Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Corvus
Kreed and Hudson were on the couch when I stepped through the front door, and at my appearance, they both turned to look at me expectantly.
I rolled my eyes, feigning annoyance, but my heart warmed, knowing they’d stayed up to wait on me.
Kreed, while he was my best friend’s fiancé, was like a father to me.
He’d been more of a parent to me than my own parents had ever been, even going as far as giving me a permanent room in his house and access to one of his credit cards, though I never touched it.
Which was why he usually sent Hudson to pay for anything expensive, like my car repairs, if something came up. Kreed was a billionaire, and while he was still careful about his expenses, he wanted to make life as easy as possible for me and Hudson.
But I was sure Hudson could go buy a yacht and Kreed would just sigh affectionately at him. They were so in love with each other it made me want to gag sometimes. But I was happy for my best friend. After everything he’d been through, he deserved this.
“So…” Hudson drawled, arching an expectant brow at me.
“So what?” I asked, playing stupid on purpose. One, I wasn’t sure if I was ready to share anything about my date. I wanted to be oddly selfish and keep it—keep them—all to myself. Two, I couldn’t resist being a pain in Hudson’s ass. I knew his curiosity was damn near killing him.
“Don’t play stupid,” Hudson said, annoyed already. Kreed shot him a look full of warning, which Hudson, of course, ignored. There was no taming Hudson’s inner bitch. “How’d the date go? Will there be another? Were they good to you? Because if not, I’m going to—”
“Hudson,” Kreed snapped, his voice full of affection but also firm enough to shut Hudson up.
“What?” Hudson pouted. I groaned, pushed the back of Hudson’s head as I walked past the back of the couch, and then dropped into the recliner, toeing off my shoes once I was seated.
“You’re being a brat. Chill out. Let him have a moment to breathe and decompress before you try jumping down his throat and jumping to conclusions,” Kreed reprimanded.
Hudson scoffed. “No,” he said, making Kreed roll his eyes. He looked at me. “Well, you didn’t come in smiling, so you didn’t get laid.”
I grunted. “No, Hudson, I did not get fucking laid. They made it clear we wouldn’t be fucking on the first date.”
“On the first date…” Kreed mused, interest sparking in his brown eyes.
I huffed. Deep down, he was no better than his fiancé.
“So, there will be another date?” he asked.
I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest, feeling oddly vulnerable.
Sometimes, I hated that Kreed paid so much attention, especially now that he knew almost everything Hudson and I had hidden from him.
Hudson and I had really shitty childhoods, and while Kreed had known everything hadn’t been sunshine and rainbows, he hadn’t known just how fucking depraved Hudson’s mother had been.
Kreed knew some of what I’d gone through, but I was still keeping a lot of it close to my chest. And Hudson was keeping his mouth shut for me, too—at least, on the stuff he knew. Because I hid a lot from him, too.
But that didn’t stop Kreed from somehow trying to save me, hence living here instead of home now that I’d graduated from college and him giving me one of his credit cards and a car.
There was no fucking way I could’ve ever afforded that BMW I drove, but Kreed had given it to me as a graduation present, and Hudson had threatened to make me choke on my own dick if I denied the stupidly expensive gift.
“Yes, there will be another date,” I mumbled.
Hudson’s eyes widened. “You don’t do second dates, bro.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, feeling defensive.
“I fucking know,” I snapped.
Kreed gripped Hudson’s thigh—a warning he was pushing me too much. Bless Kreed. There was no reining in Hudson, but he continuously tried.
“Don’t get your panties in a wad,” Hudson retorted. “I’m just confused. You act funny around them, and now, there’s a second date. I’m having trouble understanding.”
We are Doms, chibi. Specifically Mommy and Daddy Doms.
How did I explain to my best friend, who was one hundred percent an alpha male, that I’d always craved letting someone else take care of me?
That I wanted someone to protect me from this fucked-up world?
How did I tell him I somehow recognized the dominant nature of Michelle and Kip and my mind had automatically seemed to submit to that?
How did I explain to Hudson that they wanted to be my Mommy and Daddy and that I wanted that?
“Hey. Where’d you go?” Kreed asked, frowning at me while I blinked at him.
I scrubbed my hands down my face and pushed up from the recliner.
“I’m tired. I think I’m going to go on to bed,” I said, already heading for the staircase.
“Corvus…”
I paused, my hand on the staircase railing as I waited for Hudson to say whatever it was he wanted to say.
“I’m not sure what’s going on, and I don’t like not knowing, especially when it comes to you.”
My chest tightened, and I swallowed past the sudden lump in my throat.
“But when you’re ready to talk about it, I’m here. I’ll wait, okay? I’m… sorry for pushing too much. Just… I’m happy for you, bro. I am. And whatever your happiness looks like, I’m okay with that, too. I won’t ever judge you for it.”
My throat was too tight to speak, so I just nodded and quickly ascended the staircase.
As soon as I was in my room, I dropped onto my bed, not even bothering to strip out of my clothes and put on something more comfortable first. I was just too tired and too raw, and I wanted a few fucking minutes to decompress alone.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. Groaning, I grabbed it out and turned my head to the side, so I could see whatever notification it was.
My heart slammed against my chest bone when I saw Michelle’s message in the group chat I’d apparently been added to.
Michelle:
We’re glad you made it home safely, bub. Get some rest. And if you’re up to it, come have lunch with us tomorrow. We can talk more. But no pressure if it’s too soon. We’ll understand.
Beneath that, she’d attached their address. Instead of responding because I just couldn’t deal with anything else tonight when my head was spinning so goddamn much, I locked my phone and tossed it aside, then buried my face against the mattress.
My phone vibrated again, this time not stopping. Muttering a curse, I picked it up—
My heart dropped straight out of my chest, through the bed, and all the way down to the first floor of the house. I swore I heard it plop wetly onto the floor. My ears rang loudly, drowning out every other sound.
They hadn’t reached out in months. Not since I saw them during Thanksgiving break and my entire break almost went to fucking shit—and not because of what happened to Hudson. In fact, I’d barely managed to get out of their house in time to save Hudson.
Even Hudson didn’t know what’d happened the day I’d gone to see my parents when they’d called. No one knew but them and whoever else had shown up while I’d been unconscious.
When I didn’t answer, they just called back.
And called back again. I could’ve turned my phone off.
I should have just blocked the number. But instead, I just let it ring and ring and ring until they eventually got the memo.
Then, I pushed myself off the bed, grabbed the pre-rolled off my nightstand, and headed downstairs.
I found a bottle of Kreed’s expensive liquor in the kitchen, snatched it up, and headed for my car, not even bothering with shoes.
I wanted to get fucking wasted and stop thinking. I was so tired of thinking.