Page 40 of Chasing After You (Twisted Desires #3)

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 I was the 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 come home to 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. Just peace —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.

I turned and walked back to my seat by the window, enjoying the feeling of the heated gaze from the boy I’d never stopped chasing.

“Ro?” Josh called again, his voice warm and easy. “Cafe mocha for Ro?”

The door to the customer restroom opened, catching my eye. A thin man wearing a band tee and low-rise dark jeans strode to the counter.

“Sorry, I was in the bathroom,” he told Josh, taking the drink in hand. He took a sip immediately and beamed. “This is so good!”

A quick glance around showed that the man was drawing in quite a few eyes.

It made sense.

It wasn’t every day you saw someone with snow-white hair—not bleached , but truly white, like fallen ash or powdered bone. His skin, almost translucent, carried a faint pink hue in the cheeks and ears, while pale lashes framed his eyes in soft contrast. But it was those eyes that gave me pause.

Pale, glinting—like quartz caught in sunlight. Unnervingly sharp.

And watching everything.

He sipped again, distracted for only a moment by the drink before his gaze slid across the cafe. He didn’t fidget. He smiled at the stranger who complimented his boots but didn’t strike up a conversation. Just blinked slowly and moved on, like a cat that had already grown bored of its prey.

There was something in the way he moved— coiled , but not tense. Like his body had learned long ago how to drift through space unnoticed when it wanted to… or draw attention when it didn’t.

Josh gave him a friendly smile when the newcomer smiled at him from across the room. I wouldn’t hesitate to guess that my boyfriend was likely oblivious to the way Ro studied him, head tilted just slightly.

He didn’t seem to notice me at first as I kept an eye on him from my seat. Most people didn’t unless I wanted them to. But then—

His gaze flicked to me.

Just a flicker. A second too long to be accidental.

Our eyes locked.

Ro didn’t startle, didn’t look away. He just smiled, slow and slight, like someone who already knew too much.

Josh called the next order without a second thought, busying himself with the next wave of customers. He had no idea that something had just shifted.

But I knew.

The hunter in me felt it.

Something had just walked into our quiet little world—and I wasn’t sure yet if it was another predator… or something far worse.

Either way, I found myself grinning.

Because whoever Ro was… I had the feeling things were about to get a lot more interesting.

I was always open to entertainment, as long as it didn’t involve my big brother.

Ro would learn that soon enough if he tried anything.

But for now, I was content to wait and see.