Page 11 of How to Hack a Hellhound (Hellhounds of Paradise Falls #2)

Chapter 11

Quinton

“ S o…” I said, standing at the island while Aiden put away leftovers.

Liam had left two minutes ago. He’d offered to help, but Aiden had insisted on doing it because he “had a system,” and Liam had seemed to totally get that and respect it. I didn’t think Aiden had OCD—he was just particular about the kitchen since he was the main one who used it—but I kind of wondered about Liam. At the very least, he was a neat freak and really particular about how he did stuff. He had offered to let me drink or eat in his office, but I swear I saw the agony in his face at the thought of it. Still, it was sweet of him to offer.

“I like him,” Aiden answered, packing up leftovers and loading the dishwasher. “And I’m glad he agreed not to turn the sound on unless he was ‘concerned for our well-being,’ so this way we can gossip about him.”

I smirked at that. “Yeah, he’s a little odd for sure, but they’re all odd.” I shrugged.

“You really like him,” Aidan said.

“Does that bother you?” I asked. Aiden and I weren’t a thing—he was like my brother, and I thought he thought of me the same way, but I wanted to check in anyway.

He just smirked at me. “I have zero sexual feelings toward you, Q, so you don’t need to worry about that. And I know you don’t have any for me. We’re just…”

“We’re family,” I finished.

“Yeah,” he said, smiling. “Family. I like that.” He finished loading the dishwasher and went around the island to slide onto a stool. “I like it here, too. My walk was good, and I did see cameras and motion detectors around, which made me feel safe. They must also have guard dogs on the property?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Dexter rescued two when he rescued me, but I thought he gave them to Cassius to find a home for. Maybe they ended up back here? If they were dangerous, I’m sure Liam would have warned you.”

“No, I don’t think the one I saw was dangerous. It was huge, and I was a little startled when I first spotted it, but it never really got close and almost seemed to be watching out for me while I walked. It actually made me feel safer.” Aiden shrugged. “But let’s get back to you and your so-called creepy stalker. You like him.”

I smiled. “Yeah. I offered him sex, and he turned me down.”

Aiden sputtered a bit at that, and I laughed. “It was sweet, not mean or anything. I just… I don’t know, I slid into the old clubbing version of me, where guys always wanted something from me. He just… it’s like he values me. Not that there was anything wrong with my random hook-ups. They were fun and it was an outlet, but it’s like this has the possibility of more.”

“He didn’t even blink when I snuggled up to you,” Aiden commented.

I looked at him curiously. I wasn’t sure what he was getting at.

“Lots of guys would have a problem with that, Q. I mean, we sleep in the same bed a lot. We snuggle and hug and have no personal boundaries with each other. A lot of people would be jealous or assume something was going on. But Liam didn’t even bat an eye at it, and he definitely didn’t look at me like he looked at you. He’s only interested in you,” Aiden explained.

“Did you want him interested in you?” I asked. I assumed he didn’t, but this was new territory for us.

“Nope. Absolutely not,” Aiden stated. “That’s why I kissed your cheek, though. A lot of guys would jump to threesome thoughts, but he was completely focused on you. If he was interested, it would make me uncomfortable. I know it’s my own issues, but if a guy showed sexual interest in me right now, I’m not sure how I would handle it. So I’m really glad he didn’t. None of the guys do, which is why I’m ok with them.” Aiden shrugged self-consciously.

I reached out and grabbed his hand. “Hey, you get to have all the issues you want to, and don’t feel bad about them.”

He squeezed my hand, and we stayed like that for a couple minutes, each lost in our own thoughts. I was just glad Aiden was ok with Liam, because I really did like him. He was weirdly sweet, in a stalkery way, and he made me feel safe. I knew I kept coming back to that, but when you’ve had your life ripped out from under you, ordinary things didn’t feel safe anymore. Liam made it feel like I could finally breathe again without a constant worry at the base of my neck.

He also didn’t seem put off by my prickly attitude. In fact, he seemed to kind of like ‘my claws,’ as he called them. I smiled at the thought.

Aiden got up, came over, and gave me a hug. “I’m heading to bed. I’m going in to work early tomorrow. Cass is gonna pick me up on his way in. Are you going in? Cass said you can take another day or two if you need it.”

