Page 16

ANDERS

There’s a lovely moment of near consciousness when all I’m aware of is how comfortable my bed feels this morning and how wonderfully heavy my limbs are with an unfamiliar sense of sleepy relaxation. And then the bed shifts behind me and it’s my animal brain that comes online first.

I’m not alone in my bed .

This isn’t even my bed.

I drag in a panicked gasp and start to scramble out of the strange bed, barely awake enough to register anything other than my racing heart and unfamiliar surroundings.

The mattress shifts again and a warm, heavy arm flops over me, pinning me down before I can make it out of the bed.

Running on pure instinct and adrenaline, I jerk my arm back.

My elbow connects with soft flesh and there’s a muttered “ Oomph, fuck ” as I leap out of bed.

The cool wood floor under my feet shocks me, my chest heaving with gasping breaths and adrenaline.

In the fraction of a second it takes me to spin around to face the man I just elbowed, last night comes flooding back to me.

Running to Finn’s rescue.

Dinner with Luca.

Fucking him on the floor like our lives depended on it…

“Shit, I’m sorry.” I grimace and scramble back onto the bed. My heart is still pounding, but at least I know where I am now. Which means I have an entirely new list of fears to deal with, but they can wait another thirty seconds or so. “Are you okay?”

Luca sits up in bed, rubbing his cheek where my elbow must have landed.

His dark hair is standing up in all directions, a hazy, sleepy look still in his eyes despite the rude awakening I just gave him.

The sheets pool around his waist, leaving his bare chest and long, lean muscles on display while the morning sun streams in through the gap in the curtains and casts a glow over his olive skin.

The low, raspy chuckle he lets out tugs at my groin.

“In the future, I’d prefer to be awake when you’re getting rough with me in bed, but I’m fine.”

He hooks a hand around the back of my neck and drags me close.

His hot breath bathes my lips and his nose bumps against mine, but he doesn’t close the gap to kiss me.

It takes me a few beats to realize he’s waiting for me to kiss him .

That realization hits me in the chest like a bolt of electricity, and I jerk back.

What the fuck am I doing here? All it took was a cheap meal at a diner and a few nice words from Luca to make me forget that none of this is for me.

He has this way of looking at me and seeing me like no one else has, like he actually gives a shit about who I am and what I want, and it’s fucking with my head.

“Where are you going, little viper?” Even the purr in his voice makes me want to spend a little bit longer pretending all the bullshit in my life can’t touch me anymore.

The stupid nickname on his lips makes me feel strong and capable, just like how he described me when we first met.

It’s the same way he makes me feel when he melts under my touch.

“Home.” I cast my gaze around his tidy bedroom for a second before remembering that I left my clothes in a heap on his living room floor last night.

“No,” he says in a voice that’s completely devoid of the submissive whimper I’m used to hearing when he’s naked. The sheets rustle and then I can feel him standing right behind me.

“No?” I scoff, dragging my fingers through my hair to tame it, already heading for the living room.

Luca grabs my arm. His grip is loose, but when I try to shake him off, he tightens it, and I growl.

“You said this wasn’t a kidnapping,” I remind him, turning back to face him again with a hard set to my jaw. He might be taller than me, even when I draw myself up to my full height and look him right in the eye, but his words ring in my head.

I think you’re a venomous snake waiting to sink your fangs into anyone who dares to tangle with you.

I think you’ve learned to fake the role of helpless little lamb, but deep down, you’re the predator biding your time until you’re ready to strike.

I think there’s fire in you.

Maybe he’s right. I’ve made myself smaller because it was safer, because it was the best way I could protect my brother, but that doesn’t mean I’m helpless.

“It’s not a kidnapping,” he says, his fingers still wrapped around my bicep, the warmth of his hand making my skin tingle and my cock thicken.

“But I can’t leave?” I clarify, narrowing my eyes at him.

“No,” he says again. “I also said I’d protect you, and I can’t do that if you run right back to the person who’s hurting you.”

I huff and shake his hand off. This time he does release me, but he also takes another step closer. With the bedroom door at my back, I’m not trapped, but he’s right, with nowhere to go except right back to my father, I kind of am.

