“Baby…” I rasped.
Preston looked up at me, then stood. The moment I folded my arms around him, he sagged and tucked his face into the curve of my neck. I cradled the back of his head, anger burning through my veins.
I was going to find the son of a bitch who did this to him. Who was stalking him and upending his life. And then, I was going to beat them until they were no longer breathing and no one, not even a fucking medical examiner, would be able to identify them.
Shane took the phone from me practically the moment we walked through the door. Preston’s job was placing him on paid leave until this was taken care of, not only to protect other employees and patients but to help protect him, which I was thankful for. I could keep Preston with me at all times. Because for some reason, this person wasn’t coming for me—not yet—which made me the safest place for Preston to be.
Because I certainly didn’t see Shane wanting Preston with him at all times, even if that was where he’d practically be untouchable.
“I’ll take this to my guy, see if there’s something on it we can use to identify whoever is after you two.” Shane looked at Preston. “If one of us isn’t at the apartment with you, you need to be with me. Got it? Whoever is doing this has it out for X. He’s not the person you need to be out and about with.”
Well, color me fucking surprised.
“But—” Preston started.
“He’s right,” I agreed. I was selfish when it came to Preston, but Shane was meant to be ours anyway. Sure, that’d been placed on the back burner, but I was still okay with Preston being with Shane, especially if it kept him protected.
Nothing mattered more than Preston’s safety.
“I thought…” Preston scrubbed his hands down his face, then dropped onto the couch, looking more stressed than I’d ever seen him. “We’re already uprooting your life so much, Shane. This isn’t fair to ask of you?—”
“I don’t recall you asking me for anything,” Shane drawled. He sat on the coffee table in front of Preston. “Look at me.” Preston slowly lifted his head until their gazes clashed, and fuck me, they looked so damn good together. And despite how much Shane tried not to, he cared about Preston, at the very least. “I’ll keep you safe, Preston. X can take care of himself, and aside from that, whoever this is wants you. He’s playing the long game. You’re safest with me.”
“But your job… Will Zeppelin want me hanging around?”
Shane grunted. “If someone dares to come into the shop while Zeppelin is there, they’re in for a rude awakening. Zep has so much pent-up rage from his trauma, he’s just waiting to unleash it on someone. Trust me, he won’t care. In fact, the dumb son of a bitch will welcome the chaos.”
I snorted. Zeppelin seemed like my kind of people. Shane glanced at me, then grunted and focused back on Preston.
Preston blew out a soft breath. “Okay,” he said quietly.
Shane gripped his knee, and Preston relaxed a little, his shoulders drooping. “Trust us.”
Preston nodded immediately. “I do.” And there was no mistaking the conviction in his voice. Despite it all, he did trust us.
And when Shane met my eyes, I knew that was all we needed from Preston—trust. We could handle everything else.
No one would get their hands on our man.
Chapter 12
Preston
X tightened his arm around my waist, then tugged me back so our bodies were flush together. A single kiss was pressed to my shoulder, and I sighed, closing my eyes. Sleep was evading me, and I knew X could feel how tense I was. I was a fucking mess. I’d been okay and able to fake that this whole situation wasn’t bothering me so much until today. Until that person had shown up at my job, lurking by my car like they’d been waiting for me.
I had so many questions. Did they know I’d left my lunch there? Or had they been prepared to wait all fucking day for me to leave work and attack me then? Or were they even going to attack me? Were they planning to kidnap me and make me disappear like they had X’s hacker?
And why were they coming after me and not X, when it was X they had a problem with?
“You need to come out of your head, baby,” X murmured. His hand slid down my flat stomach to my cock. We were both naked, having fallen into bed right after our shower, not bothering with clothes. My breath hitched in my throat when his fingers circled my length, and I grew half-hard almost instantly. Didn’t matter what mood I was in. I was always ready to be with X. Always wanted to watch him fall apart beneath me.
X was definitely the top in our relationship, but he preferred to top from the bottom, and God, I loved sliding inside his tight heat and fucking him. It was the one time X truly let himself go and just let himself be, and it was always so fucking beautiful.
“Don’t start something you don’t plan to allow me to finish,” I rasped. “We have company.” And our apartment walls were so fucking thin, there would be absolutely zero chance of Shane not hearing us. While I wanted Shane nearly as much as X did, I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable. Surely it had to be some form of sexual assault to force someone to listen to us fucking, didn’t it?
“If you think he won’t like listening to us, you’re a fool, baby,” X rumbled against my skin. He nipped at my shoulder, and I moaned softly, rocking my cock into his fist. I could feel him grinning against my back. “You need this, don’t you? Don’t deny us, baby. Not when we both want it so fucking badly.” He thrust against my ass for good measure, just so I could feel how hard he was.
X was long and thick, and I knew if he ever wanted to top me, he’d fucking wreck me. But he just didn’t like to, and I would never ask him to do something he wasn’t comfortable with.