Alex thrashed against him, but Jason grabbed him by the shoulder and forced him to stay in place. “You wouldn’t want Matthew to get stressed out, too, would you? He’s pregnant with my baby now, since you ran away before you could give one tome.”
Tears formed in Alex’s eyes. Jason was twisting the narrative. He’d never wanted a baby—all he’d wanted to do was take Alex’s heat, and he’d talked Alex into letting him with pretty words and promises for the future that had turned out to be empty. To know that he was doing the exact same thing to Matthew destroyedhim.
“Stop.” The voice that spoke was so timid that Alex doubted it was real. His eyes widened.Matthew.“Jason… leave him be. Let’s just go.” Matthew’s head was lowered, and he watched the toes of his shoes a little tooclosely.
“What?” Jason asked. His voice had a frenzied, irritated edge to it, like a piranha who’d tasted blood only to be told not to hunt. “What did yousay?”
“I said let’s go. He’s not worth your time, right? He’s old news. You have me now… why waste energy onhim?”
The tension in the air was stretched so taut that Alex was sure it was going to snap. He remained perfectly still, looking at Matthew as he tried to figure out what was going on. Clarity came quickly. Matthew lifted his gaze, frowned apologetically at Alex, then ducked his headagain.
Matthew was trying to savehim.
Every iota of doubt and worthlessness that had been awoken in Alex was obliterated. He’d let Jason get into his head, and it had fucked with his mind, but that didn’t mean that he was undeserving of respect, or that he should tolerate being treated like he was an object. He wasn’t Jason’s to toy with, to break, or to throw away like garbage. He’d come out of their sorry excuse for a relationship battered, but that didn’t mean that he had to accept that the rest of his life would be sobleak.
He was strong. He’d wrested control back from the one who’d hurt him by showing himself that he could be the one in charge of a man. If Matthew, at sixteen years old, could stand up to Jason, no matter how timidly, then Alex could do it,too.
Jason dropped his hand from Alex’s mouth. He made a clicking sound with his tongue and went to move around Alex, but Alex wasn’t ready to let that happen. He spun around to face his abuser, no longerafraid.
“You know, when I heard you were here with another guy, I stopped what I was doing to come down here and tell you to stay the hell out of my life.” Alex no longer struggled to find words. The tongue that had once been paralyzed moved freely again. “But now that I see who you’re with? It’s not enough. Stay the hell away from me, and stay thehellaway fromMatthew.”
“Really?” Jason grinned, eyes narrowed with patronizing humor. “Matthew is his own person. He’s not going to listen to you. Who do you think youare?”
Alex stood prouder, his fists clenched. “I’m Alex Harper, you motherfucker, and I’m not going to let you ruin another young man’slife.”
Jason laughed, but he wasn’t Alex’s focus anymore. What he needed was to get through to Matthew. He spun on his heel and hurried for the door, grabbing Matthew’s arm on theway.
“Hey!” Matthew said, shocked. “What are youdoing?”
They burst through the gallery doors. Heavy footsteps pursued them, but Alex kept moving, doing his best to create distance between himself and Jason. On the street, motorists and pedestrians would help keep them safe. Jason wouldn’t beat him inpublic.
“He told you that he just wanted to take your heat one time, didn’t he?” Alex saw the upcoming walk signal turn red, so he followed the sidewalk around the corner to keep Matthew moving. “That it would be the hottest thing you could ever do for him, and that if you got pregnant, he’d take care of you forever,right?”
Footsteps thudded behind them. A hiss cut through the noise of the street. “Matthew.”
Matthew said nothing in response to his question, which to Alex was as good as sayingyes.
“He started off love-bombing you, I bet. Daily gifts, sweet texts, big smiles, tons of kisses, back rubs, and constant, sometimes public reminders about how much he loves and cherishes you. Did he tell you that you were the best sex he’s ever had? That every other guy in the world should be jealous of him, because he hadyou?”
“… How…” Matthew uttered. He glanced at Alex,horrified.
“I know because he did it to me, too, when I was with him.” Alex glanced over his shoulder. Jason had just rounded the corner, and he looked ready to burst into a sprint to catch up. Alex picked up the pace. He didn’t have much time. “He took my heat and knocked me up. I was living with him. Next thing I knew, he lost his temper about something stupid and beat me senseless. I was unconscious for three hours and bled out all over the floor. I lost thebaby.”
Alex glanced over his shoulder again. Jason was a few feet away and gainingspeed.
“Don’t go with him,” Alex urged. “Don’t let him trick you into believing that it’s going to be different this time around. He’s hurt you already, hasn’t he? He did it, then apologized and lavished you with gifts and attention and good sex and told you that he’d never do it again, because you were too precious to him… that all you had to do was act a little better, watch your words a little more carefully, or not approach him when he’s in a bad mood,right?”
“He loves me.” Matthew’s voice was hoarse, and he sounded like he was on the verge of tears. “He left suddenly and came back for me because he lovesme.”
“No. He doesn’t love anyone but himself.” Alex wanted to say more, but a hand grabbed him by the shoulder and wrenched his arm away from Matthew. Alex cried out as the world flashed red. When it faded, he was face to face withJason.
“Leave Matthew alone,” Jason snarled. “You never learn your lesson, do you, you disobedientshit?”
“It took me a long time, but I think I finally got it through my thick skull,” Alex replied through gritted teeth. “You never loved me. All you did was tear me down and make me weak. Now that I know what true love is, I’m never going to let you get under my skinagain.”
Jason drew his arm back, fist closed, and Alex braced himself for the punch he knew was coming. He closed his eyes to calm down his panic and tightened his body, but impact nevercame.
Jason grunted. Alex opened his eyes to find he’d fallen to one knee. Gage stood behind him, chest heaving, trembling all over. He fixed Alex with his narrowed gaze and pointed at his car, which idled on the side of the street. “I told you not to come here! Nowget in thecar!”
