Above and Beyond (Twist of Fate 4)

Then again in the bed.

I would have fucked him in every conceivable place and position and even after all of that, I probably wouldn’t have been able to stop.

Lucky had no idea what kind of monster he’d awakened. All his sweetness, his innocence, would have been tainted by what was buried inside of me.

Not to mention the fact that I’d already proven he wasn’t physically safe with me.

I’d been plagued with nightmares every night since I’d attacked Lucky after he’d woken me in his bed. In my dreams, reality only returned to me long after it was too late and Lucky’s lifeless body was beneath mine. I could still hear the way he’d hoarsely whispered my name as my arm had cut off his oxygen.

Shame crawled through me as I considered what I’d done. Afterwards, I’d tried to call Jake as I’d followed Lucky to work, but I hadn’t been brave enough to go through with it. So instead, I’d watched Lucky from afar while trying to convince myself it was only because I was doing a favor for my brother and his friends.

Tonight had been the first night that I’d forced myself not to tail Lucky, and that was only because Tag had insisted we get together so we could go over the ins and outs of my new job. There was no doubt that my friend had really only wanted to see for himself how I was doing since I’d done plenty of search and rescue work in between deployments. I’d been all smiles and laughter throughout the meal but as soon as Tag and his wife and kids had driven off, my entire body had started to shake violently. My intent had been to get back to my hotel room and drink myself stupid, but Minna’s text had changed all that.

My thoughts drifted back to Lucky’s apparent ex, Davis. Was he the one who’d driven Lucky to go out drinking tonight? I still wasn’t convinced Davis hadn’t been the one to vandalize Lucky’s car. All I’d managed to learn about the kid was that he appeared to be exactly what he was: a spoiled rich kid who thought his shit didn’t stink. Davis Teasley was from Castle Pines, Colorado, which was a wealthy country club community south of Denver where his father thrived in real estate investments. There was no hint of trouble in his background, but that didn’t mean people couldn’t change.

I whipped into an illegal parking space against the curb outside of the bar and made my way inside. The place was packed with college students. I doubted there was even one person remotely close to my age. The noise was deafening and bodies bumped into me everywhere I turned. When I finally found Lucky, he was exactly where he’d been in the photo, trapped in the arms of a muscular jock whose biceps seemed to be stretching the bounds of his T-shirt.

The man’s hands were all over Lucky and it was clear Lucky was into it. Just as it seemed the taller man was going to lean in and kiss Lucky, he shook his head and grinned, pulling Lucky off the dance floor toward the back hallway of the bar instead. Apparently, a kiss wasn’t what he was after. The jock wanted a back-room hookup instead.

With a guy who was stumbling drunk and in no state of mind to consent.

My guy.

I cursed the wayward thought and whatever mixed wires in my head had forgotten that Lucky wasn’t a guy but just a kid who sure as hell wasn’t mine. I clenched my fists as Lucky happily followed the man from the room.

No fucking way.

As I strode after them, I vaguely noticed Min’s voice calling out to me, but nothing was going to keep me from stopping what was about to happen.

Maybe I should have been thinking about Xander and Bennett, about how they’d flip out if they knew someone was preparing to take advantage of their son, but my head was still in fucked-up, take-no-prisoners mode.

That’s my fucking kiss, asshole. Mine.

I ground my teeth hard together and shoved past a couple blocking the doorway. When I got into the dimmer hallway, I saw several small groups of people—young women giggling in a circle while looking at a cell phone, a couple kissing and teasing each other against the wall in front of the men’s room, and an older man talking on his phone away from the louder noise of the bar.

But no Lucky.

I slammed open the door to the men’s room and saw only strangers at the urinals with both stall doors wide open and empty. When I returned to the hallway, I realized there was a door propped open to the cool evening air past the gaggle of women.

As soon as I stepped outside, I saw the jock palming Lucky’s cock through his jeans while Lucky’s head was thrown back against the rough brick of the building, exposing the long, pale expanse of his throat to the dim light from a nearby streetlamp. His fingers were wrapped around the guy’s wrist, but he wasn’t doing anything to try and push the hand away. If anything, he was probably trying to hold it in place as the guy groped him. Lucky’s eyes were squeezed closed, and I had a moment’s pause about ruining his pleasure. Clearly he was enjoying himself; clearly he wanted to be here in this alley being felt up by some random student.