Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 84227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
“What are we going to do?” he asked. “Griff and…”
“Shh.” My body was against his then, pressing Kellan against the wall. When in the hell had I moved? I couldn’t even recall getting closer to him. “I want you. Fuck, I want you so bad, it’s eating me alive, baby boy.”
Our mouths clashed, an uncontrollable force connecting us. I pushed my leg between his because I knew how much Kellan liked riding my thigh. His arms went around me, his hands in my hair as we kissed messily and rubbed against each other.
I didn’t know what it was about him, what it had always been about him, but this felt right. And the thought of walking away made every instinct inside me rebel against it. I’d always felt like I belonged in this family, like they were my home, but that feeling multiplied when I was with him, like this was where I should have been all along.
“Chase…” He said my name as I trailed kisses down his neck.
“You make me fucking crazy for you.” I couldn’t believe I was doing this here, but I couldn’t have stopped if I’d wanted to. I grabbed the bottom of Kellan’s shirt and tugged it over his head. I reached for him, and that’s when I noticed the finger marks on his biceps. My whole world rocked, my eyes going hazy. “What the fuck. Did I somehow do this to you?”
“What? No, it’s nothing. You know how easily I bruise.” Kellan went to pull away, and I let him. I sure as shit wasn’t going to put my hands on him and hold him there. Whoever did that to him, I wasn’t the same as that person.
“Who did that? Who grabbed you?” Fire burned through me, exploding into an anger I couldn’t even put into words. My hands were shaking, because if this had been some accident, if it wasn’t what I thought it was, he would have told me what happened already.
“I can take care of myself. It wasn’t a big deal.”
“Was it Josh?”
“What? No! Why in the hell would Josh grab me? It was Buck. He’s pissed because he thinks it’ll make Buck Jr. gay if I teach him. I told him I wasn’t going to stop. He grabbed my arm and told me he wanted me to and then left. He didn’t hold on to me hard. You know how my skin is.”
I saw nothing but red. My heart sped up, slammed against my chest, and I worried I was going to stroke out. I was going to kill the motherfucker for putting his hands on Kellan that way. Without another word, I went straight for the door.
“Chase, what are you doing?”
“Going to make sure he knows to keep his fucking hands to himself.”
I pulled the door open and rushed out. By the time Kellan got outside, I was already in my truck, pulling away.
My hands fisted on the steering wheel as I drove to Buck’s place. It wasn’t too far from my own, on the outskirts of town. When I pulled up, he was sitting on the front porch with a beer in his hand. I jumped out of the truck and slammed the door.
“Chase Hawthorne, what can I do for you?”
“Are your kids here?” I spit out.
“What?” He shoved to his feet. “No, they’re with their mother. Is everything okay?”
Without thinking, I pushed him against the house, my forearm against this throat—not hard enough to hurt him, but enough for him to know I was serious. “You want to pick on someone, pick on me. You keep your fucking hands off Kellan Caine.”
Buck’s eyes widened as if he hadn’t expected that. “What did the little fag tell you? I hardly fucking touched him.”
“You call him that again, and I won’t be able to keep my anger in check. I’m holding on by a thread right now,” I gritted out. Jesus Christ, I couldn’t handle people like this. He reminded me of my father—judgmental, ignorant bigots.
“Is an officer of the law threatening me?” he asked, and my heart stumbled slightly. I hadn’t even thought of my position, about who I was. All I’d thought about was Kellan and the hand mark on his arm. “Thinking twice, huh?”
Buck pushed me off him, and I let him.
“He sent his boyfriend to fight his fights for him? What a pussy. That’s exactly what I don’t want for my boy—to be soft like him.”
Kellan wasn’t weak. Kellan was one of the strongest people I’d ever known. Do you treat him like you know that? tumbled through my head. Do you show him you know he’s strong, or do you try and fight his battles for him like you’re doing now?
“Don’t touch him again. Don’t speak to him again. Don’t even look wrong at him again.” Without another word, I turned and started to walk back to my truck.