“I’m just here to talk.”
“That wasn’t talking,” Brecken reminds him. “You were holding her hostage.”
Levi attempts a sardonic laugh but Brecken pushes down on his throat, making the sound choked and comical. Levi raises his hands in surrender instead. His eyes swivel to me, pleading. “Babe, come on, help me out here.”
Brecken growls out, “She’s not your fucking babe. She’smine. And if you want to live long enough to meet your court date you’ll never speak to her again.”
It’s the wrong moment to get all giddy and doe-eyed at my protector, a man who’s yet to make it known exactly how he feels about me, but I’m pretty sure that declaration wasn’t for show. The way Brecken growled outShe’s minewas OTT possessiveness on the grandest scale.
“Fine, asshole. Let me go.”
“Are you clear on what’s going on here, or do I need to get a restraining order organized?”
Levi’s jaw flexes. “Fuck off. I get it, let me go.”
“Tell me you understand,” Brecken grits out, making sure there’s no room for error. “Or I’ll break every bone in your body.”
“I understand! Get off me!”
Releasing Levi, Brecken quickly grabs him by the shoulders and shoves him towards the doors. The force with which he pushes him is so strong that Levi tumbles before scrambling back to his feet as if he hadn’t faltered. But we all saw it, and it brings a satisfactory smile to my face.
With his arm around my shoulders, Reuben tugs me into his side. Thanks to the wash of manly scents coming off his skin, I know he’s showered post-game. “You good?”
“Yeah.”
“You didn’t want to speak to him, did you?”
It’s a bit late to ask that now, but the answer is the same. “No.”
Brecken is on the phone with Luca, listening to the brief conversation playing out in front of him at the same time. He looks flushed, his body bigger somehow. And he looks ready to kill.
I shouldn’t be so turned on by his aggression. His statement. When Levi was jealous I hated it. But on Brecken, I could like that look. It makes me feel wanted and treasured, a cocktail of emotions I hadn’t felt from him so strongly before.
“I’m going to ask the arena if I can have a copy of the main door recordings.” A pause. “Yeah, I told you, Balzer, she’s fine. See you in a few.”
Brecken hangs up. “Luca was getting the car. He’ll be here in two. I’ll be back in a sec.”
I watch him walk away, desperate to talk to him. To touch him. Almost involuntarily I take a step to follow, but Reuben stays my hand. “Give him a few to calm down. He needs to process this just like you do.”
I nod, finding some courage to ask, “He wants me, doesn’t he?”
A rueful smile. “Of course he does.”
Apart from him telling me I was forbidden before I sucked him off, that’s the most interest he’s shown me since. No one could fault me for being uncertain. “He doesn’t show it.”
I’m fishing. Reuben knows I am, and I’m not proud enough to care. “It’s not my place to talk about his feelings, but you have nothing to worry about. The fact that he’s taking it slow is the best outcome. Trust me.”
His brothers know him best, so I allow myself to be mollified, to be persuaded that the wait will be worth it. He has a gentle side, but also a passionate side. And I can’t wait to have him unleash every drop of it on me.
“Give us a second,” I tell Roo when Brecken reappears from the security office.
Our phones ping with a message from Luca to say he’s waiting outside.
“I’ll wait in the car,” Roo tells me before collecting two kit bags from where they’d been dropped, and pushing through the doors.
Brecken advances toward me. He casts a look beyond the glass doors where Luca and Roo wait before locking me back in his sights. I open my mouth to ask him a question but I don’t get the chance.
Both of his hands cup my jaw before he slams his mouth down on mine. The force of the kiss has me rocking back on my heels, but his firm hold keeps me in place. I open for him, my hands fisting his hoodie as his tongue sweeps inside my mouth, claiming me. I can barely breathe. Barely think. I just let him ravage me, overwhelmed by his physicality as he slides a hand from my jawline to my nape.