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I chew my lip for a moment. “I’m gonna need specifics here, Z. I don’t want to cross a line I can’t uncross.”

Zayden spends the next few seconds focused on my necklace, my throat, my collarbones, tracing his fingers across me, as if this thought process requires constant connection. The actions send shivers across me, and I lean into him.

“What are you thinking?” I whisper.

He runs his fingertip down my throat. “I’m picturing them kissing you here.” His presses his lips to the spot he just caressed, then moves down to the hollow at the base of my throat. “And here.” I tip my head back, his lips moving to the juncture between my neck and shoulder. “And all I can see is you reacting just like you are now.”

“And …” I let out a shaky breath. “How does that make you feel?”

He takes my hand and guides it to his crotch—to his hard, thick cock pressing against his jeans. I groan and grip his length through the material.

“I love watching you, Silence. I love being witness to your pleasure. But there’s something so fucking hot about knowing you’re getting that when I’m not here. I know things were fucked up with Ryker …” He nibbles my shoulder, and I roll my hips against him. “But before that, picturing all the things he could be doing to you … I was so fucking hard, baby. Knowing I could walk in on you wet and quivering—” The words ignite a spark in me and I capture his mouth with mine. He kisses like the final act of a dying man, like he wants to burn this moment into both our memories. His tongue swipes across mine, and he grips my hips, forcing me to grind my clit against his solid dick. “I trust you,” he breathes against my lips. “I trust them. If you need to kiss them, touch them, to figure out if this is what you want, then do it. Just give me every single detail after while I fuck you.”

God, I love this man. No one has ever put so much faith in me, and that convinced me it was because I didn’t deserve it. But he’s trusting me with his heart, his family.

“I love you,” I whisper, my nose tickling with the urge to cry. “Sometimes I think I might die I love you so much.”

He lifts and flips me, and before I can even catch my breath, he lays me on my back and undresses me from the waist down. My core is already throbbing when he kneels between my thighs, his rough hands spreading my legs apart.

“Wait—” I whisper. “When are you going to talk to them?”

He dips his fingers inside me and I groan, my eyes fluttering but remaining open so I can watch him admire my wetness on his digits. “Considering how wet you are from a conversation, I’d better talk to them pretty soon. But first”—he drapes my legs over his shoulder—“I want you to soak my face while you say their names.”

I almost come just from that. “They might walk in.”

His laugh is quiet, warm breath tickling my inner thighs. “And isn’t that what you want?”

With that, he devours me. My head drops back as his tongue pulses against my clit, and I let myself sink into the moment, because he’s right.

That’s exactly what I want.

Chapter 14

Yale

“How’s it going?”

I remain focused on my laptop as Zayden enters the bedroom. I’m sitting on the bed, propped up on my pillows, and Xavier is beside me, his face buried in the duvet as he sleeps on his front. Our parents’ bed was this big, and when we were kids we’d lie on it all day reading comic books and talking about girls.

“He’s still alive,” I say, nodding at our brother.

Zayden smirks as he approaches. “Remember when he got that tooth pulled just before Halloween and the morphine went to his head then, too?”

“Yes. He went missing in town for like, three hours.” I grin and shake my head. “And you wanted to take bets on how long it’d be before he showed up.”

He nods. “Mom said I was being cruel, Dad bet me twenty bucks it’d be at least another hour.” He stands at the end of the bed, arms folded, and I keep working. I haven’t found out anything more about Ryker, but I’ve fired off a message to Charlie Callahan, and I’m looking into places we can arrange our meet. We need somewhere with high rises so we can keep a close eye on Silence, somewhere busy where Ryker causing a scene would hurt him more than help him.

Zayden remains quiet.

“Spit it out,” I say, and he raises his eyes to me. “You’re hovering but not speaking, and it’s not often you’re too shy to say what’s on your mind, Z. So whatever it is, no judgment, no laughter from me. Just say it.”

He scratches his chin and looks at Xavier. “I wish he was awake so we could⁠—”

“I’m awake,” Xavier mumbles. “You’re both too fucking loud.” He groans and pulls the covers over his head. “And I can’t believe Dad bet twenty bucks against me, the fucking traitor.”

Zayden clears his throat. “I need you awake for this, Xavier.”

“Is it important?”