Christian looked confused as he met his eyes. “Yeah, why not?”
“But you fought tonight. Youwontonight. Isn’t that enough for you?”
Christian’s brow creased. “It’s just a fight. What’s the big deal?”
He didn’twantChristian to fight. He knew he couldn’t control what another person did, shouldn’t even try, but surely his opinion should count forsomething.
Unable to say any of that, he simply said, “You might end up in a hospital.”
Christian’s gaze softened. He put the makeshift ice pack to one side and folded out of the chair, onto the floor where Dave was kneeling. His hand cupped Dave’s jaw, large and warm. “Don’t worry. I’m good, I promise.”
His eyes were steady on Dave’s, soft in a way he never let anyone else see, and then he leaned in and kissed him. For a second, Dave didn’t kiss him back.
Hewantedto. God, he wanted to. But his heart ached with the pain of always shoving down what he wanted to say. His hesitation lasted no more than a second, with Christian’s lips soft and warm on his, and then he returned Christian’s kiss, because how could he not? HelovedChristian, with all his heart. That was why he couldn’t risk saying something that couldn’t be unsaid. He might break what was between them, send Christian away from him.
The heat came fast, the way it always did, curling low in his belly as their bodies pressed close. Hands tugged at shirts, at zippers, until they were half-undressed and desperate, rutting together. It was clumsy and raw, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was the way Christian clung to him, the sound he made when he came, the way he softened afterward, letting Dave hold him.
They lay there, panting, on the scratchy motel carpet—and what thehellhad they been thinking,when there was a bed only inches away? Though maybe that was them all over, always taking the harder path even when there was another way.
Dave cradled Christian’s dark head against him, stroking his fingers slowly through Christian’s hair, and tried not to think about the following night.
Chapter Nine
DAVE
The motel room’s air was stale with heat and the faint, lingering scent of sex and antiseptic. Christian’s soft snores had finally faded into silence as he lay with his arm draped over Dave’s waist. Dave had been awake for a while, watching the light creep around the edges of the curtains.
He’d hoped this trip would bring them closer, but it had flung them into the heart of the whirlwind instead. He wasn’t sure what had changed, or when. Or maybe nothing had. Maybe routine and the presence of the rest of the pack had papered over the cracks all this time. No, not cracks—they didn’t run that deep. But there were tensions between them, the constant push and pull of who they were. Being here with no distractionshad cast an unforgiving light on that fact.
Last night had only underlined it. Seeing the way Christian lit up in the cage hadn’t made Dave feel less wanted, but he’drealized he didn’t understand what fighting gave Christian. Not really. That both hurt and scared him.
The problem wasn’t that they were different but that they’d stopped trying to understand those differences. They never had, if he were honest. They’d simply let them settle, like sediment. Being here, with nothing else between them, had stirred it all up again and made it hard to see clearly.
It hadn’t exactly been easy at the start, but he’d wantedChristian so badly, and been wanted in return, and that had been enough. They’d made it work because they were mates, and love had smoothed over what understanding didn’t quite reach.
And now, maybe for the first time, they had to really look and learn who they were together.
He reached for his phone to check the time. Jesse’s pack could wait a few more hours, because this was more important than anything.
* * *
When Christian stirred at last and cracked open sleep-blurred eyes, Dave leaned over him and said lightly, “How d’you feel about treating this like the romantic getaway we pretended it might be?”
Christian blinked. “Huh?”
“You and me. Something better than burned coffee and no tea. Let’s try being tourists together, like this is a vacation.”
Christian grinned slowly, making Dave’s heart kick. “You asking me on a date, Mitchell?”
“It’d be our first,” he said. “Let’s get lunch somewhere nice, and we can check out the town like we’ve nothing else to do but be together.”
Christian’s hand cupped his jaw, and he drew Dave in for a kiss.
“Guessing that’s a yes,” Dave said afterward, because Christian’s eyes were smiling into his.
“Maybe,” Christian said, rolling over and sitting on the edge of the bed. “Don’t want you thinking I’m easy, though,” he added over his shoulder, and Dave lay back on the pillow, laughing helplessly.
God, that was what thinking in the middle of the night got him. He’d gone way overboard, thinking that things between them weren’t working. They loved each other, and they got one another in a way no one else did. They just needed to be free of this place—the ghosts on the cliff, this damn fight ring—get home, and everything would be fine.
