Chapter 29 #2
“I’m not having this argument,” Dominic cut in. “I know you don’t want me there. I don’t care. I’m coming up to check.”
Knox held his gaze, conflict moving behind his eyes. “Fine,” he muttered, and got out.
The stairwell was narrow and dim. Their footsteps echoed as they climbed, the sound too loud in the space between them. Knox was a step ahead, muscles tight, movements careful, like he was trying to make himself smaller.
Dominic followed without speaking, his temper still sitting too close to the surface to trust his own mouth. His focus locked on Knox’s back, on the tension sitting in his shoulders.
He hated it.
It came off him in waves—that reluctance, like whatever was behind that door was enough to strip him down to something quieter and more careful and considerably less him.
At the bar, Knox had been bold, stepping in without hesitation and looking at Dominic like he knew exactly what he was doing. That version of him was gone now, and it pissed Dominic off.
By the time they reached the landing, he was done with it. Knox barely had his keys out before Dominic stepped forward. He closed the distance and slammed him back against the wall beside the door. The impact knocked the breath out of him, keys slipping from his hand and clattering to the floor.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Dominic snapped. His hand locked on Knox’s arm, holding him there. “You wanted me to take you home so bad. Couldn’t stand me leaving with someone else.”
Knox’s head jerked, his breath uneven. “That’s not—”
“Yeah it is.” He pushed closer instead of backing off, angrier now. “You needed my attention that badly. Couldn’t just sit there and let it happen. So you stepped in. Made sure I walked out with you instead.” His grip tightened. “And now what? Now you don’t speak? Now you disappear into yourself?”
Knox’s jaw tightened, the fire fighting its way back behind his eyes.
Good.
Dominic pushed harder.
“Where’s the brat from the bar?” he said, voice dropping, meaner now. “The one who couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Who needed me to dump the pretty girl just so he could have—what?” His gaze dragged over him, unimpressed. “This? You’re pathetic like this.”
Knox snapped.
“Fuck you.” His voice was alive again, hand coming up to shove at Dominic’s chest even though he didn’t move him. “I didn’t force you to do anything. You made that choice. Don’t put it on me.”
There.
Better.
Dominic leaned in, crowding him, his hand sliding up without thinking until it closed around Knox’s throat. “Yeah,” he said, gaze locking on Knox’s. “There you are.”
Knox’s breathing hitched, but he didn’t pull back. He leaned into it, eyes lit with that same fire from the bar.
Dominic’s grip tightened slightly. “Don’t do that again,” he said. “Don’t make yourself smaller for anyone.”
Knox’s lips parted—about to argue, to push back again—but Dominic didn’t give him the chance. He closed the distance in a single movement. His mouth crashed into Knox’s, all the leftover anger bleeding straight into the kiss.
For a second, Knox didn’t respond. Then he did. Just as angry.
Knox’s fist closed in Dominic’s shirt and dragged him closer. There was nothing hesitant left in him—nothing careful or contained—and that was all Dominic needed.
The kiss was heat and fury and everything that had been building since the bar. Since Knox had sat there with that stubborn look in his eyes, his foot curled around Dominic’s ankle, and ruined everything.
Dominic’s grip at Knox’s throat didn’t loosen. He used it to hold him exactly where he wanted, angling his head, kissing him harder. He broke the kiss just enough to look at him, faces close, breath ragged. His thumb shifted against Knox’s pulse. “That’s better.”
Knox’s eyes flashed. Chest rising too fast. “You’re an asshole.”
Dominic almost smiled. “Yeah. You needed it.”
Knox’s expression turned lethal. “I didn’t need anyth—”
Dominic kissed him again, and this time it didn’t feel like a choice.
The kiss was slower now. It dragged and lingered, like he was forcing Knox to feel every second of it. Like he was forcing himself to. His mouth moved against Knox’s without hurry, without restraint, until it stopped feeling like a kiss and started feeling like more than he could afford.
Knox melted into it. Pressed closer. His hands weren’t steady. They kept moving over Dominic, dragging him in like there was still distance left to close.
He should stop.
The thought came and went.
He let it turn consuming instead. The kiss had stopped being something he could control. It deepened on its own, intimate in a way that felt too real. Knox whimpered against his mouth and it hit Dominic harder than anything else had all night.
Fuck.
Knox clutched at him, taking everything Dominic gave and asking for more without words. Knox’s hands slid down, gripping Dominic’s ass and pulling him in. Their hips slammed together with a raw, aching urgency. A ragged moan tore free between their mouths.
Dominic took back control. He ground into him in a relentless rhythm, the hard press of him dragging against Knox’s cock until sparks burst behind his eyelids. Knox let out a stream of broken sounds—each one sinking straight into Dominic’s core and pulling an answering groan from his throat.
They weren’t kissing anymore. Just sharing the same desperate air, foreheads pressed together, bodies shuddering. The intensity edged on unbearable. It wasn’t just heat anymore; it was gravity. The kind that shifted orbits. The kind Dominic felt in his bones.
I’m in too deep.
He tore his mouth away like the contact burned. He stumbled back—too fast, graceless in a way he never was—putting distance between them like it was the only defense he had left.
Because if he didn’t stop now, he wouldn’t stop at all. Not until he owned every last piece of Knox Wolfe.