Page 31 of Bruised

“It’s okay. Not your fault.”

Tess shifts her gaze. “It kind of is.”

“Shut up. It’s not. Besides, I’d do it a hundred times over.” Maybe I wouldn’t have gone to such extremes, but at least I would’ve protected her again. Like I did.

I just wish I hadn’t made her afraid of me by doing so. Or maybe not afraid, just… apprehensive.

I stand up. “I’ll get us a drink,” I say, in an attempt to break the awkward silence. When I open the door, I almost crash face-first into someone standing hunched right outside.

Lane.

His big brown eyes stare up at me. He looks tasty enough to eat, with his coal-black eyeliner and the collar around his neck.

I lean against the doorframe, arms crossed. “Keeping guard, puppy?”

He glances into my room, and his eyes darken, his mouth a thin line. “Who is she?”

Tess jumps up from the bed and joins us by the doorway. “I’m Tess, Mason’s lesbian friend.”

Lane blinks in confusion before his expression softens with relief, and finally, I realize what was going on with him.

He was… jealous? He heard I had a girl over and thought he’d investigate? My chest does a weird little flip at that, but I disguise it with a smirk as I look down at him.

He wraps his arms around himself, and his little pout is enough to make my dick twitch. As always when he’s close, my ever-simmering libido is reaching a boiling point, and the tightening in my groin worsens when I recall the way he looked last night with my cock in his mouth. He was so fucking lost in it. I bet he got as much pleasure out of the act as I did, if not more.

“I’m Lane,” he mumbles at Tess. “Nice to meet you.”

It doesn’t sound very convincing. I’ll need to train my puppy to be nicer to strangers.

My smirk widens at the thought. Taking it too far? Maybe.

“Want to play fetch?” I ask casually, and Lane looks at me, stunned, before his wide eyes narrow into a glare. I can almost see the gears turning in that sweet little head of his. “Get us a couple of Cokes.”

“Fine, but I was going to the kitchen, anyway,” he mutters and leaves.

When I turn to Tess, she’s looking at me with a meaningful smile, eyebrows raised.

“What?” I huff and elbow the door shut.

“What’s up with him?”

I shrug. “Nothing’s ‘up with him.’ He’s just Oliver’s buddy.”

“You like him.” When I glance away instead of replying and start picking at my Transformers, she gasps, “Oh my God. You really like him.”

“I’ve fucked him,” I grumble, unable to keep up my carefree expression. To be fair, what happened last night was hardly a fuck. We’re getting there, though. Soon. “So what?”

“Does Oliver know?”

I stare down at my desk, picking up an unfinished piece I still have to paint. “Lane doesn’t want him to.”

“If it gets serious between you two, it might get hard to hide.”

“It won’t get serious—it’s just fucking.”

“Well, he’s cute. A little young, though.”

“He’s nineteen.” Oliver’s nineteen, so I assume Lane is too. He’s at least eighteen, anyway, but if he’s eighteen or nineteen, I’m not sure.