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Chapter 5

Bailey got home after midnight and dumped the credit cards and the card skimmer on the table. He’d been going to the fancy clubs the way he’d been told for the last month. They weren’t his kind of place, and everyone there knew he didn’t belong. Which made it more difficult to gather the expected six cards, but the men also wanted him to carry around a skimmer the size of a cell phone to collect more data. Getting caught with a few cards was one thing, getting caught with that device was another.

He’d done his own research and figured that since he’d been given a list of clubs, they must also have a camera somewhere to record the pin. So either the club was owned by the men, or there was a crooked employee. Either way, he was tangled up in more than a little theft.

Several times he’d considered walking into a police station and handing over the device. But if he did, he’d take the fall and Gran would be punished.

As usual Gran sat up and waited, not out of concern for him but to make sure he wasn’t carrying any secret cash on him. “I’m having a shower.”

“They’ll be happy you are obeying.”

“Whatever.” He didn’t want to chat, he wanted to get naked and take the edge off the hunger consuming him. He needed to get laid.

“And the cash?” She put her hand out the way she had been since taking the cash from his room.

At first, he’d handed over a few notes to shut her up. This week he didn’t even bother. He shrugged, then turned out his pockets and flipped open his carefully empty wallet. “If I can’t keep it, I don’t take it.”

The lie came easily. He’d collected his birth certificate last week and had opened a bank account the same day. No statements, just the app on his phone, hidden in a folder with games. When he finished working each night, he deposited most of the money in the ATM. It wasn’t hard, and his bank account was no longer empty.

The rest of the cash was rolled up in his jocks—he didn’t want to put too much in the bank in case someone got suspicious, nor did he want to leave himself strapped in case he needed it.

She snarled. “Why do you have to be so difficult?”

“Why do you have to turn me into a career criminal? Mum would hate this if she was alive.”

“She understood how things had to be.”

“Did she? Or did she push back and one thug took things too far?”

Gran gasped like he’d hit her. “It wasn’t like that.”

“Really, then how did she die? Where is her grave? The photos?” He shook his head and stepped back. His mother had never existed on paper. She’d vanished, and no one knew or cared. But he existed now. He couldn’t vanish.

He grabbed his pajamas from his bedroom and went into the bathroom. He locked the door, knowing he’d have only a few minutes of peace before she yelled at him to get out of the shower. With the water running, he peeled off the clothing that had been delivered with the card skimmer. It was only then that the agitation and fear receded to an annoying nibble.

When he got super wound up, calm washed through the bond, like Kass was running his hand down his back. It was wrong, but he liked it. When tension thrummed from Kass’s end, Bailey returned the favor. But he was aware that everything they did altered the bond.

With the water hammering on his skin and drowning out all other thoughts and noise, he let his thoughts drift to Kass the way they had all night. There’d been a tension in the bond, a hunger, and Bailey willingly gave into the lust. He stroked himself and imagined that Kass was with him in the tiny shower, on his knees sucking his dick.

The desire was mirrored in his blood. Was that his heartbeat or an echo of Kass’s?

He didn’t care, because he was drowning in lust and it felt good. Like hands were on him. Was Kass wanking too?

He bit his lip to keep from groaning as his little fantasy turned. He was no longer in control and he didn’t care. Kass fucked him up against the cold shower tiles. He felt the slap of skin on skin and the sensation of being filled. He came hard, smothering the moan with his other hand.

He leaned against the wall, the water drumming on his back, trying to catch his breath. That was…intense. Another tremble of desire rolled through him. Kass’s climax.

He grinned until he realized Kass might have been fucking someone else.

He wanted to be the one Kass fucked.

They were already ass deep in this mating thing. Why not go all in? He’d taste him, kiss him, and lick him. He didn’t care what Kass preferred, he’d do whatever. He just needed him the same way he needed air.

The bond quivered and sighed. And with his eyes closed, it was easy to believe that he wasn’t alone. While the bond grew with every passing day, what he sensed changed too. Not only emotions, but flashes of images. At first, he’d thought he was imagining things. Now he was sure that they were all real.

He turned off the taps with a shaky hand and dried off, then pulled on his pajamas. His hair hung in limp blond tendrils around his face. There was about an inch of dark roots. He would have to sort that out, and finish his homework, tomorrow. He was almost done. A few more weeks, then there’d only be study and exams to go.

One week and he’d be eighteen.