I grinned down at the floor, trying to hide just how good that made me feel. “No?”
“Nope.” He nudged me with his shoulder, dropping his voice to a whisper. “Boyfriends, remember?”
My face had to resemble a Disney character’s at this point. Goofy or Dopey, I wasn’t sure which. “Damn straight.”
“What we did earlier definitely wasn’t straight.”
I chuckled before spotting Max and Amy making their way over to us. Sighing, I took a reluctant step away from Dominic. There was no point feeding Max’s ire.
My eyes narrowed on the cigarette in Dominic’s hand as he took another drag. “That’s a terrible habit, you know.”
He winked, taking another drag. “It is. The problem is that I’m fucking addicted.”
My cock stirred as I remembered how he’d whispered those words against my skin earlier. “Doesn’t mean it’s not bad for you.”
A dark look flickered through his eyes. “Maybe I like having an addiction I don’t have to hide.”
A lump formed in my throat. Was Dominic struggling with keeping us secret?
I didn’t know what possessed me. Maybe it was how he kept reminding me that we were boyfriends, or the hint that he didn’t like hiding us. That he was finding it as hard as I was to keep his hands to himself. Whatever it was, it sent a wave of recklessness washing over me.
I plucked the cigarette from his fingers and dropped it to the floor. Without looking away from him, I crushed it under my heel. “Not all addictions are worth having. Some might kill you.”
“Any addiction can kill you,” Max said as he came up beside us, his arm slung over Amy’s shoulders. Even having his girlfriend there hadn’t erased the suspicion on his face. “But you can’t tell Dominic what to do. No one does that.”
“I’m not telling him what to do,” I said, not looking away from Dominic. Dominic, whose face was completely unreadable. “I’m suggesting he finds a healthier outlet.”
“You’re such a goody-two-shoes,” Max muttered, pulling out a cigarette packet and extending it to Dominic. “Here. Ignore him. Have one of mine.”
I held my breath, waiting to see what he’d do. It was stupid, really. Of all things to take a stand over, why had I chosen this one? Had I known it would come down to this—Dominic having to pick one of us to listen to?
Maybe I had, because as Dominic shook his head, I felt a sense of giddiness and joy that was almost overwhelming. “Nah, I’m okay. Shadow’s right. It’s no good for me.”
Max’s face turned dark, but we were saved from a hissy fit by the arrival of the bus.
“Come on,” Dominic said, offering me a smile. “Let’s grab our usual seats.”
Max’s glare lingered on me the entire journey home. Dominic didn’t seem to notice, but I did.
We were pushing Max to his limits. It wasn’t a question of if he’d blow, but when.
I just had to hope he wouldn’t take us all down when he did.
20
Ryan
Despite my fears, Max behaved himself for the next few weeks. Even with Dominic refusing the offered cigarettes, Max didn’t say a word.
Not in front of me, at least.
I think it helped that I tried to give them time to themselves. Whenever Dominic invited me to game with them, I declined before Max could pitch a fit. Hard as it was to willingly give up time with Dominic, I didn’t want to come between the two of them.
Most of all though, I was scared of the way Max watched me sometimes. There was a coldness in his eyes that didn’t exist before. A brooding, thoughtful look whenever he caught Dominic and me interacting.
I didn’t think he was going to attack me or anything like that. Not physically, anyway. But with eighteen years of living under the same roof as him, I didn’t trust him not to interfere in other ways.
Dominic might’ve hoped we could grow closer as siblings, but he hadn’t accounted for Max’s stubbornness. It wasn’tjust their stubbornness the two of them shared, but their possessiveness.
