“Marcus, I get that it seems like Sterling doesn’t care about Kingston, but he does care about reputation, which means protecting his son on a public level. If you go after Kingston, Sterling will retaliate. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into; you can’t just–,”
“Icanjust,” I interrupt them. “I don’t think you realize just how far up the food chain Tristan and I are, pretty. Trust me, those two fuckers aren’t gonna know what hit them when the time comes.”
Qiang leans in until their forehead rests against mine and their arms wrap around my neck. Their body is vibrating against me with anxiety.
“Marcus, please don’t do anything that can get you taken away from me,” they plead quietly. “Please, he’s taken enough from me; don’t let him take you away too. Not when we just got here,” they whisper, and the fear in their eyes is something I can’t ignore.
I lean in and capture their lips with mine, soothing their fear with my tongue until their trembling slows and their body relaxes into mine. Once I feel like they’ve calmed down, I pull away from the kiss and meet their eyes with a resolute gaze.
“Everything is gonna be fine, pretty. I promise. I’m just gonnamake sure they understand the cost of hurting what’s mine,” I reassure them.
Qiang swallows hard before slowly shaking their head. “I wasn’t yours back then, though,” they breathe out as though they think fairness has any room in a situation like this.
I brush their hair away from their face. “That’s where you’re wrong. You’ve been mine since before we even existed,” I tell them before kissing them again.
Before Qiang can respond, a light clearing of the throat has us turning to the side to see a rather bored-looking Cade standing there. Once he knows he has our attention, he nods lightly towards Qiang.
“Little pixie. Lovely as ever,” he says in greeting, and the small smile that curls at Qiang’s mouth irritates the fuck out of me.
Little pixie?My back bristles and I tighten my arms around Qiang. I thought I heard him call them that at the party where these two ended up lip-locking. Evidently, it’s a whole fucking pet name, and nope, not liking thatat all.
To make it completely worse, there’s a twinkle of amusement in Cade’s eye as he reads the annoyance that I’m sure is plastered all over my face.
“I think it's about time to get the show on the road, don't you?”
“We were waiting on your call,” I remind him, a little sharper than necessary.
He just nods his head like he either didn’t pick up on the annoyance, or that he did and just doesn’t care. Although, knowing him, he probably did and is being smugly happy about it.
“I was still gathering intel, but I have enough now to speed things up. Give me a few hours to get everything in place, and keep your phone close,” he instructs before walking away.
Probably a good thing; I’m like one more wrong word or another flirtation with Qiang away from losing my temper. My fingers curl tighter around Qiang’s hipbone, making them shiver against me. Their obvious pleasure at my touch soothes me a bit. Now is not the time to start fighting with Cade, too.
“You got Cade in on this?”
“His reputation is ridiculously shady, but he’s friends with Gio and Holt, so he can’t be all bad,” I shrug, once again questioning my judgment.
Not that I don’t trust Cade with this, but I’m feeling rather prickly towards him right now, not that it’s the first time, and if he doesn’t drop the flirting, it won’t be the last, either.
“He's not, of course; he's not, but he's also not afraid to use scare tactics to get his way either. He's a great friend to have, but he's still scary as hell,” Qiang points out.
“Well, it's a good thing he's on our side then. Not that I really appreciate the way you two express yourfriendship. Little pixie? Really?” I mutter, knowing I’m being completely irrational, because even though their dynamic irritates the hell out of me, I don’t actually think either of them would do anything to hurt me, even if Cade gets way too much enjoyment out of ruffling my feathers.
“That was a one-time thing, Marcus,” they say, something suspicious in their tone, and I can’t bite back the question before it escapes my mouth.
“We aren’t just talking about that kiss, are we?”
A flush runs from Qiang’s temple all the way down their neckline, and a petulant seed of jealousy grows even though I know it’s unfair since I know it had to have been before we’d ever met.
“Oh my god, you can't fault me for what I did before you. Cade and I have the same rule: one-and-done. We were acquaintances before, and friends after, and that’s all we’ve ever been. Besides, it was years ago, anyway.Youare the only one I've broken my one-and-done rule for.”
“There was Kingston,” I point out.
Qiang rolls their eyes. “You’re being petulant for no reason, Marcus,” they hiss in annoyance. “Kingston wasbeforethe rule was created, and he was the reasonwhyit was created, because I never wanted anywhere near something like that again, so it doesn't count.”
“I don't like it,” I huff out honestly, even though I know Qiang is right about me being petulant. I’m letting too many of the things that happened before me weigh on the us that exists now.
“Then don't ask questions you don't want to hear the answers to, especially when they don't pertain to us,” they say haughtily, and it takes some of the wind out of my sails.
