Chapter 16
Preston
X was passed out beside me on his back, one arm tucked beneath his head, the other draped over his abs.
The blanket had been mostly kicked off, revealing his black, silky boxer briefs, which meant he’d gotten hot at some point and had rolled away from me to cool off.
It was a nightly occurrence. X got hot easily, but he always eventually rolled back over and curled his body back around mine.
As if he were afraid I’d somehow disappear in the middle of the night and he’d never find me again.
I was low-key obsessed with how possessive he was of me. I should’ve seen it as a red flag, and I definitely should not have been enabling his behavior, but sue me. I loved being wanted. And X? He wanted me like it was a visceral need.
Easing out of bed, I padded barefoot to the bedroom door and eased it open so I wouldn’t wake X, then headed toward the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. Like it was second nature, my eyes trailed to the couch so I could take Shane in when he was at his most relaxed—
He wasn’t there.
I came to an abrupt halt, a frown tugging at my lips.
The blanket he normally used was folded and laying exactly where I’d put it a few hours ago before crawling into bed the rest of the day and sleeping.
A glance at the side table, where he usually kept his phone, showed it was also missing, the cord rolled up and sitting exactly where he’d left it before heading into work the day before.
A glance at the clock on the wall, which I’d only ever truly used for decoration before, showed it was after two in the morning.
Had he… left? But if he truly left—like left-left—I didn’t think he was the type to leave his phone cord behind. Shane wasn’t irresponsible like that. So, where the fuck was he, and what the fuck would need his attention at two in the goddamn morning?
Had he found something out about whoever was after X and me and gone to take care of it by himself?
That seemed the most likely scenario, and it had my stomach twisting uncomfortably with worry and concern.
Nausea rose up my esophagus. What if something happened to him?
How were we meant to find him? And if something happened to him and he went missing too—just disappeared like the tech guy X had always used—how would we ever be meant to find him?
Sure, we could call the police, but then, that brought on a slew of other questions—questions that would be difficult to answer without sending my boyfriend to prison for illegal underground fighting, gambling—from betting on fights—and keeping information from law enforcement about literal fugitives—his tech guy having been one of them.
“Preston?” X’s sleep-coated voice jerked me out of my thoughts. I spun around to face him. He was standing right behind me, his brows furrowed low over his dark eyes. “What are you doing up, baby?”
“I wanted water, but Shane is gone.”
X frowned, then peered around me to the couch.
He clenched his jaw for a moment, then forced it to loosen.
Sighing, he gripped the back of my neck and pulled me into him.
His other arm circled around my back, pressing me tight against his hard, muscular body.
I burrowed my face in the curve of his neck, inhaling his scent—something woodsy and earthy, just like always—and let it settle me some and rid me of the nausea damn near choking me.
“Whatever he’s doing and wherever he’s at, baby, I know he’s okay, you hear me?
” X massaged the muscles in the back of my neck, and I barely bit back a groan because why did that feel so good?
“Shane is smart, and he’s safe. He’s not reckless—not like me.
” I snorted a weak laugh. “Take a deep breath. We’ll wait up for him, okay?
I bet it won’t even be long before he walks through the front door.
If he waited until we were both asleep to leave, he never intended for us to find out he left until he wanted us to know he’d done so, which means he won’t be gone long. ”
I nodded my head. X curled his fingers into my hair, then tugged my head back to plant a soft kiss on my lips.
I sighed, sinking into him, letting him deepen it and wipe my fears from my mind for a moment, since it was hard to think when he was kissing me.
Still, as he finally led me to the couch where Shane should have been asleep, those fears swamped me again.
But instead of vocalizing them, I remained quiet, watching as X grabbed me a bottle of water from the kitchen.
He sat beside me, then handed me the water. Once I’d gulped some of it down, X curled his arm around my shoulders and tugged me into his side. “Come here,” he murmured. Once I was nestled against his side, he pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “He’ll be home soon, baby.”
I nodded, trying my best to believe him, to be as confident as X seemed to feel.
X rubbed his fingertips up and down my arm, soothing me.
Things hadn’t always been so easy between us.
X was always so detached from his emotions that he struggled to comprehend mine when I had them.
But X’s obsession had led him to care about making me happy.
He’d studied me, learning my tics, memorizing my body language, and figuring out what I needed in certain situations.
And I was the only person who got this side of him.
Even Shane didn’t seem to, but I firmly believed he and Shane would operate on an entirely different wavelength than X and I did, and I was okay with that.
Shane was one-hundred percent dominant. There was no way Shane would ever bow down to X like I did.
But I had a feeling he’d make X kneel before him.
Even now, when absolutely nothing had happened between the two of them yet, X listened to Shane.
Shane could bring X to heel with just one disapproving look.
Once Shane one-hundred percent gave into us, I knew everything would be perfect. The three of us were literally made for each other.
And when Shane finally brought his ass home, when I finally I knew he was truly safe, I intended to make some changes.
I was done waiting on Shane to make more moves on his own time.
Maybe that made me no different than X, but at that point, I no longer cared.
If something happened to Shane because he wanted to do stupid, reckless shit like go out on his own in the middle of the night, then I wanted no regrets and no time wasted.