Page 90 of Killing Me Softly

Jack exhaled, irritation evident. “One officer spare. That’s it. Arson attack in Wilton’s got half my team tied up, plus we’ve got two forensics teams working Taylor’s scene and running down leads on Child A.” He scrubbed a hand down his face. “It’s all fucking go right now. I want two officers on you. Both of you. But I just can’t spare it.”

Kenny nodded. “One will do.” He turned back to Aaron, gesturing toward the door. “No excuses for skipping class.”

Aaron scoffed, crossing his arms. “Swear to God, you need to get your priorities straight.”

Kenny kissed him. “I have. And it’syou.”

Aaron froze. Just for a second.

Then he curved his lips into a smile. One that came from way down deep. A smile he’d thought he wasn’t capable of anymore. Certainly not now, with another dead body in the mix and a psychopath taunting him through a phone call.

But a smile was there, nonetheless.

And judging by how Jack and Fraser suddenly became very focused on their coffees, Aaron was pretty sure they both saw the cartoon-sized hearts practically pumping out of his chest.

Because honestly?

He was just the entire fucking spectrum of in love with this man.

Chapter eighteen

Devil In a Dress

Kenny eased his Discovery into a staff parking space, the engine idling low as he surveyed the quiet campus. The university hadn’t quite woken yet. Perfect. He hoped to catch Dr Pryce off her guard. She wouldn’t be expecting him. Certainly not suited in his pristine, dry-cleaned navy ensemble, as if he was strolling back in to work. She thought he was gone. Got rid of.

Also changed back into his own clothes, Aaron went to open the passenger door, but Kenny grabbed his arm.

Aaron dropped back into the seat. “You all right?”

“Yeah.” He glanced into his rearview mirror at the car parking behind. Inside a uniformed officer, their presence a quiet reminder of everything hanging over them. “I mean it when I say just go to your room, then your lecture. That’s it. I’ll call you later and we’ll get some of your things and you’ll stay at mine.”

Aaron tilted his neck. “Do I get a drawer?”

“You can have the whole damn wardrobe if it means you staying with me.”

“Then where would your nice dapper suits go?”

“On the floor.”

Aaron arched a brow. “Wild guy, huh? Don’t worry, doc, that nice suit you’re wearing will be on the floor later.” He winked, then reached for the handle again.

“I mean it, Aaron. Don’t do anything stupid.”

Aaron clasped a hand to his chest and mouthed,who me?

Kenny raised both brows, staring at Aaron in challenge.

“I have police following me.” Aaron hitched his thumb behind them. “What am I likely to do?”

Kenny gave him a stern look beneath his lashes. One carefully measured and meant to convey not authority, butunderstanding.

Because heknewAaron. Down to the very wiring of his mind, the impulses sparking before even Aaron realised they were forming. He thrived on defiance. Pushing against the edges of control. He defied authority not for its own sake, but because no one ever gave him control freely. Others alwaysimposedit on him. Dictated by others, whether through his parents’ legacy or the expectations placed on him simply for existing in the wake of it. So, naturally, he fought it. Every instinct in Aaron demanded action. To do something,anything, to claw back a sense of autonomy. Sitting still went against everything in him. Kenny understood it.Lovedit, even. That unruly, unpredictable nature was part of him, the very thing that made Aaron so impossibly alive.

But there was a difference between being alive and being reckless.

Kenny couldn’t lose him to recklessness.

So, even if Aaron hated it, even if it made him bristle, made him itch to push back, Kenny needed him to understand.

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