“No, I’ll go. I’m ok,” I answered.

With that, Aiden went to his room across the living room, leaving his door open. I headed into my bedroom, shutting the door behind me. Liam had pointed out where the cameras were in each of the rooms at Aiden’s insistence, and Aiden had told him we might turn them around if we wanted privacy. Liam had seemed perplexed by it but had agreed, just telling us to make sure all the alarms were set if that was the case.

My creepy stalker. Yeah, ok, totally weird that I found that sweet. I knew there was a camera pointing at my bed; Liam had pointed it out. I wondered if he’d ever watched me jerk off. I smirked as I grabbed my phone. I renamed the number from earlier in my phone and texted Liam.

Me: Are you watching me?

Creepy Stalker: Would it be a problem if I was?

I laughed to myself and looked up at the camera, shaking my head. I got up and stripped off my shirt, throwing it off to the side. I unbuttoned my pants and shucked them off, bending down to take my socks off as well. Before I could drag down my boxers, my phone pinged on the bed.

Creepy Stalker: I am unsure of the etiquette in this situation.

I did laugh then, typing out, Turn the sound on, Creepy Stalker.

Three dots appeared, then disappeared, then appeared.

I typed again before he could reply. You’re the only one watching this, right?

Creepy Stalker: Yes. I’m in my office with the door shut.

I threw my phone down then, saying quietly, “No more texts, Creepy Stalker. You just get to watch.” I knew he’d hear me through the camera—he said at dinner that he had excellent hearing. I didn’t need Aiden to hear, though, and I was thankful his bedroom was on the other side of the living room.

I drew my boxers down. I was already hard. The thought of Liam sitting in his office watching me was a huge turn on for some reason. I could picture every hair in place, his dress pants all stiff and his button-up shirt done up—so prim and proper, talking about etiquette, all while fire burned in his eyes as he watched me, just like it had earlier today when I’d kissed him.

“I bet you’re all buttoned up sitting in your office, Creepy Stalker. You know, if you really want to earn the nickname, I think you should take out your dick. Just unzip your pants and pull it out. I bet it’s hard already,” I whispered.

I sat back onto the bed, stroking myself slowly. I pictured Liam fumbling with his pants, unbuttoning them, and pulling out his dick. I wondered what it looked like. What it tasted like. I hadn’t really wanted anyone since before… I cut that thought off and thought about Liam again, sitting with his dick out in his office chair.

I laid back onto the bed, my legs splayed wide open and facing the camera. He would have a view of everything this way. Well, almost everything.

“You should install a camera on the ceiling, Creepy Stalker. Then you’d get to see my cum face,” I chuckled.

I started stroking myself again, taking my time to twist my hand around the head, squeezing gently until I knew my dick was a nice dark color.

“Do you like my pretty dick?” I asked. “You better be stroking yours, too. That’s what creepy stalkers do. Did you ever get off to me before?” I chuckled. “Probably not. You probably weren’t sure if it was polite or not. It isn’t polite, but that’s ok, because you’re my creepy stalker, so you don’t have to be polite with me . No boundaries necessary.”

I imagined him growling possessively at that.

I scooted back, opening the nightstand drawer. Yup, lube was in here. I wasn’t even gonna ask who had decided that unpacking that was necessary. Although maybe Dexter and Toby just kept it stocked everywhere. That wouldn’t surprise me.

I grabbed it and scooted back down the bed, letting my legs spread wide again as I poured some lube into my hand. I stroked my cock with it first, the sound obscene in the silent room. I bet Liam could hear it. I thought of him stroking faster at the sound, and fuck, it was a turn on. I hadn’t realized I was an exhibitionist, although maybe it was only because Liam was watching.

“Do you wish your cock was up against mine? I do. You’d be all hard, and I bet that big ass hand of yours would grip us both so tightly. You’d have me dripping precum.”

I groaned at the thought. It wasn’t enough, though, and I reached my other hand down, scooping up some of the lube. I rubbed gently against my hole, not entering it, just enjoying the pleasure of rubbing against it with my wet finger.

“Or do you wish you were in my ass? Do you like that, my creepy stalker? I bet you’d feel so good pushing inside me.”

At those words, I twisted my upper body so I could reach deeper and slipped a finger in, groaning at the pressure. I gently eased it in and out.

