Shane nodded once. “Be normal. Be calm. I’ve got eyes on him, though I can’t make out features. He’s hooded. Do not look. Do not fucking engage,” he growled at me when I narrowed my eyes at him in annoyance. “Not with Preston here, understand?”
Immediately, I backed down and nodded once. I wanted to engage. I wanted to walk over to wherever the fuck he was and bash his fucking skull through the goddamn table for daring to come anywhere near my man. But Shane was right.
We couldn’t do anything now—not while Preston was present. Not when he could be hurt if things got out of hand. Not outside of an environment I fully controlled.
Shane pulled out his phone, sending off a rapid-fire text to someone. Preston looked like he was going to puke, his face too pale. His breathing was coming way too fast, a sure sign he was beginning to panic.
Shane leaned in and gripped the back of Preston’s neck. “Look at me,” he ordered, and the command left no room for argument. Preston’s head shot up, their eyes locking together. Shane massaged the back of his neck. “You feel my hand?” When Preston nodded, Shane said, “Focus on that and breathe. No matter who is near, Preston, you are safe with me. I’ll slaughter anyone who fucking gets too close to you.”
Preston’s breathing slowed in increments until finally, he leaned against Shane, his eyes shutting, no doubt exhausted. Shane wrapped an arm around his shoulders and met my gaze over the top of his head.
“You’re both safe with me,” he told me quietly.
I scoffed. “I don’t need protecting, Ghost.”
His lips quirked with an aborted smile. “Maybe not, Xan—” and I blinked at his use of my real name because I was positive I’d never told him— “but I will protect you just the fucking same. You’re both… mine,” he finally settled on.
I smirked. “Fuck all of a time for declarations.” But I liked that he was admitting he wanted us. Wanted this, even when he’d claimed numerous times otherwise. Even when he’d tried shoving me away and keeping me at a distance.
He just grunted and focused on his menu with the rest of his being still attuned to the rest of the room.
And I watched as the hooded figure walked past two tables over from ours and left the restaurant.
Shane watched him walk past the windows until he was gone from our sight.
“Not sure if that’s a good or bad thing,” he finally uttered.
I shrugged. “Good for now. Don’t want him around Preston.” A glance at the man in question showed he was asleep, his panic attack having drained him. When Shane moved to wake him, I gripped his wrist, halting him. Shane’s eyes snapped to mine.
“Leave him,” I ordered. “I’ll order for him and have it boxed up so he can eat later. He needs rest. Panic attacks leave him drained and exhausted. He’ll be irritable and a right pain in our asses later if we wake him right now.”
Shane nodded and dropped his hand back down to curl around Preston’s shoulder. I brushed my thumb over Shane’s pulse point, then dropped my hand and focused on the menu so I could find something for both me and Preston to eat.
Preston was safe and taken care of on Shane’s side of the table, and that was all I needed right then.
Chapter 15
Shane
I lifted my coffee mug to my lips, tracking X as he made his way out of the bathroom. He was shirtless, only a pair of sweatpants slung low on his hips covering his lower half, and I was ninety-nine percent sure he wasn’t wearing anything beneath them if the swing of his cock behind the soft-looking cotton material was anything to go by.
Feeling my eyes on him, X turned to look at me and smirked. Shifting his direction, he made his way to where I was sitting on the couch and sat on the other end before turning to face me, drawing one leg up on the soft cushion.
“See something you like?” he drawled, draping his arm over the back of the couch.
I just hummed noncommittally. I’d already confessed to both he and Preston that I was into them, and that alone should have told them I was done fighting whatever they had planned. Somewhere along the way, I’d come to actually care about them in more than a way of just keeping them alive.
Something must have been in the air because it couldn’t be a coincidence that I also ended up in a throuple. Jaxon’s son had ended up in one, then Jaxon had a few years later, and now here I was… also entering a throuple.
Fate sure could be funny that way.
X leaned into my space, his dark eyes like melted dark chocolate when they met mine. They were pooled with liquid heat, and my gut clenched. I’d held myself in check for years—no dating, no sex—but I knew if he touched me, I might combust. Wanting someone like this was pure fucking insanity, but clearly, I’d already lost my mind if I was giving in to him.
“Playing hard to get?” he questioned, his voice low.
I just arched a brow at him, not giving into his game. He gave a soft laugh and leaned back once more, leaving my space. I cocked my head, studying him. Wasn’t like him to back off. He liked to push and push and then push some more until he got his way—at least, in my experience. My research on him had resulted in minimal results otherwise. Whoever he’d had protecting him digitally—before they got wiped out, that was—knew what they’d been doing.
They’d left just enough so he could be identified or get approved for a credit line, but otherwise, X was a ghost. No parents listed—a fire-station baby, according to his background check. Went foster home to foster home for years. I could see he had a GED, so he didn’t graduate high school, and he never went to college. But beyond literally the very basics, there was nothing else on him.