This time, when he turned back around, he let his head fall back onto Levi’s shoulder and threaded their fingers together voluntarily. “Just ask your questions.”
“Areyou a virgin?” Levi asked again, Shiloh’s cheek close enough to his for him to feel the heat of his skin.
“No, I’ve done stuff. Doneit,” he clarified clumsily. “Just not a lot.”
Levi frowned. “What’s your definition of a lot?”
“The opposite of a little,” Shiloh mumbled.
Christ, he was stubborn. “Ballpark it for me.”
Shiloh rolled his head without lifting it off Levi’s shoulder, putting his lips almost against Levi’s cheek. “It’s rude to ask about someone’s body count,” he said.
“Depends on the type of body count you mean,” Levi teased. “Look, I don’t care if you’ve had sex with one person or a thousand. If we’re going to fuck—which we are, eventually, just so we’re clear—it would be nice to know exactly how careful I need to be with you.”
Shiloh squirmed in his hold, pulling his head from Levi’s shoulder. “Do I look like someone who can’t handle rough sex?” he snapped.
Levi freed one of his hands from Shiloh’s, skimming upwards over his bare arm, along his throat, burying his fingers in his hair, turning his head just enough to nuzzle him. “That’s notwhat this is about, you stubborn little brat. I just don’t want to hurt you.”
“I’m not a brat,” Shiloh said, tone pouty.
Levi snorted against Shiloh’s cheek, then placed another little kiss there. “Have you been with more than one person?”
“Yes,” Shiloh hissed.
He planted more kisses on his face—below his eye, the side of his nose, the shell of his ear, keeping his voice a low murmur. “More than two?”
Shiloh stiffened. “No. Okay?”
“You’ve had sex twice or you’ve only dated two guys you’ve had sex with?” Levi asked, massaging his fingers through Shiloh’s curls, watching his eyelids flutter and his lips part each time Levi scratched him just right.
“I—We—They weren’t my…” Shiloh cut himself off with a whimper, trying to hide it by clearing his throat. “Do we have to talk about this? It was a really long time ago.”
Levi’s hands froze. “What do you mean a really long time ago?”
Shiloh closed his eyes. “I was fourteen. It’s been forever since then. Why does it even matter anymore?”
Fourteen. Levi wished he was shocked. He was younger than that the first time his mom handed him over, but still…where was his brother, the good one? Why hadn’t he protected Shiloh from these…predators. Unless these boys were also kids. But, somehow, Levi very much doubted it.
“How old were they?”
Shiloh shrugged, bumping his head up against Levi’s palm as if reminding him he was petting him. Levi returned to combing through his thick curls. “The first one? Old enough to drink. He was Mal’s friend. The other worked for Micah. He was probably in his mid-twenties.”
“Micah’s the one who hurts you?”
Shiloh nodded. “The first one, Mal’s friend…Micah caught us together and paid him off. He took it and ran before the ink was dry. The other one was a set-up from the jump. Another of Micah’s games. Another way to torment me. After that, I just…stopped trying.”
Levi swallowed the lump of sand in his throat, his jaw so tight it ached. Shiloh’s brother was the worst kind of sadist. It was clear he enjoyed treating Shiloh like a toy, a puppet he could make dance. Shiloh was the softest, gentlest creature Levi had ever met and Micah took advantage of that. Who could Shiloh have become if raised with gentler hands?
It didn’t matter now. They couldn’t reverse time. But Levicouldright a wrong. Micah met the code. Jericho would green-light his execution in a minute if Levi just showed him the photos of Shiloh’s injuries. Yeah, that was the only solution. Micah had to die…preferably screaming.
But Levi kept that to himself. “Is Mal the brother in jail?”
Shiloh nodded. “Yeah.”
How could Mal let his friend assault his brother? “How did he handle his friend assaulting his minor sibling and then breaking his heart?”
Levi watched as Shiloh began to chew on his bottom lip. “Like I said, it doesn’t matter. It was a long time ago.”
