Corvus huffed, curling his lip in distaste when Hudson handed a black card to Michelle. Michelle glanced between the two of them before shrugging and typing the card information into the system.
“Did you get enough to eat,chibi?” I asked, looking back at Corvus.
He nodded, smiling. “I did, thanks.”
That time, the smile reached his eyes. And fuck, my heart tripped over in my chest. Iwantedhim, and I knew Michelle and I would stop at nothing to have him. But we had to be careful. Something told me, when it came to commitment, the boy would be skittish as hell. Like a scared little kitten.
“Well, I haven’t eaten,” Hudson said, taking his card back. “So, let’s go. I’m craving pho.”
Corvus rose. “I’ll meet you in the car.”
Hudson turned on his heel without a word to either of us, leaving just as quickly as he’d come in.
Looking at the two of us, Corvus shoved his hands into his pockets, like he wasn’t sure what to do with them. It was adorable. “Thank you for the help today. Just call me with any updates. Texts are cool, too.”
And then, he spun on his heel and rushed out the door. I didn’t look away from him until Hudson rolled off the lot, taking him away from us.
“I want him, Kip,” Michelle said.
I nodded, forcing my gaze away from the spot he’d been in, so I could look at my beautiful wife, her creamy skin covered in tattoos and grease stains that would take a good bit of scrubbing to get off her fingers. With her hair in a messy bun and nomakeup on her face, she was still the most beautiful woman in the fucking world.
“I do, too,tsuma. And we’ll have him. I promise.” I nodded my chin toward the pizza box. “Eat another slice, then let’s get his car off the truck. I want to start work on it as soon as possible.”
“At first,” she said, halting me, “I thought he was a spoiled rich boy, but I’m beginning to think differently. I think his best friend is trying to take care of him.”
I nodded in agreement. “He’s a Little,tsuma, even if he doesn’t realize it yet. All that stammering with us? He instinctively knows because he was a completely different person with his friend.” I gave her a soft smile. “Patience, you hear me?”
She scrunched her nose in distaste. “Ugh. Not one of my virtues, baby.”
I chuckled. “Make it one of them.”
Then, I pushed out the door into the garage to get a little more work done while she finished eating.
Chapter Three
Corvus
It had been futile to hope Hudson wouldn’t notice my weird behavior with Michelle and the other man back at Tanaka Motors. Of course, he picked up on the fact that I’d been acting strange. Hudson was just… aware like that.
“Yo, what the fuck was that back there?” Hudson asked as he pulled onto the highway. “I’ve never seen you be so nice to anyone.”
I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “Bro, they literally came and helped me when my fucking car broke down. Was I supposed to be a dick?”
“No,” he answered immediately. “But you weren’t yourself, either.” He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “You good, dude?”
He was right. I hadn’t been myself around Michelle and the other man. And it had nothing to do with the two of them being hot as fuck. There was just something about them that made me feel… trusting of them? I didn’t know. They just had a… vibe. And the way both of them seemed ready to go to bat for me whenthey thought Hudson was bullying me or something had made my chest ache.
No one had ever been ready to defend me except for Hudson and Kreed.
And I mean, fuck, the way the man had ordered me to eat and watched to make sure I ate an entire slice… I swallowed thickly, hoping Hudson didn’t notice. I craved that kind of attention. For someone to want to take care of me. And I just had this… feeling Michelle and the other man wanted to. Fuck, they’d already begun to, and they didn’t even know me. I sure as fuck didn’t know them.
“I don’t know. I’m just having an off day, I think.” I leaned my head against the headrest. “What about you? I’m surprised you’re even out of bed yet.”
He grunted. “I think I’m finally rested enough. I woke up about ten and saw you were gone.” He slowed for a red light. “Next time, leave a guy a text or something, yeah? Not like you to just up and disappear. Kreed said he found you outside stupid early this morning and that it’s not the first time he’s caught you awake.”
I winced. No wonder Kreed hadn’t believed me. He’dbeennoticing—probably had noticed when we’d come home for spring break, too.
Hudson paused for a moment, and I didn’t say a word either. I sure as fuck didn’t want him worrying about me. My PTSD from the godawful fucking day I almost lost him was my own shit to deal with.
