Page 86 of Killing Me Softly

Not just into his body, but into his mind. His thoughts. His truths.

Even now, Kenny tried. Holding his gaze, willing him to crack under the weight of it, to spill those precious words from his untamed, secretive lips.

Heneededit.

Craved it like breath.

Aaron grabbed his face and kissed him. “I love you.”

Kenny smiled.Mission accomplished.

“I love you too, baby.”

Chapter seventeen

A Safe Place to Land

The morning came with a bump.

And a loud slam shaking the house, rattling through the walls and straight into Aaron’s bones. He snapped his eyes open, heart already racing before his mind caught up. Kenny’s arms, still wrapped around him, were warm, solid, and the steady rhythm of his breathing brushed Aaron’s shoulder. The world outside their bed had erupted into movement, but here, in Kenny’s arms, it was still. Suspended.

Until Fraser’s unmistakable footsteps thundered across the hall, his bedroom door bursting open, and heavy feet pounded down the stairs. Then voices. Low, urgent, muffled through the walls.

Aaron shoved upright, breaking from Kenny’s embrace. He scrubbed a hand over his face as Kenny stirred, blinking blearily up at him, disoriented but already assessing. Aaron reached for his clothes, scrambling to shove on the first things he found.Kenny’s joggers, an old uni sweatshirt draped over the chair.University of Ryston, 2005. The fabric worn, soft, the lettering faded, and as he yanked it over his head, a thought hit him like a cold slap. Kenny had graduated the same year Aaron wasborn.

He shoved the thought aside, hopping on one foot to pull on the borrowed jogging bottoms.

“Where are you going?” Kenny’s voice was husky with sleep and exhaustion that came after a night spent holding someone too tightly, afraid they might slip through their fingers.

“Jack’s home,” Aaron said, urgency thrumming in his chest like a live wire.

“And you’re expecting a briefing from him at…” Kenny rolled onto his back, swiping at the bedside table, searching for his phone.

Aaron glanced at his new watch. “It’s six-thirty. And yes.Fuckyes.”

He didn’t wait for Kenny’s response, just stumbled over paint cans and decorating supplies, catching himself on the doorframe before wrenching it open and barrelling down the stairs.

But as he reached the kitchen, he stopped dead.

Jack had his back to him, but his body said everything his face didn’t.

Fraser had wrapped him up. Completely, totally enclosed him in those massive arms of his, holding him firm and unyielding with Jack burying his face in Fraser’s chest, into the thick fuzz of ginger hair, and Fraser simply rocked him, side to side, silent. No words. Just held him. For a second, a memory struck. That scene from that film.What’s it called?The one with all the monsters?Monsters Inc.Where the big, blue, furry monster hugged the tiny little girl, wrapping her up in his brutal safety. And in that moment, Aaronunderstood.

He totally got why Jack might need what he needed. Why he might want to shrink down, let himself be small after carryingmonsters on his back every day. If he’d spent hours—days—out there in the field, tracking killers, making impossible calls, being the pillar of authority and control, then this?

It must be fuckingheaven.

To collapse into someone else’s arms and just…let it all go.

Fraser didn’t ask him to talk. Didn’t try to fix it. He just held him the way only he could. As if he knew, from the very second Jack had stepped through that door, that was exactly what he needed. Aaron was intruding on that. He’d just stepped into something sacred. Something not meant to be witnessed. Certainly not by him.

Shit.

Maybe he should go.

Then soft lips pressed to the shell of his ear from behind and Aaron inhaled, the world narrowing down to the warmth smoothing against his back.Kenny. Slipping his arms around Aaron’s waist, drawing him back to his bare chest, holding him there, Kenny whispered into his ear. “Give them a minute.”

So he did.

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