Page 119 of Manhattan Tormentor

I love one in particular more than most.

What I know about Sage is, he hates the spotlight. And though he engineered a microchip that goes under the skin and emits sonar pulses to help speed up any muscle injuries, he’d rather cut off his head than talk about it publicly. He leaves that side of his business to Theo. The born showman handles the press side. Except for when Sage gets roped into podcast interviews with students from our former college. He’s a big name there now. I stand in the bedroom doorway in his parents’ house, watching him on a call as he rubs the back of his neck.

I grin, knowing he hates this. I step up to him, press my lips to his nape and leave a hand on his back. All the tenseness there seeps out until he leans into me.

“My husband?” He says. “Yeah, he’s the best supporter I have, even when I’m a moody shit because something has gone wrong, he rarely wants to strangle me.” I chuckle lightly, fingering through his hair. When he’s finished on the call, he exhales with relief. “Oh, my god, why do you let me do thesesocialthings?”

“You’re a big sensation, let the kids fawn over you.”

“Never again.” He grumbles. He will also need a few hours to decompress from being social at Noah and Sena’s thirtieth wedding anniversary party.

I have just the dick he can ride to help him out.

It’s only an hour ago we all got caught by Noah Fierro sneaking out of the house after fucking around. How were we to know Theo and Bexley had the same idea as us?

But as I look at Sage in his faded jeans and gray t-shirt with some geeky quote on the front, his hair disarrayed. I want him again.

Always.

Before we leave the bedroom I pin him in the doorway, his mouth meets mine. “When we put Lila to bed, you’re mine.” I tell him.

“Aren’t I yours already?”

Fire touches every corner of my heart and aching dick.

If not for my mother-in-law drill sergeant, I might have talked him into staying here a while longer. But even I daren’t cross Sena Fierro. She has me under her southern thumb like the rest of them.

“Every inch of you is mine,” I share and I watch his smile grow.

The party crowd is still in full effect when we return to the backyard. I need to find Gray Ellison to talk about a photoshoot he wants to commission.

Noah went all out for Sena. When you love a Fierro, you realize there’s no ceiling on what you won’t do for them. I will always feel guilty for how I first treated Sage. I’ve loved him since he was seventeen. As I look at him throwing around banter with his brothers. Joking who’s one-upped who this week. I know beyond any doubt, I will always work for his love. He gives it in abundance, but there’s a part of me which still feels as though I don’t deserve the great man he is today.

My brilliant nerd.

Husband, father, lover, and best friend.

As bad as I feel for the angry boy torment I doled out, I’d do it all again if it brings us here together. I’d do every terrible thing to win him all over again.

I was right years ago. I have only ever been attracted to one man.

And that’s how it’ll stay.

There’s something in Sage that fits every wrong crack within me.

I never believed that shit about a person making you whole.

Until he crashed into me and made me different. Made me, me.

He strolls over and hands me a cold beer. I’ll only have one. I’m on dad duty later. Yeah, irresponsible Finn Maverick all grown up with a husband and kid. Bates still yanks my chain about that when him and his girl come over for game night. He knows I’m still half villain in some ways. But for Sage, I’m the best form of myself I can be.

Sage plonks down at my side and his hand reaches around my nape, sending tingles down my spine. “On a scale of 1-10 how drained are you from being social?” I joke. He gives me a wry look.

“Mom and dad want Lila to stay over.”

“I thought they were having Mia staying?”

“You know mom and her grandbabies.”

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