Keep him. Keep. Him.
Another message comes through from Brennan, apologizing for losing control of the situation and saying he’s already deleted the picture. I’m glad he has, but the two of us are going to have a discussion about Neo and how best to handle him. Apparently, Brennan’s going to have to hide his phone during tasks where he is present.
My phone pings again, and I see a blurry picture of Neo, the frame slightly skewed. It looks like Brennan was reaching for his phone mid-frame.
It makes my chest ache, how much trouble Neo gets into. How much trouble he causes. I used to hate it, but now I just feel…something else.
My phone pings, and I see a message from Candace asking to meet. It makes my face screw up and my stomach drop. How I ever liked her or even contemplated being with her is something I can’t quite comprehend. She was a means to an end, someone to easily fulfill a role when necessary.
Neo would never be like that.
He fights me at every turn. He makes me work for it.
Candace never did that. She was an afterthought, someone I put on my arm for parties and for the cameras.
Neo is…more. I think.
Yes, he is more. More than I thought he’d be.
I reply that I’m not interested and then block her, relief filtering through me at the thought of never having to speak to her again.
Brennan updates me several times—short, clipped texts that assuage my growing panic the longer Neo is away from me.
I pace until they arrive back, Harley and Neo both chattering happily, as if their lives were not in danger out there.
“Why are you smiling?” I bite out, making Neo and Harley stop, their eyes meeting mine. I see that telltale arch of Neo’s eyebrow, wanting to contradict me, to push.
I want him to push.
“We can’t smile now?” Neo snaps.
“Yeah, we can’t smile?” Harley gives me an odd look. “What the fuck?”
“We can smile,” Neo says, his teeth showing, his eyes wide. He looks ridiculous. He looks like mine.
“No, you can’t. Not with anyone else,” I grumble. Neo gives me his typical greeting of an eye roll, followed by flipping me off.
I stalk toward him, pulling him into me. His back hits my chest, and I inhale him.
Yours. Take it. Yours.
I hold him tighter.
“Honestly, Wylder. What the hell?” Neo asks. The protest is weak, destroyed completely by the undertone of fondness.
I hold him a little tighter, loving how he relaxes into me. I love the push and pull. The fight he gives.
But he’ll always submit. Because he loves it as much as I do.
Something soft hits my side and falls to the floor. A pillow. I glare at Harley, who’s smirking. “Let him go. We were going to go watch a horror flick.”
Growling, I hold Neo tighter.No.
Harley’s lips twitch. “You constipated again? Or is this you asserting your dominance?”
Neo lets out a laugh. “He’s trying to stake his claim as someone who has no territorial right.”
“I have the right,” I say, nipping at his earlobe.
