Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 103637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
“You had no right! I trusted you! I hate you motherfucker! Hate you so much for messing me up like this!”
Tears stung his eyes, but he punched his big target again and again.
“Stop it,” Luke said, triggering the memory of how he’d held Arden down and told him to stop wiggling.
“No! I’m not fucking stopping until I’m done!” Breathless, Arden charged at him shoulder-first, but Luke grabbed him and pulled Arden flat to his broad chest. Heat parched Arden’s skull until he could no longer think, trapped and afraid of what might happen next. The giant only let go when Arden elbowed him in the stomach. He could smell and taste freedom already, but big, strong hands grabbed his wrists again. Yanked him to the wall.
The scent of wood was unfamiliar on Luke, who preferred denser, sweeter cologne, but there was no time to assess why that was. Arden’s vision was so blurry he could barely see Luke’s shape anyway.
Arden put all his strength into trying to pull his arms away, but the hold on his wrists was like steel cuffs. “Let go! Let go! Let go!” he cried, gasping for air, but knew that he was on his own.
He struck the moment strong hands released his to cup his face instead, but Arden kept punching until he realized a warm voice cooed to him.
“Shhh, it’s all right, baby. Calm down.”
Arden stared up at Mike through a blur of tears, but reality began trickling back, washing away the fear. He’d had a fit. A full-on rage fit in front of Mike, whom he’d punched repeatedly.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, at loss when he saw a small trickle of blood under Mike’s nose.
He’d completely lost it. Stepped into a different reality and forgotten where he was. And with whom.
Mike exhaled and pulled him close, his face stiff, with deep wrinkles on the forehead and set lips. “It’s fine, baby.”
Arden latched on to him in an instant. Mike was his umbrella in pouring rain. This man. This wall of muscle made him feel safe in a way Luke never had, and Arden had paid him back with violence. “Did I hurt you?” he uttered when Mike’s arms slowly tightened, enfolding him in a careful embrace.
His heart beat fast against Arden’s ear, but its rhythm was so even, so comforting Arden found himself melting until his legs gave up and Mike slid down to the floor with him.
“You did. I’m impressed. Were I any shorter, you’d have clawed my eyes out,” Mike said.
Arden curled up in Mike’s lap with his arms around his boyfriend’s neck. He could still hardly comprehend their relationship was real. Every night they cuddled in bed as if they’d always belonged together.
“You just… You said ‘Luke’, and I kinda lost it. It’s so complicated with him, you know?” He pressed his forehead to Mike’s hot neck.
Mike spread his legs to accommodate Arden with more ease and pressed a soft kiss to the side of Arden’s head. The scent of woodsy cologne, which seemed so alien in Arden’s daymare now felt comforting, and he leaned into the firm chest.
“How is it complicated? You just had some… some kind of weird panic attack because I mentioned him,” Mike said.
Arden let his fingers settle over Mike’s heart. “Because it wasn’t always bad. I was like… fifteen when we met, and I got to have all this sex, and felt so grown up when I saw that this hot guy wanted me. And then we were kinda on-off, but he was always around, and so generous with money when I had none. I thought we were actually becoming a thing when everything went to shit.” He had to pause, unsure if he wanted to go there, but when he looked up into Mike’s attentive blue eyes, he knew he’d either tell this man, or forever shut down about it.
“We met up at his place, and he was just… really horny and up for it, but I wasn’t in the mood. I don’t even remember why. I think it was something stupid like wanting to talk about some show I was watching, and it pissed me off that he didn’t want to listen. He said we’d just cuddle, but then we didn’t, and he held me down, and I had no chance to fight him. He’s twice my size. Maybe I could have done something, but I froze…” He had to stop when his lungs refused to work and deprived him of oxygen.
Mike held his breath, his gaze wandering off as his fingers tightened on Arden’s flesh. “You don’t have to tell me about it if it’s painful.”
“I just… I’m so angry I put myself in that position. I should have seen it coming. My sister warned me he was shady, but I’d just think with my dick.”