Page 125 of Defend Me

“And what about you? Still afraid you’ll get AIDS by being close to me or have you finally come to terms with your raging desire for cock?”

His lips thinned and his brows drew down. The angry expression made me want to push him more, but it was my brother’s birthday party and I didn’t want to cause an actual fight. Just a little pushing, then.

“Listen,” I said, stepping forward. “It’s Alex’s day and I’m not gonna let anyone ruin it for him.”

“And how would you stop me?” he taunted with a smirk.

“Maybe I’ll suddenly recall all the times when you crawled into my bed at night, desperate to fuck me.” His rage boiled just under the surface, bleeding through the cracks in his expression. “Or, even better, that time you begged me to stick my dick in your ass and you bit a hole through my pillow when I introduced you to your prostate.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” he said through gritted teeth.

I shrugged. “You know that I’m not afraid to be the family disappointment. You’re the one who’s terrified of anyone knowing about thedeviantthings you do in bed. Do you still do them, Roman?”

He let out a controlled breath through his nose. “I’m not gonna fucking ruin Alex’s party. I wouldn’t do that. Didn’t you see? I even brought him a gift.”

It was hard to hide my surprise when he didn’t call him ‘she’ or ‘Alexis’ like he usually did. Still, I didn’t trust him. I wished I had a more intimidating presence, but hopefully, the threat of being outed about our past would be enough to keep him compliant.

“Sprite,” Brooks said from behind me.

He appeared at my side and passed me the bottle. There was tension in the air as he took in Roman. As a master of peeling away people’s skin, I could only imagine what Brooks was seeing right now. To anyone else, Roman looked like a douchebag. I wondered if he could tell that he was worse than that.

Brooks held out his hand. “Brooks. What’s your name?” Roman went to shake it, but Brooks dropped his back to his side and threaded his fingers through mine. “Sorry. I’m a bit of a germaphobe and you’re clearly infected with the ick.”

Roman’s eyes flitted to our hands, then back to my face. “Friend of yours?”

“Boyfriend,” Brooks answered for me. That wasn’t a move I liked.

“This is my stepbrother, Roman,” I said. “Don’t mind him. He was on his way to wish my brother a happy birthday and try to convince the world that he’s not a piece of shit.”

Roman huffed and shook his head before he marched away. I watched him carefully as he talked to Alex, who looked a little awkward. Only when he retreated to another part of the room did I relax.

“What’s the deal there?” Brooks asked.

“Meh. He’s what happens when repression becomes hostility.”

“Why does he keep looking at you?”

My nose wrinkled when I realized that he was right. “There’s history. None that I care about.”

“Seems like he still does.”

Turning, I brushed my fingers through his hair. The way his eyes softened made him look so much more beautiful.

“Maybe you’ll just have to fight him to stake your claim.”

He laughed lightly. “I’ve never fought anyone before. Plus, he’s a fucking tank and I’m strongly against setting myself up for failure. And damaging these god-like cheekbones.” With a thoughtful hum, he pulled out his phone.

“What are you doing?”

Discreetly- or maybe not so discreetly considering the way Roman’s eyes narrowed- Brooks snapped a picture of him. I watched as he sent it to a group chat with a message that made me laugh out loud.

Brooks:On a scale of 1 to 100, how confident are you that you could fight him?

West:Who’s that?

Brooks:Answers now. Jealousy later, baby.

Kai:Does he deserve a kick to the nuts?

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