“Would you take your time stretching me open, or would you not be able to wait to get into my ass?” I asked, and with that, I pushed a second finger inside myself.

I moaned, imagining it was Liam’s fingers rubbing inside me. He’d be able to plunge in nice and deep. I twisted my body more, pushing my fingers further in and managing to hit my prostate.

“Oh god, yeah. Right there, Liam. Right there,” I panted, hitting the spot again and again. I was stroking my dick with my other hand, and my pace picked up. “Keep going, Liam. Want you inside me. Want you to come inside me,” I groaned.

The thought of him filling me up was too much. I was hitting my prostate steadily, stroking myself hard and fast, and cum spilled out of my dick, shooting over my bare body. I groaned in ecstasy, imagining Liam coming at the same time, cum splashing onto his dark suit pants.

When my orgasm faded, I gently withdrew my fingers, smiling. “I hope you got yourself all mussy in your office, my creepy stalker,” I whispered.

I laid there for another minute, the cum cooling on my body, then I got up, wiping it off with a shirt and throwing on my boxers to head to the bathroom to clean up.

I was smiling until I was under the hot spray, and then I started to feel… I don’t know. I’d had a million random hook-ups; I liked getting off, and I liked getting other guys off. I’d never really had a boyfriend—not that Liam was my boyfriend, because he wasn’t. He was… I didn’t know what he was.

But I was having, like… feelings. Ooey-gooey feelings that made my chest hurt. Like my skin was itchy and my eyes hurt and the hot water beating down on my skin wasn’t making me feel any better. And I’d have to look at Liam tomorrow, and I’d just imagined all that shit, and I had no fucking clue if Liam had even been into the whole thing. For all I knew, he’d just stared at me, totally not turned on and just wondering what the fuck was wrong with me.

Or maybe he’d just shut down his computer and left the room, and that was somehow an even worse thought. Like maybe I wasn’t even worth being watched when I was jerking off. Maybe he’d been embarrassed for me and hadn’t wanted to see all that.

I gasped out a sob before I even realized I was crying. I ducked my head under the water, leaning my hands against the tiles behind the shower head, and I tried to pull myself together. What the fuck.

This was not me. I did not cry after sex.

Fuck. It hadn’t even been sex. I’d fucking jerked off. Maybe someone had watched, that was all. And I didn’t even know if he had.

That did not make me feel better.

Fine. I just needed to cry. That was all. I’d cry it out of my system and get over this fucking moment. It was probably just because I hadn’t had sex since the whole thing with Marcus. Not that he had done anything to me, but he was planning to. There was the vulnerability that something would be done to me.

Yeah, I probably needed therapy if a jerk-off session made me break down, but fuck that. I wiped at my eyes angrily, but tears were still coming out.

Fuck Marcus, and fuck his friends, and fuck everyone at that fucking bar who watched me leave with him. Fuck everyone who watched James lead me into the back, barely able to walk. No one had said a fucking word. Fuck it. We’d hunt them all down, and I would be fine.

As long as Liam didn’t think I was a freak now and avoid me.

The anger fled from me at that thought, and I just let the tears come, quietly gasping under the hot spray.

I gasped again when the shower curtain was pulled back, ready to reassure Aiden that I was fine , everything was fine , only it wasn’t Aiden standing there.

My creepy stalker toed off his shoes and then stepped into the shower with me, dress pants and shirt and everything. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to his chest, getting his outfit totally soaked.

“I’m fine, ” I insisted, but he only held onto me more tightly, and I pressed my head into his now soaking wet shirt. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” I mumbled, tears still coming out of my eyes.

“Nothing is wrong with you. You’re perfect and sexy,” he rumbled against my head. His face was nuzzling my damp hair.

My creepy stalker must have heard me crying, come over, and come into the shower—and he hadn’t even bothered taking his clothes off. It made me feel better to think that he had watched me. I let my eyes drift down, and I tried to steal a glance at the front of his pants to see if they were stained, but it was a little hard to do. I could see his soaking wet socks next to my bare feet, and the whole thing suddenly seemed totally ludicrous.

I stifled a giggle. He breathed in deeply, and he seemed to relax a tiny bit.

“Are you sniffing me?” I asked, giggling again.

“You’re not as distressed now,” he answered.

