Page 16 of Absolutely Pucked (Punk as Puck #3)

CHAPTER

TEN

KILLIAN

Staring up at the ceiling in the guest room, I couldn’t help but wonder who had slept in this bed. Had Tucker? His new…I didn’t know what he was. The man I’d glimpsed with the messy hair and shy smile. Boyfriend, maybe?

It felt weird living on the periphery of my brother’s life and not having the courage to step all the way into his line of sight. It felt weird he’d created this whole entire existence and I wasn’t part of it.

The deal was, we were twins. We were meant to be two halves of a whole—as cheesy as that sounded. Before things went to shit, before our parents got weird and he got resentful and hate set in, we had been. It was ridiculous, but it was true. I always knew when he was hurt, or scared, or even happy.

Every feeling we had seemed to be infectious.

And I’d wondered, from time to time, if that was why my parents started pitting us against each other. Maybe they were more comfortable with us being rivals than being each other’s support. I wish I’d seen it earlier. Tucker had started resenting me young, but maybe we could have fixed it.

Maybe it could have been different.

God, maybe?—

“Knock knock.”

I sat up and stared at the door before I realized Ford was actually going to wait for an invite to come in. “Yeah. I’m decent.”

“Pity,” Ford said as he opened the door.

He hopped, and I was confused for only long enough to realize he was not wearing his prosthetic.

I hadn’t expected it. I’d seen him with it off, obviously.

I’d felt the weight of his residual limb in my palm and against my hip when my dick had been buried in his ass, but…

No. Nope.

Nuh-uh. I was not going to go down that road.

Clearing my throat, I sat up and made sure the blankets were in a thick pile on my lap so he couldn’t see even a hint of my half chub. He glanced down at me anyway, and my ears burned as I shifted and cleared my throat.

“Coffee.”

I blinked at him.

Ford rolled his eyes, then waved a mug in front of my face, and I realized he was offering it to me. That was…new. And different. Even something as small as this wasn’t familiar. Delia would have rather taken a hot poker to the eye than do me any favors.

God, I’d been such a fucking fool.

“Thanks,” I rasped. My voice was still a little off from sitting out in the freezing rain all afternoon .

Ford carefully hopped toward the bed, not spilling a drop as he offered the mug to me. It was warm against my palms, soothing in ways I didn’t expect. I watched him watch me take a sip, and for a moment, I wondered if it was a prank.

Maybe he’d dipped his balls in it or put a big glob of spit in the foam. A little fuck-you for the sake of my brother.

I drank it anyway.

Instead of looking pleased, he looked relieved and sighed before dropping to the edge of my bed. “Sorry to get all up in your shit,” he said.

“No, it’s fine. I—” My words were cut off when the fluffy cat came bolting in, leapt onto the covers, and made a little nest for herself in my lap. It was startling but sweet, and I gave her a quick pet, which set off her jackhammer-level purrs.

“God, she loves you. She normally has great taste in people.”

I nodded, scratching between her ears. “I’m not all bad, you know.”

Ford was quiet for a beat, then said, “I do.”

My chest warmed at the memory. “Um. Anyway, so…”

“Interview.”

I looked up at him, confused.

He rolled his eyes again. “You have an interview at one o’clock. And if my boss likes you, he’ll probably start you tonight.”

“Oh. Um.” That was unexpected, but not unwelcome. “Thanks.”

He nodded. “I’ll drop you off on my way to the rink. I have practice, then the closing shift, so I’ll be in around six. Think you can find your own way home? I really don’t want to be up at ass o’clock.”

“I can handle it,” I told him. I’d walk. It was no big deal.

Ford drummed his fingers on the bed for a second. “Look, we should try to find your car.”

I shook my head so hard I nearly spilled the coffee. “I don’t want to involve cops, okay?”

“I’m not a fan of them, but like, that’s kind of what they’re there for. To find your missing shit. And dude, it’s a fucking car . It’s not like you misplaced a watch.”

My throat felt thick as I swallowed. He was right. Someone had stolen my car, and it was going to look weird if I just let it go. Also, my insurance would be super confused if the VIN popped up somewhere this far away from California. Christ, what a mess.

“Yeah. I know I’m being weird, and I swear I’ll make the report.”

Ford nodded, then flopped on his side and stretched his hand toward the nightstand, snagging my phone with his long fingers. He tossed it on my lap beside Nugget and then stared at me expectantly. “Now’s better than never.”