“Listen, Tony Soprano, I know this is probably going to be hard for you to hear, but waving your dick, your gun, and your last name around won’t solve every problem.”

“Fine, then let’s sit down. I’ll make you some breakfast, and you can tell me what I need to know so I can solve this problem.” The steely confidence in his voice almost makes me believe it could be that simple, that all I have to do is tell him everything and he’ll make it go away.

My stomach rumbles and Luca’s lips twitch with a smirk, like he’s won this round.

Fuck it, fine, I’ll let him cook me some fucking pancakes and tell him all the humiliating details. He’ll see that I’m not the capable badass he’s convinced himself I am, and maybe this silly, obsessive crush of his will die a natural death. My stomach twists, but I don’t let it show on my face.

“Can I at least have something comfortable to wear? Or are you going to keep me naked as long as I’m your prisoner?” I ask dryly.

Luca smirks. “Has anyone ever told you you’re extremely dramatic?”

“Never,” I deadpan, and he chuckles.

He brushes his lips over mine, and it feels like another electric jolt, but this time it makes me want to lean into him rather than run away.

The touch doesn’t linger long enough though.

He turns and strides over to his dresser, pulling open the top drawer and grabbing two pairs of lounge pants and two t-shirts.

He keeps one set for himself and tosses me the other.

The pants are made of some kind of ultra soft cotton that feels almost fluid against my legs as I tug them on.

When I finish getting dressed, I look over at Luca and find him watching me with a heated, possessive look in his eyes.

It should make me panic. I’m so fucking done with being owned and used and controlled by other people, but for some reason, it feels different with Luca.

He says he doesn’t want to crush me into a specific shape or grind all my rough edges smooth, and I think I believe him.

I stop in the living room to find my phone while he heads into the kitchen to start breakfast. My clothes are scattered on the floor and there’s dried cum crusted onto the hardwood.

My insides sizzle with the memory of last night, but I push it aside as I pull up Finn’s contact information on my phone and press the button to call.

I pace back and forth, dragging my fingers absently along the back of the black leather couch while I wait for my brother to answer. It takes too damn many rings, but eventually he answers.

“Yeah?” he rasps, clearly still half-asleep.

The breath punches out of my lungs, and I stop pacing to lean against the back of the couch instead.

“Finny, Jesus, how are you feeling?”

“Mm?” he rumbles, and then I hear sheets rustling and a quiet groan. “Like someone parked a truck on top of my skull.”

I let out a relieved laugh. “Yeah, the hangover from a roofie is no fucking joke.”

“Fuck,” he mumbles. “Is that what happened? I barely remember…” There’s rustling and creaking again and then Finn sounds a lot more alert. “Shit, Ands, you didn’t kill somebody, did you?”

“Of course not,” I say quickly. At least, I don’t think I did. “That fucker would have deserved it if I had though.”

“You can’t…” I can practically see the exasperated way my brother must be rubbing his hand over his face right now. “I told you when we were kids, you can’t do that thing where you go all feral to protect me.”

I grunt noncommittally. He has no idea how far I’ve gone to protect him, and he never will if I can help it.

There are very few truly good people in this world, but Finn is one of them.

Sometimes he’s too sweet, too trusting, too naive—that’s when shit like last night happens.

But I’d rather spend the rest of my life jumping in to save him than to have him take off his rose-colored glasses and see the world for the shit heap it really is.

“Ands,” he says with a sigh.

“I love you, and I’m always going to protect you,” I say simply. “Now, go back to sleep and text me later when you feel human again. Plenty of water, aspirin, and greasy food, and you should be feeling better in no time. Do you want me to order you some breakfast?”

“No, I’m fine. Thanks though.”

“Of course. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Yeah,” he agrees. “And, Anders?” Finn clears his throat. “Thanks.”

“Always.”

LUCA

While Anders calls to check in on his brother, I start coffee and rummage through my refrigerator to see what I have. I’m in need of a trip to the grocery store, but I can do eggs and toast, at least.

My skin tingles with the awareness that Anders is here, in my apartment, letting me cook him breakfast. He might still be baring his teeth like a stray dog who’s not ready to trust me yet, but I can work with that.

It’s endearing as hell, actually. But obviously, I’d prefer it if his snarls were sassy and fun instead of due to fear.