Chapter 15
Shane
I lifted my coffee mug to my lips, tracking X as he made his way out of the bathroom.
He was shirtless, only a pair of sweatpants slung low on his hips covering his lower half, and I was ninety-nine percent sure he wasn’t wearing anything beneath them if the swing of his cock behind the soft-looking cotton material was anything to go by.
Feeling my eyes on him, X turned to look at me and smirked. Shifting his direction, he made his way to where I was sitting on the couch and sat on the other end before turning to face me, drawing one leg up on the soft cushion.
“See something you like?” he drawled, draping his arm over the back of the couch.
I just hummed noncommittally. I’d already confessed to both he and Preston that I was into them, and that alone should have told them I was done fighting whatever they had planned. Somewhere along the way, I’d come to actually care about them in more than a way of just keeping them alive.
Something must have been in the air because it couldn’t be a coincidence that I also ended up in a throuple. Jaxon’s son had ended up in one, then Jaxon had a few years later, and now here I was… also entering a throuple.
Fate sure could be funny that way.
X leaned into my space, his dark eyes like melted dark chocolate when they met mine.
They were pooled with liquid heat, and my gut clenched.
I’d held myself in check for years—no dating, no sex—but I knew if he touched me, I might combust. Wanting someone like this was pure fucking insanity, but clearly, I’d already lost my mind if I was giving in to him.
“Playing hard to get?” he questioned, his voice low.
I just arched a brow at him, not giving into his game.
He gave a soft laugh and leaned back once more, leaving my space.
I cocked my head, studying him. Wasn’t like him to back off.
He liked to push and push and then push some more until he got his way—at least, in my experience.
My research on him had resulted in minimal results otherwise.
Whoever he’d had protecting him digitally—before they got wiped out, that was—knew what they’d been doing.
They’d left just enough so he could be identified or get approved for a credit line, but otherwise, X was a ghost. No parents listed—a fire-station baby, according to his background check.
Went foster home to foster home for years.
I could see he had a GED, so he didn’t graduate high school, and he never went to college.
But beyond literally the very basics, there was nothing else on him.
“How do you know my real name?” he finally asked, breaking the silence. “I kept that hidden. Don’t like it.”
“Background check,” I said simply.
He snorted. I took another sip of my coffee. “Finally caved and got curious?”
I shrugged one shoulder in answer. I had but that was because I needed something on him besides Preston, who I really didn’t want to ever use against him again, especially now that I cared so much for the young man, too.
He shook his head, then pushed up from the couch. “Just don’t use my name again, yeah?”
I studied him for a moment, taking in the tense set of his shoulders.
Nothing else gave away that his name screwed with him.
Instead of pushing his boundaries like he tended to push mine, I just dipped my chin.
“Understood.” He turned to look at me in surprise.
“See how I’m respecting your boundaries, X? You should try the same.”
Rolling his eyes, he snorted and leaned down, bringing our faces mere inches apart. “And miss out on the way it twists you all around and has you caving to us and what we want more and more, Ghost? No fucking way.”
With that, he straightened and turned, heading for his bedroom.
Preston hadn’t emerged since we brought him home, and X told me he was just resting and not to worry about him too much.
Said it wasn’t often he had panic attacks, but when he did, they just took everything out of him.
Made sense considering all the stress he’d been under because of this asshole who was going after X.
X and I could handle this kind of shit, but Preston was sweet and warm.
Innocent. He healed people, for fuck’s sake.
And now, solely because he loved a sociopath, he was being targeted by a murderer.
“Goodnight,” I called.
X glanced at me over his shoulder. “Goodnight, Ghost.” And with that, he disappeared down the hall, leaving me alone once more.
I glanced at my phone, then toward their bedroom. I’d give it time, then I was leaving. I’d gotten a ping earlier from my contact who had gotten out around the same time I did, letting me know he’d tracked a burner phone this person might be using. And I planned to go check it out.
If I could get my hands on them tonight, too, I’d do that for fucking sure. Solve the problem, keeping Preston and X safe without this asshole ever touching either of them. They’d already been too close to Preston for my fucking tastes, and they’d disrupted his life.
And to keep X from doing something stupid and reckless, I needed to take care of this on my own.
Because X wouldn’t watch his back, keep a level head on his shoulders, and make sure he wasn’t caught when taking this person out.
His overprotectiveness of Preston would be his driving force, and that was dangerous in a situation like this when there were no government employees at his fingertips to make any incriminating evidence disappear.
I finished off my coffee, then took the mug to the kitchen.
After rinsing it out, I stuck it in the dishwasher, then turned off all the lights on my way back to the couch.
I laid back and got comfortable. X would sense me leaving if I left too soon, so I had a while before I could slip out.
So, I’d catch a couple hours of shut eye, and then, I’d attempt to find this mother fucker and show him what happened when they fucked with what was mine.
And Preston and X? They one-hundred percent belonged to me. They’d created this protective monster, and now, they—and the rest of the world—had to deal with it.