AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Both Scotty and Zander ignored Vince.
“I just thought…” Scotty swallowed. “You listened to me and Vince share our stories, so it’s only fair that you do the same.”
Zander barked a dry laugh. “Fair? Well, since you put it like that, let’s talk about fair. Is it fair that you broke into my place? That you shot that one over there?” He flicked his gaze to Vince, then brought it back to Scotty. “Is it fair that your new best friend has led my former boss—who thinks I’m dead, by the way—directly to my door?”
Scotty gaped at him, and when Zander grasped his chin, it took a while for the touch to register.
“Life isn’t fair, and you learned that at an early age, didn’t you, Scotty?” He spat out Scotty’s name as if it tasted foul, fingers biting into his skin.
Something—What was— Scotty’s head spun, too many things coming at him too fast. Zander’s grip was tight, his fingertips rough, his skin warm. Scotty wasn’t sure if he was supposed to notice that, or the way Zander’s lips curved when he spoke, or the way he smelled like warm skin mixed with the fading scent of a cologne that made Scotty want to take a deeper inhale.
“I grew up with two parents who loved me and adored each other.” Zander’s dark eyes bored into him, eyebrows thick slashes of darkness against his brown skin. His grim countenance had Scotty transfixed, tongue incapable of helping him form words. Next to him, Vince’s stillness broadcast a warning, but Scotty was too lost in the depths of Zander’s eyes to take heed. “I had an older brother who taught me shit and a younger sister we spoiled.” With every word, his expression got darker and his fingers on Scotty’s chin turned more painful. “In one night my family was wiped out by home invaders.”
Vince hissed.
Scotty’s chest cracked open.
“I was eight and I survived only because I’d wet the bed after having a bad dream and went to change in the bathroom. I did it in the dark because I shared a room with my older brother and I didn’t want to turn on the lights and wake him. He’d see me and make fun of me. I was too ashamed for him to know. So I was in our bathroom, in the dark, changing my pajamas.”
“Christ.”
That was Vince; Scotty was too shell-shocked to do anything except stare up at Zander.
“I didn’t hear a thing. It took longer than I expected because I tried rinsing out the clothes.” Zander made a sound that was probably meant to be a laugh. “All of that just so my brother wouldn’t make fun of me. When I finally came out, it was the silence and the heavy scent of blood that alerted me that something was off. I don’t know how they missed me. I don’t know why I got spared, if it’d been intentional or not.” He stopped then, a muscle in his jaw ticking, and Scotty touched him.
A shaking hand on his shoulder.
Zander stared at that touch as if he didn’t know what it was, didn’t understand it.
“I went to live with my uncle. Much later I was told it’d been an execution. A hit meant to send a message to my uncle.” Zander’s nostrils flared and he looked at Vince then. “You want to guess who my uncle is?”
“DuBois is your uncle?”
“Yes.”
“Fuck.”
Scotty glanced between the two of them. What was he missing? Zander returned his gaze to Scotty and must have caught his confusion because Zander smiled, beautiful and deadly. “Your marshal has a bounty on his head, did he tell you that? There are people on their way to kill him as we speak, and they’re led by my uncle, Murray DuBois.” His teeth appeared. “You can get me those chips now.”
What the fuck? Scotty didn’t know what he was supposed to say to any of what he’d just heard, so he threw his arms around Zander, who went stock-still.
“I’m sorry about your family,” Scotty whispered against his neck. “I’m sorry you had to deal with that kind of loss. I’m sorry.” He kept on hugging Zander, waiting for the moment when the other man would inevitably push Scotty away. But Zander never did.
His arms wrapped around Scotty instead.
10
What the fuck just happened?
Zander’s head spun as he tried to recover his equilibrium, but that shit was hard to do. Control was hard to come by with Scotty pressed up against him, his arms around Zander’s neck.
Hugging him.
How did that even come about?
One minute he was trying not to kill the guy and the next he was blabbing his fucking life story? How did that even happen?
He gritted his teeth, tearing himself away from Scotty the Hugger. The younger man met his gaze with wide eyes and cheeks so red that Zander’s fingers flexed at the stupid urge to touch him. He recoiled at the mere thought. “Don’t do that,” he snapped. “Don’t touch me.”
