Chapter 8
Xan
Preston was pacing when I shoved open the door to our apartment, Shane hot on my heels.
When my boyfriend turned to look at me, his cheeks reddened, and rage clouded his vision.
I saw his punch coming a mile away, but I still did nothing to block it.
I let his fist connect with my cheek, and I swallowed the blood that welled in my mouth so he wouldn’t be forced to see it.
He might be angry, but he’d be heartbroken if he knew he made me spill blood.
I hadn’t come home the night before—not that he was aware of anyway.
I’d gone to a fight, which he knew about, but I didn’t let him tend to my wounds or see to my injuries.
I stayed away, still too riled up about Shane’s threats toward him.
I’d calmed down a good bit once Preston called and told me about their conversation, but I still needed to see for myself that Shane truly had no intention of harming Preston, which was why I hadn’t come home and had instead gone to see Shane.
“Why didn’t you answer your phone?” Preston snapped at me, his hands shaking at his sides.
“Why the fuck didn’t you come home last night?
Where were you? I was worried sick that something had happened to you.
That the fucking ear belonged to you.” Tears rushed to his eyes, fucking gutting me, but he didn’t let a single one fall.
“I thought you were lying somewhere, just waiting to die, X.”
I gathered him into my arms, my right hand coming up to cradle the back of Preston’s head. Shane was already inspecting the ear, giving me the time I needed to calm Preston down. After a moment, Shane settled the lid back on the cardboard box and lifted his head, meeting my gaze.
“I’m taking this with me. Going to run some tests to see who it might belong to. In the meantime, keep your head down, eyes low, and ears peeled. And let me know if someone from your inner circle is missing.”
“Wait—” Preston pulled away from me, his red-rimmed eyes locking on Shane.
Shane paused on his mission toward the front door, then slowly turned to face Preston, doing a perfect left face like a well-oiled soldier.
“Where are you going? Why can’t you stay here? What if someone is after you? What if—”
“Preston.” His name falling from Shane’s lips had Preston snapping his jaw shut. The single word was low and warm, but it held the command of a drill sergeant. “I will be fine. I promise. But if it makes you feel any better, I’ll text you when I get home.”
Preston deflated a little, some of the tension bleeding from his shoulders. “You will?”
Shane nodded once, then turned and disappeared out the front door, taking that godforsaken fucking box with him. Stepping back from me, Preston crossed his arms over his chest and glared up at me. “Why didn’t you come home?” he demanded.
I sighed and leaned back against the kitchen counter.
“Too wound up,” I told him gruffly. Which wasn’t a lie.
I’d been hoping a damn good fight would get my anger and need to protect out of my system, but it hadn’t.
It’d dulled it a bit. Made it manageable.
But it hadn’t truly gone anywhere. “I was afraid of hurting you by accident. I wasn’t in a good headspace.
Even my mask was slipping this morning with Shane. ”
Preston’s features softened, and his arms dropped to his sides. “You’d never hurt me, X.”
I shook my head. “We don’t know that. I was losing control. Fucking slipping, baby.” Preston took a step closer. “You’re the one thing in this world I will never risk.”
His hands landed on my biceps. “I know you like to think you’re some kind of monster just because you like beating people up, but you’re not. You know boundaries. You controlled yourself long before you ever met me. I trust you, X. You need to start trusting yourself.”
Gripping his hips, I drew him against me, then leaned down to seal our lips together. He groaned into the kiss, his hand coming up to cup my jaw as the other pushed beneath my shirt. My abs flexed against his smooth palm—the hands of a doctor who loved treating people. The hands of my doctor.
Turning us, I lifted him onto the kitchen counter, then quickly began to untie his sweats.
Getting the memo, he quickly began to undo mine as well, and then, I was wrapping my dry fist around our cocks.
But he didn’t seem to care, already rocking against my length as he panted into my mouth, still trying to kiss me.
“Fuck, I love the sounds you make,” I growled when Preston moaned.
His fingernails dug into my upper arms through the sleeves of my hoodie.
I worked us faster, knowing him so fucking well by now that I knew when he was close to the edge.
When he was ready to give me what I wanted from him.
I was always eager to see Preston come apart for me, whether I was riding his cock, swallowing his length, or my hand was wrapped around his shaft.
Preston was beautiful when he let go and let me give him everything he needed.
“That’s it, baby,” I rasped, leaning back to watch his beautiful face. His lips were parted just the slightest bit, and a light sheen of sweat was already glistening on his skin. “Look at how fucking beautiful you are for me. You gonna come for me, baby? Gonna soak my fist in all that—”
Preston moaned my name, his eyes opening to slits so he could look at me as he came.
My grin was feral, and unable to contain myself, I leaned in to kiss him so deep and punishingly, his lip split open and bled.
I licked up the blood, then pumped three more times into my fist, which was sloppy with his cum, before I came with him.
Cupping his jaw with my clean hand, I tilted his head back to look down at him.
“I need you to know that no matter what the fuck I may have unleashed by my stupid as fuck actions, I will protect you, Preston. No one will fucking touch you. If they even attempt to, I’ll give in to my instincts, and I will slaughter them and lay them at your fucking feet like a trophy. ”
He rested his forehead on my shoulder. I let my hand slide around to cup the back of his head. “Do you think our chance with Shane is ruined?” Preston blurted.
I snorted a laugh. “That’s what you’re worried about, baby? And you’re supposed to be the level-headed one.”
He sighed. “I just want something good to happen. I don’t like all this stress and anxiety.”
I pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “Give it time,” I soothed. “He’s softening toward us. Just… give it time.”
I just hoped I hadn’t fucked everything up and we’d lose all that time I was counting on us having to make Shane ours. I knew Preston wanted him, nearly as much as I did. But what I wanted even more was Preston having Shane to take care of him and protect him as well.
Preston deserved everything good in this world, and I was determined to give it to him.