“Fuck, Ling,” Az groaned, kissing my lax lips. “Oh, shit.” He panted, closing his eyes. “Baby, yes.”
While I was still coming down off my high, Az drove into me, his hips thrusting erratically until he buried himself as deeply as he could and held himself there, inside me, as his cock began to throb. He groaned long and low before he fell onto me, holding my tit as he tried to steady his breathing. I could feel his rapid heartbeat through the jugular at his neck, and for whatever reason, it made me smile.
But that smile was short-lived.
Suddenly, the thought of losing this, of losing this man, was crushing. I was overwhelmed with the abrupt anxiety I felt.
Humiliatingly so, my body shook as I began to cry. And when Aslan lifted his head to look at me, I covered my eyes with my hands.
“Baby.” He sounded sweetly concerned. “What’s wrong?”
I needed to tell him.
Removing my hands from my face, I swiped at my cheeks, blinking away tears. My lip quivered when I disclosed a dismal sounding, “I’m in love with you and I don’t want to be.”
Surprisingly, Aslan wasn’t offended by my admission. Instead, he looked overjoyed by it. “About fucking time you conceded.”
“Don’t make fun of me. This is serious.” I glared.
Az looked down at me tenderly. “It is serious.” He pecked my lips affectionately. “I love you too, Ling.”
The words were quiet, and even as I spoke them, I knew they were a useless plea. “Then be with me.”
Choose me.
Pick me.
Come home to me.
But he shook his head. “Baby, you knew what this was and I’m never leaving my wife. She’s a good woman.” At my eye roll, he gently reprimanded me. “Don’t do that. You don’t know her. The shit she’s had my back on, the shit she’s stuck with me through, I owe her that much.” He searched my face. “She has my name, but it’s you, Ling. Everything else goes to you. I promise, baby.” He watched me carefully, as he asked, “Can you deal with that?”
A short while passed before I responded.
“Yeah,” I lied.
Because if Aslan made love to his wife the way he made love to me, it was no wonder why she adored him.
And I hated her.
Chapter Nineteen
Lexi
It was Saturday, and although Molly usually took A.J. out with her in the morning, giving me the time to go for my weekend jog, I told her she could have the day off. I needed to buy my little monster some new clothes. My son seemed to have shot up overnight and all of his pants were starting to look like clam diggers.
He sat at the breakfast table, eating cereal, and when I told him we were going shopping, he immediately asked, “Can Daddy come too?”
I hesitated only a moment, making sure to keep my smile wide, then answered, “I don’t think so, honey. He’s probably busy today.”
Truth was, I had no idea what Twitch was doing today. I just wanted a day with my son, uninterrupted and alone.
After I got A.J. ready for the day, making sure to take his little backpack filled with snacks and a bottle of water, we stepped outside.
“Hi, Daddy!” A.J waved enthusiastically, calling out to Twitch, who just happened to be walking back into his house.
I sighed, then whispered under my breath, “You’re always there when I don’t want you to be, you sly fucker.” It was like he knew every time our front door opened. I wouldn’t put it past him to have put sensors on the damn door.
My brow furrowed.
I would definitely be checking the door for sensors when we came home.
Twitch, dressed in fitted blue jeans that encased his long legs, a black tee that made his arms look downright nibble-worthy, and those scuffed Adidas originals, peered out from under the black cap he wore. “Hey, bud. What’s up?”
When A.J. took off running down the drive, my heart stopped beating. It did this because it didn’t look like he was going to stop when he reached the road. I screamed out to him, “A.J, stop!”
At the very same time, Twitch’s face turned panicked and he started running. “Stop!”
A.J. came to a stop just at the street line, and when Twitch reached him, he put a hand to his chest and let out a long exhale. “Jesus, bud.” He panted. “You gave me a fuckin’ heart attack.” Then his face darkened, but he spoke as gently as he could. “We’ve talked about this. You can’t just run across the street. Cars are always coming and going, and sometimes they don’t stop.”
A.J.’s face fell. “I’m sorry.”
My heart was thumping, and the second I could breathe again, I uttered in false calm, “Say goodbye to Daddy, then go sit in the car, honey.”
A.J., knowing not to push his luck, hugged his father, apologizing once again before opening the car door, then shutting it behind him. As soon as I knew he couldn’t hear what we were saying, I leaned into Twitch, and whisper-hissed, “I never had an issue with those kinds of things until you came along. In the time you’ve been back, my son has been so goddamn reckless, and it makes me ill.” When his jaw tightened, I sighed and asked the delicate question I’d been meaning to. “Have you thought about moving somewhere else?” Twitch’s brow knitted, and I explained, “I think it would be better if you weren’t so close. That way, he’d know he couldn’t see you whenever the impulse strikes.”
But his face turned stoic. “I’m not going anywhere. I like it here. I want to be close to him.” He made a valid point and I hated him for it. “Ask yourself what happens if I move and he decides to come looking for me? He walks farther away from here, crosses wider roads, and I’m not going to be there to step in when needed.” At my thin-lipped silence, he looked at my outfit. “Aren’t you supposed to be jogging?”
My eyes widened. “Are you still following me?”
His words were quiet, annoyed. “I’d follow you anywhere.”
My heart stuttered for a different reason then.
“Whatever,” I muttered, shaking my head. “I need to go.”
But Twitch followed. “Where are you going?”
“To the mall,” I uttered, stepping into the car and closing the door behind me but lowering the window.
That was when my dear child called out, “Mummy said you’re too busy to come with us.”
Ah! Goddamn it. Mothertrucker.
And Twitch just looked at me knowingly. “Oh, she did, did she?” I lowered my eyes because I knew what was coming. “Well, as it turns out, I’m free as a bird today.”
Yep. That was coming.
“Yes!” A.J. yelled, and I uttered a completely deadpan, “Oh, yay, so exciting.”
Twitch walked around the car and opened the passenger door, sliding in beside me and doing his belt up before twisting back to his son. “We’re gonna have a great day.” Then he looked at me, daring me to say something. “A family day.” When I glared at him, his lip lifted in the corner and he took off his cap, running a hand through his hair, which was now long enough to curl behind his ears. It didn’t look bad. On the contrary, I didn’t think Twitch could look bad, even if he tried. It just wasn’t what I remembered. “What?” he asked at my obvious frustration. “Apparently, some people think I need a haircut, so I need to go to the mall anyways.”
I drove without saying a word because all the words I wanted to say were too rude to say in front of my five-year-old. Instead, I stayed silent, and when we got to the mall, we all filed out of the car. Twitch took A.J.’s hand like it was the most natural thing in the world, and he walked by my side. The moment we stepped through the doors, Twitch put his arm around me.
When I frowned at him, attempting to shrug him off, he tugged me deeper into his side, held me tightly, and spoke directly into my ear, his breath warming my skin. “Fight me. I dare you, baby.”
That sounded like a threat.
A delicious threat.
I tried to ignore the way it felt to have his arm around me. It had been so long that I thought I’d imagined the way it made me feel. Unfortunately, I hadn’t.
He smelled good.
Ugh.
Why did he have to smell so good?