“You’re in my shower. Fully dressed,” I sniffed.

I sort of wiped my face against his shirt, because yeah, it was gonna need to be washed anyway. The crying seemed to have passed, and now I just felt kind of stupid about the whole thing.

“You said that I didn’t have to be polite with you and that there were no boundaries,” he answered. “You were so beautiful and sexy, but then you were upset in the shower.”

“It wasn’t sex,” I said automatically.

“No,” he answered quietly. “It was intimacy.”

I looked up at him, and his eyes were flames, but his face was calm. I might have freaked out, but he certainly wasn’t upset by my weird crying moment. In fact, he looked sort of… pleased.

“You look happy,” I accused.

“I’m holding you, and now I’ll get to stay the night and hold you, because sometimes humans want comfort after intimacy. It’s called aftercare,” he said proudly, pulling me close again.

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t need aftercare. We didn’t even do anything that needs aftercare,” I snarked.

“Maybe I need aftercare,” he murmured against my head.

I stepped back again and looked up at him. He wasn’t making fun of me.

“You look ridiculous,” I said. I knew it was totally bitchy, but I didn’t know what the hell else to say. I’d just jerked off while Liam watched, ordered him to do the same, had a breakdown in the shower, then cried into his shirt and rubbed my snot on him.

It was not my finest moment.

He just smiled and started unbuttoning his shirt. As much as I wanted to see his sexy body, I also felt weirdly vulnerable about it, even though I was naked, so I pulled the curtain aside and stepped out. I grabbed a towel, drying myself off while facing away from the shower. Liam shut the water off, and I heard the plop of wet clothes as he took them off in the shower.

I handed a towel over my shoulder, felt him take it, and muttered, “I’ll get you pants,” before fleeing the bathroom.

I threw on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, and I grabbed my loosest pair of sleep boxers for Liam. They might still be too tight, but any sweatpants I had would be way too short on him. I rummaged around for an oversized t-shirt I knew was in my drawer too.

Liam came into the room, miles of skin on display even with the towel wrapped around his waist. I threw the shirt and boxers at him and climbed into bed, facing away from him while he got dressed.

I was totally being weird. I knew I was being weird, but I couldn’t help it.

I heard him getting dressed, and then he lightly touched my shoulder. “Slide over.”

I turned around and looked at him. “I sleep on this side,” I grumped, even though I usually slept wherever. I couldn’t seem to turn the snark off, though.

“I want to be between you and the door, my little hellcat. I’ll be able to get out of bed faster if there’s a need to,” he answered.

How could I argue with that? Ugh, why did he have to be so fucking sweet . He shut off the light, shut the bedroom door, and slid into bed. I laid there stiffly until he grabbed me and pulled me close to cuddle me, his head buried in the back of my neck.

“You’re sniffing me again,” I complained, but I relaxed into his hold.

He sort of… purred? It wasn’t quite a growl, but it wasn’t really a purr like a cat either. I started petting his hand where it was wrapped around me.

“Did you watch?” I whispered.

“I did everything you told me to, my little hellcat,” he answered quietly.

I smiled into the darkness.

“And I think I did ruin my pants,” he mumbled, but that only made me smile more.

“Good,” I said, and then the warmth of his hold and his gentle grumbling put me to sleep.

I woke sometime in the night to a faint light and the feeling of Liam rolling away from me. I turned and looked up groggily to see Aiden in the doorway.

Ah, fuck. I hadn’t thought about Aiden. He looked surprised to see Liam there, and I could see him starting to turn away. Fuck.

Before I could say anything, Liam grumbled, “You have to go cuddle Quinton on that side of the bed. I sleep by the door.”

Then he pulled me over so he was on the edge of the bed and I was in the middle, and he flipped the covers off the side away from the door for Aiden to climb in.

I was still looking at the door, and Aiden hadn’t left, but he wasn’t moving to come in either.

“Come on. It’s cold. Don’t worry, just Quinton will cuddle you. He’ll be like pillows between us, or whatever weird thing humans do in movies when they share a bed and don’t want to touch,” he said.

Aiden laughed a little at that, and he came over to my side of the bed, climbing in.

We didn’t talk, and I felt his breathing calm down as he cuddled up against me. My eyes were heavy, and I drifted back to sleep cozy and warm between the two of them.