Page 108 of Chasing After You

Dorian gave me a quick, sideways grin. “I know.”

I laughed, fake pouting. “Asshole.”

He smirked. “I love you, too. You know I do.”

Yeah, I did.

And as we merged onto the exit ramp, tires humming, city lights drawing closer—I let myself think that maybe this was what freedom could look like after all. Quiet, strange, and tinted with ash, but ours.

27

Dorian

Two Months Later

“Cafe mocha for Ro!” Josh called from the counter of Wild Roast, cheeks suddenly pinkening when his eyes caught on me from across the room.

I licked my lips, slow and deliberate, watching the way his throat bobbed as he swallowed. The slight shiver in his shoulders made me grin.

He liked it when I showed up unannounced, playing the predator who couldn’t help himself, so enamored with him that I just couldn’t keep away.

Which, well…

Maybe Iwasthe wolf skulking at the edge of the woods, obsessed with the boy who cried for me.

I moved closer, ignoring the stares from a few nearby tables. I never really fit into these cozy places. I was too sharp around the edges. But it didn’t matter. I wasn’t here for them.

I was here for him.

Josh placed the drink he was holding down on the counter. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

“I like watching you work.” I let my gaze trail down his apron, then back up. “It’s cute when you try to act normal.”

“I am normal,” he huffed.

“Mm. You’re mine. That’s not normal at all.”

He rolled his eyes, but the smile was there, quiet and real.

Two months. That’s how long it had been since the fire. Since the Halbrooke estate burned to its skeleton and collapsed in on itself like a punctured lung. We’d watched it fall—brick by brick, history and trauma swallowed by flame.

They called it faulty wiring in an old house. No foul play suspected.These things happen,the fire marshal had said.

We’d gotten away with it.

More than that, we’d comehometo the beginning of the rest of our lives together.

Josh leaned across the counter, lowering his voice. “Are you staying until my shift’s over?”

“I’m staying until my cum is in your mouth,” I whispered, quiet enough to keep anyone but him from hearing.

His face flamed again, but he didn’t look away.

This was what freedom looked like, I’d realized. Not fireworks or chaos. Not even justice, really. Justpeace—something neither of us had ever known how to hold before. Something we’d burned everything down to find.

I brushed my fingers along his jawline. “See you at the back door in ten, angel?”

He gave a barely perceptible nod, biting his lip.