“I don’t want ‘em,” he whined. The pain in his bottom and elbows was down to a dull ache. It was the back of his head, which had bounced off the ground, that still gave him bother. The pain pills the hospital had given Kari tasted horrible and made him feel like he had a cushion pressed around his head—and not in a good way.
Kari arched one brow. “Is the pain at the back of your head gone?”
He groaned at the inability to tell a fib and carefully shook his head. It had been three days since…
Not thinking about that.He squeezed his eyes shut when he could easily recall the fingers digging into his throat, stopping him from catching a breath. Sweaty, terrifying nightmares woke him when he relieved the inability to breathe.
“Hey.” The cushion on the couch next to him depressed before a gentle touch to his cheek got him to open his teary eyes. “What is it? What do you need from Daddy?”
Shadows of sadness hadn’t left Kari’s eyes. They haunted Bowie because he was to blame for them. It didn’t matter how many times Kari said it was all Rex’s fault, or his own fault, Bowie knew differently.
Kari’s explanation of the steps he’d taken to punish Rex for what he’d done to Bowie, to his mind, were because Bowie had done nothing. He should have gone to the police the first time Rex had hit him, when Kari wanted him to. That meant this was his fault.
Kari said it wouldn’t have stopped Rex, with his arrogance, but they didn’t know that for sure. This wasn’t the actual issue for Bowie. No, he’d gotten Kari in trouble with the police for attacking Rex. He hated himself for that when it had to make it obvious to Kari, he wasn’t worthy of him.
Too much trouble.
“Babycakes, talk to Daddy.”
“Why are you still here?” He wasn’t aware that was what he wanted to ask until it was out of his mouth. He had caused so much distress to this wonderful man.
Kari’s eyes widened. “I’m not sure what you’re getting at. Do you mean because Rex is locked up in jail and can’t hurt you anymore?”
Bowie frowned, brows drawing together when he hadn’t actually given that any thought. Should he have? His head hurt just trying to work that out. “No…”
The stillness about Kari was the only sign he was troubled. “So, it’s a more general question?”
“I suppose.” Bowie shrugged awkwardly, clinging to Boo-Boo, finding his gaze fixed on the blankets. “I… no one sticks around,” he confessed.
Did that sound as pathetic as it felt saying it aloud? It was the truth. In his entire life, no one had. Not for long anyway. Was it just a matter of time before Kari gave up too?
He’d suffered the pain of rejection, time and time again, but deep in his gut Bowie knew this would be significantly worse. And as much as it petrified him to lose Kari, he felt it was only right to be honest.
The police had come to the apartment and questioned Kari far more than Bowie because he’d shifted and bitten Rex. Between the nightmares, there were dreams of Kari’s wolf in all its magnificent glory defending him. He secretly felt like a prince in the fairytale—he felt loved. How was that?
“Look at me, please.” Bowie peeked up from under inky eyelashes, pulse leaping. “I’m not going anywhere unless you specifically ask me to leave. Do you want me to?”
There was no indication at all of what Kari’s feelings were. He could have been talking about the weather. It felt… off.
“What… what if… I never want… you to leave?” The last bit was barely more than a whisper as he clutched at his bear, unsure where the courage came from to speak aloud his one wish. One wish that had come from how Kari fulfilled a deep-seated need Bowie didn’t know how to voice.
The seconds dragged as Kari’s lips parted, only no sound came out.
I should have kept quiet.
Bowie’s doubts had no real time to take root when a shimmer in Kari’s eyes came right as he scooped Bowie up, along with the blankets. His bear got jammed between them as he squeaked in surprise, right as his mouth was crushed in a kiss that was all heat.
At the demand of the tongue stroking at the seam of his lips, they parted. Their tongues tangled as Kari deepened the kiss, which went from hot and steamy to soft and gentle in seconds.A worshipping of his mouth that left him breathless and needy. He squirmed, working on getting closer, which was difficult with wads of fleece jammed between them.
When Kari stopped, chest heaving, Bowie whined in disapproval, even as they both worked to catch their breath, staring at each other. Bowie wasn’t any expert on the sex stuff, but the way Kari looked at him was the same as Frey looking at chocolate cake. It made his skin hot like he had a fever and his lower body needy with arousal, despite how the back of his head throbbed in time to his pulse.
Dragging in a breath of air scented with Kari’s sexy pheromones didn’t help Bowie’s situation as he shifted on Kari’s lap and, though cushioned beneath the padding, he felt a hardness that said Kari was equally affected as Bowie.
“Bowie”—Kari cupped his cheeks, causing him to pause—“I’m in love with you and I don’t want to leave you.”
“Huh?”
A chuckle was Kari’s response to his dorkiness, and the heat flooding him this time was nothing to do with arousal, and made his cock wilt at the level of mortification. “You do?” That really wasn’t much better.
