Page 108 of Hide and Seek

He looks down at the floor. “Maybe eventually I will be?—”

“You’re one of us, Myles.” Stepping closer to him, I take his upper arms in my hands and loosely hold them until he looks at me. “If you’re with me, then you’re one of us. That’s how we work. It doesn’t matter how long anyone’s known you or if they’ve spent time with you. You and I are a package deal, and they know that.”

“This is so crazy,” he whispers. “My brain is telling me that literally everything about this is a giant red flag, and I need to run as far away from you as I can before I get hurt.”

“And what are your instincts telling you?”

“That this is the most real thing that will ever happen to me, and my brain needs to shut the fuck up and let me enjoy this.”

“I think you need to listen to your instincts.”

A little grin lifts the corners of his lips. “I think you’re right. My brain has gotten me in enough trouble over the years. Time for that bitch to step aside and let me live my life.”

“Reach into my left back pocket.”

Myles shoots me a curious look, probably at my habit of abruptly changing subjects in conversation but does it without questioning me.

He looks at the knife he retrieved from my pocket.

It’s a simple Karambit with a heavy black metal handle and a matte black blade with razor-sharp edges. It’s not fancy, but it’s lethal.

“Is this the real version of the training blade you gave me?”

“It is. I’ll show you how to use it so you can practice with the other one until you’re comfortable enough to carry that one on you.”

He looks between me and the knife. “Is it weird that this kind of feels like someone giving their partner flowers on their birthday?” His eyes widen in shock. “Not that we’re partners or these were supposed to be romantic or anything like?—”

I cut him off with a quick kiss. “You can call us partners or boyfriends or whatever the fuck you want. It’s not going to scare me away or make me want to run or anything like that. And to be fair, me giving you blades really is my equivalent of flowers or another romantic gift. I wouldn’t give you a way to protect yourself if I didn’t care.”

He slips the knife into his pocket and loosely holds my hips. “I keep worrying that I’m going to say something wrong or I’m going to show you too much of myself, and it’ll scare you off.”

“Not going to happen.” I flick my gaze to the camera on his dresser, then to the one in the statue that’s still on his bedside table. “I’ve seen you at your best and your worst. I know more about you than you can imagine, and nothing I’ve seen or heard or learned has made me want you any less. You can’t scare me off because you can’t scare someone who doesn’t feel fear.”

“And there’s more of that talk that should scare the crap out of me, but instead it makes me all gooey inside.”

“What about on the outside?” I cup his cock and smile when it goes hard under my hand.

“Definitely not gooey.” He leans in and brushes a kiss against my lips.

Sliding my hand under his hoodie, I hook my fingers over the waistband of his jeans and tug him toward the bed. “You’re wearing entirely too many clothes, and we need to fix that.”

He follows me, a sexy smirk on his full lips, and lets me shove him back onto the mattress hard enough he bounces on the soft surface.

Hopefully Myles isn’t too tired, because one more time isn’t going to be enough tonight.

23

MYLES

The bathroom is unusually crowdedas I push the door open and step inside.

Thankfully no one pays me any attention as I make my way over to the shower area and claim the one at the far end next to the wall. I’ve gotten used to being stared at after news about Jax and me swept through the dorm, but it’s hella uncomfortable when the stares and whispered comments follow me when I’m showering or in the bathroom.

The past few weeks have felt surreal, like I body-swapped into someone else’s life, and I still have moments where I can’t believe that not only is Jax my stalker, but that we’re together.

Even after that first night when he told me he wanted everyone to know that I was his and he wasn’t going to hide me away like some secret, I still worried that might happen. Not because I thought he was lying to me, but because that’s how my brain works.

Every time I start to feel happy, my mind likes to convince me that it won’t last and I’ll screw up and end up worse than before. And even though we’ve only been together for a short time, I can’t remember ever being this happy.