I took a breath, picked up the phone, then froze. I’d put it on silent, so I hadn’t heard any of the texts that came through. One from Delia and two from what I was going to assume was Daniel’s other burner.

The first, from her, was a photo of my car on a tow truck. And of her hand flipping it off. I didn’t recognize the background, but it was all flat land, like she was somewhere in the Midwest. Did that mean she’d been here? Or that she knew where I was?

Fuck.

Delia: Missing something? LOL.

Unknown: I know what she did.

Unknown: Leave it alone and I’ll free up a little extra cash.

My hands were shaking as I set the phone down and offered the mug back to Ford. He stared at me, his expression almost like he wanted to bolt, but eventually, he took the mug. “Thanks.” My voice was thready and small. “I was going to drop it.”

“Bro, not to be a dick, but if you’re going to stay here, you need to tell me what the fuck is going on.”

I let out a trembling breath. The words didn’t want to come. It felt like choking on shards of glass when I tried to force them out. “My car wasn’t stolen. My ex took it.”

Ford sat up straight, looking like he was about to start fighting the idea of her like it was a physical thing. “Excuse the fuck out of me? That bitch is here ?”

I winced and shook my head. “No.” I wasn’t sure if that was a lie or not. “She sent a tow truck.” I pulled up the photo again without looking too hard at it and flashed the screen at him.

“Jesus fucking Christ on a cheese cracker. Is she for real?”

I bit my lip and nodded. “Unfortunately, yes. ”

“Part of me wants to say you asked for this, considering you literally stole her from your brother, but?—”

“Yeah. No. I get it. Karma.” Easing Nugget off my lap and ignoring her annoyed mrow, I swung my legs off the side of the bed and attempted to stand on weak knees. “I should, um…I should shower. So I don’t smell like a parking lot for the interview.”

Ford stood with me, and when I listed sideways, he managed to catch me and haul me upright. “First of all, you showered last night. Remember?”

I laughed softly. “Oh, right.”

“Second of all, you need to use my shower today because I don’t want to have to clean up blood from the floor if you keel over and split your head open. Mine has a nice bench.”

“Why does yours—oh.” Right. His leg.

He grinned and patted the side of his limb.

“Perks of amputation. Or something. The parking passes are nice too.” He winked as he eased back a small hop and looked me up and down.

Luckily, there was no chance of a boner now.

Not after everything we’d just said. “Do me a favor and breathe, okay? Get under some hot water and unclench those muscles while I make you breakfast.”

“You really don’t need to do that for me,” I started, but his glare shut me up.

“I’m trying to be nice here, and the least you can do is make it easy on me,” he said tersely. “When is the last time you had an actual meal?”

I didn’t want to answer that, so I didn’t. I just glanced away, and he let out a bone-deep sigh.

“Yeah, I figured as much. You probably have scurvy or some shit. Go get clean…er. Cleaner,” he said. “Meet me in the kitchen after, and no fucking arguing,” he added when I opened my mouth to protest.

God, it was going to be hard to live like this. It would be next to impossible to accept all the things he wanted me to accept. But I was already on a path to hell, so what was a little selfishness to add to my sins?

The shower felt amazing, and so did being able to sit down. It was better than Ford’s little guest shower, which barely fit one single human body. This was a walk-in with a bamboo bench and everything on low shelves for easy reach.

His shampoo and soaps all smelled expensive—very floral and earthy and just so…him. They brought back another memory of that night up in the room at the club, and this time, I couldn’t help but wrap my hand around my dick and squeeze as it thickened.

Being with him had been so different from any sex I’d ever had.

My experiments with my bisexuality rose and fell on a few fingers in my ass and a single blowjob where I gagged so hard I nearly lost my lunch all over the dude’s thighs.

Being buried deep inside Ford with his tongue in my mouth and fingers digging into my skin—there was nothing like it.

Feeling the scratch of his beard and the heavy weight of his body and the way his flat chest pressed into mine like he was trying to dominate me completely with his person? God. I’d been so fucking turned on then, and I was ready to shoot my load all over his bathroom wall now.

My arm began to move, a heavy fapping sound filling the room as I jerked off to the lingering scent of him. It clung to my own skin in the thick lather from his soap, and I humped my hips into my hand at the memory of his teeth on my neck.

“Fuck, fuck,” I gasped as my balls tightened. It took another three pulls to let go, and my entire body felt on the verge of collapse as all my energy evaporated. It was next to impossible to finish washing up after that.