“What the actual fuck, Lennox!” Rogan shouts at me, making me jump.
And clearly this asshole needs better calming techniques.
I narrow my eyes at him, pissed that he’s dumping his shit on me. I get that he’s scared and worried; I know I’d feel the exact same if a demon had stolen him away from me. However, if he thinks I’m going to just stand here and take this, that it’s okay for him to behave like this toward me, all because I can feel what’s at the heart of his issues through our connection, he’s got another thing coming.
“You know what, Rogan?” I snap. “You can just fuck right off. Seriously, off you fuck, because I have hit my limit with this shit. You act like I had all these amazing choices and instead went with the most fucked up one. This is our best shot at getting one more threat off our back, a really fucking serious one at that,” I point out.
Fury boils through our connection, and we both stand there seething. Elon tries to get Rogan to leave it alone and start walking again, but Rogan ignores him. Both Marx and Prek look like they wish they had a bowl of popcorn right now.
“You want to be pissed? Go for it. You want to feel scared and helpless? Great, join the club. Rage away if it helps you process things and work through them. But don’t you dare forget who I am to you and the kind of treatment and respect that deserves,” I yell at him, my heart pounding painfully in my chest as my throat tightens and my eyes sting.
I watch as my words strike him like physical blows, and he steps back away from me like he’s struggling to absorb the impact. I’m reminded of the brutal arguments we’ve had in the past and am suddenly worried that we might be adding this one to our future. I’m all for the passion and the heat, but I’ll never be okay with the disrespect Rogan is dishing out when he behaves this way.
“I am not the dumping ground for your frustration and anger. Figure out a better way,” I tell him, my tone soft and quiet.
Pain fills Rogan’s gaze, and he drops it to the ground for a beat before lifting it once again to mine. “You’re right. I’m sorry. What just happened scared the shit out of me. It was bad enough the first time they ripped you out of my arms,” he confesses, his eyes fixed on his hands as though he can still feel me slipping away. “Watching it happen again, I just…I couldn’t...” He sighs and rubs a hand over his face. “Knowing they’re going to do it again, it’s like living through my worst nightmare over and over again,” he admits, his voice haunted and his eyes filled with anguish as they connect with mine.
My heart aches at what I see in his face, and I wish I could keep all that pain and worry from settling inside of him.
“Lennox, I know you did the best you could. I’m just afraid for you, for me, for all of us,” Rogan explains, and he suddenly looks exhausted. “None of that should be taken out on any of you though. I’m sorry for losing it. None of you deserved that.”
I’m taken aback by the immediate apology. The Rogan I know usually takes longer to realize he’s being an asshole. Typically, he storms off, needs to brood for a while, followed by some light pouting around, and thenmaybehe’ll own his shit and say sorry.
Rogan steps closer to me and cups my face in his palms, tilting my head until I’m looking up into his repentant eyes. “I know what you are to me, Lennox. I’ll do better,” he reassures me, kissing me softly and giving me a chance to taste his apology in addition to seeing it written all over his face and hearing it in his earnest words.
I pull him closer, opening up to him and reveling in the searing requisition he’s making against my mouth.This is the passion I want to see and to feel, I tell him through our bond, filling it with satisfaction and need. His tongue teases mine, and I can almost feel it between my thighs. Heat dips straight down to my clit, and as he wraps his apology around my tongue, and I nip and suck my forgiveness right back, I grow needier and wetter and gain a clearer understanding about why makeup sex is so fucking hot and so fucking important.
I want to climb him right now and demand that he take me against the cool stone of the building on our left. I don’t give a shit if I lose an ass cheek to frostbite, it would be well worth it.
A loud and veryobnoxious “awwwwwwww” fills the chilly night all around us, and Rogan and I reluctantly break apart to look over at Marx, who’s wearing an overexaggerated look of adoration and delight. “Like, aren’t you two just the cutest,” he declares in his best teenage girl voice.
“Fuck off,” Rogan grunts at him, and Marx chuckles.
“But, like, you totally are,” Marx goes on, laughing and refusing to give up the taunt.
“Right?” Elon starts, and I crack a smile, not able to help myself. “I was full on swooning just now. All that emotional growth and concerning commitment to PDA, like for real, for real, talk about romance city,” he plays along, nailingClueless’s Cher Horowitz.
I bite back theas ifthat wants to sneak out of my mouth.
Marx reaches out for Elon’s hand, and then they start to skip down the sidewalk together. “I hope we can be lucky enough one day to get mouth-fucked against a building,” Marx calls out over his shoulder, throwing me a cheeky wink.
Rogan’s stoic demeanor finally cracks, and I catch a smile ticking at his lips.
Elon sighs loudly and dreamily as they make their way hand in hand. “If only we’ll be so lucky as to find someone with such an assholic nature as Rogan Kendrick.”
I bust out a loud laugh at that, and Rogan rolls his eyes at me before pulling me tighter to his side and tickling my ribs in retaliation. I squeal and wiggle away, tossing him a heated look of challenge before sprinting after Elon and Marx.
“You guys are so fucking weird,” I hear Prek declare on a resigned sigh.
I smile even wider as Marx and Elon both coo a high-pitched, dreamy, “Rogan Kendrick,” as though he’ll be the name they doodle all over their notebooks this year.
Suddenly Rogan takes off after me, and I squeak in surprise and book it in the direction of the ley line. The back of Tesco is empty and quiet, the sound of my running footfall echoing off the pavement and bouncing across the white walls of the back of the building. I can feel the levity in our connection as well as the growl ofchallenge acceptedas I hear Rogan gain on me from behind.Before I can make it, he grabs me by the waist and swings me around. I shriek and laugh and weakly try to fight off the attack of kisses he applies to my neck and cheeks. His scruff is tickly, and I make big plans for it when we get home.
“You win, you win,” I shout out through peals of laughter as my bladder threatens to ruin the good time we’re having.
“Ahh and what do you have for the victor?” he whispers deeply in my ear as he pulls me flush against him.
We’re dipped in the shadows of the building behind us, both breathing hard, his chest pressed against mine. I want him so much that slight movement against my peaked nipples is making me wet as fuck. He’s hard against my hip, and it’s all I can do not to reach down and discreetly say hello. He kisses my neck just below my ear, and I barely bite back a moan. I check for the others, not wanting them to overhear anything I’m about to say. I see that they’re further down past the building, over in a patch of grass near the ley line.
