too different from him, and we never see eye to eye.
“Are you okay?” Huntley asks.
“Yep. Everyone has one asshole brother, right?” That’s what I’ve always told myself.
“I could hear him yelling,” he says. He reaches for my shirt and pulls me back down to his chest. I press my face to his skin again, inhaling everything that is Huntley Fowler. “He shouldn’t speak to you like that. Why was he so mad?”
“My brothers and I—along with some cousins and friends—are trying to clean up the most crime-ridden cities. Kairo is in Chicago. Anaheim is my city. I told Arath—our older brother, who takes care of Philadelphia and runs this division of Van Doren—that I was going to sit out for a while to take care of you. He called Kairo to handle my squads for a while. Of course, he takes it like a personal attack and I’m getting special treatment. ”
Huntley’s quiet for a minute, his fingers gently moving through my hair. It’s rhythmic and so soothing, I could probably fall asleep like this.
“Does Anaheim need more attention than Chicago?” he asks.
“Yes, and no. In the last year, Anaheim’s hate crimes have skyrocketed. I’m really working toward getting it under control before it turns into mass ugliness.”
“Do you follow hockey?”
I’m surprised at his question and sudden change in topic. “No.”
“Me neither.” Okay, that makes this change even stranger. “Are you familiar with Adak Nemaczekk?”
“His situation last year is the reason for the sudden spike,” I confirm. “Well, not his, but the father of the man he’s dating.”
“Oren. Earlier today, Oren called me. He’s one of my best friends. They left Anaheim because of this.”
Ah, I see the connection now. “Yes. Jessup put a huge target on his son’s head without understanding the consequences of his actions.”
“He really didn’t. He thought he could bully Oren to get him home and back under his control by giving the anti-LGBTQ assholes ammunition, and it would be the end of it.
In reality, if he’d gotten his way and Oren had gone back, the target would have just followed him there.
I’m glad Jessup’s dead, but wish he could die again for the mess he’s caused. ”
“Sometimes a single death isn’t enough closure,” I agree. “And it doesn’t erase the problem they left behind.”
“It doesn’t,” he says. “What are you going to do about your brother?”
“Arath will take care of it. I’ve blocked him for now. He’s always been an ass.”
Huntley’s arms tighten. “Why?”
I shrug. “I’m different. He doesn’t understand and can’t relate to my ‘quirks.’ He has no patience for them, and I refuse to bend the way he’s always tried to get me to.”
“Good,” Huntley says. “Don’t bend. Just be authentically Oxley Van Doren.”
A smile climbs my face, and once again, I press my nose to his skin. “So… I can keep you? You want me to keep you?”
The way my heart races has my breathing stilted.
“I do,” he says. “It’s crazy, you know. We really don’t know each other.”
“We do,” I disagree, pressing my lips over his heart. “You already know more of me than most people ever do.”
Huntley sighs.
“And… are you angry about no condom? You can be. You have every right to be. I didn’t even ask.” My stomach twists with this knowledge. Of all the times for the obsessions in me to slacken, that was probably one of the worst.
“I should be, yeah. But…” He shrugs. “I don’t know. We’ll get tested and… yeah.”
“I can have Mark do it the next time he’s here. In a few days, when he takes out your sutures.”
“Great. He’s already seen me covered in cum, so it can’t possibly get any more embarrassing.”
I press an open-mouth kiss to his chest and enjoy the way he shivers. “From now on, I’ll always ask,” I say. “I’m truly sorry I already tested your trust in me. I’ll never stop working to earn it back, Huntley.”
“Ox,” he says and presses a kiss to the top of my head.
“Oxley,” I say.
He chuckles. And there we lay for the rest of the day. Sometimes talking. Sometimes kissing or touching. The only thing I can think in those quiet moments is, ‘This man is mine. I get to keep him.’ And my heart feels lighter than it ever has before.