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The street signal turned green, and Judah hit the accelerator. We shot off, away from the bikers and their late-afternoon snack.
I patted the hand clutched in my own and chuckled. “It’s fine, Jude. They’re friends. One of them was Shep, my old neighbor. He, uh, I guess you could say he and his boyfriend saved Ellis’s life.”
“He’s a King,” Judah repeated, eyeing me in surprise. I guess I didn’t blame him. The old me never got involved in any illegal activities, and while I still didn’t, I associated with a lot more people who did, including Shep. When you lived the kind of life that put you in a trailer park like Lakeview, you’d do all sorts of things to survive. I’d learned that, too, but luckily, I’d never had to resort to breaking the law.
“He’s Ethan,” Ellis said from the back, shrugging as though he didn’t understand the issue.
I wished I was that young and innocent again. Though, I wasn’t sure if I ever was like Ellis. He’d been through hell and back this last year, and he’d seen the worst in people, but he also still had a large helping of naivety. When I was his age, I hadn’t lived a comfortable life and had seen how cruel others were from the beginning.
Judah frowned but didn’t ask any more questions. I switched the music on to drown out the silence and leaned back into the leather seat, inhaling the scents of the car. My truck always smelled of oil and gas, but this second car of Judah’s had the new aroma to it, and it was nice to sit in a vehicle with heating and a seat that didn’t have a spring that dug into my back.
It took us another ten minutes to get to Judah’s house, and the moment Ellis saw it, his eyes went wide.
“Fuck, you are rich.”
I shoved him gently and pointed my finger at him. “Manners.”
His cheeks went red and he gave Judah a smile, but the suspiciousness never left his gaze. “Thanks for letting us stay tonight.”
Judah merely bent his head forward in acknowledgement, then got out and hustled toward the front door. We followed him but not before I patted my truck on the way past. It’d become a habit for me to acknowledge her and all the situations we’d been through together.
As soon as we entered, I dropped my bags and let Ellis take in the grandeur, giving him a small smile as his gaze roamed the foyer.
“Come on.” Judah grabbed the bags and gestured for us to follow.
Ellis had more bounce in his step as he strode after Judah, while I took up the rear, not exactly shocked. I’d grown up in Judah’s childhood home, and while this one was different, it was also a lot of the same, too. It had the feeling of wealth.
The hallway on the second floor was wide and long, with a line of elegant wall lamps and paintings that Judah’s mum probably bought for him to decorate the house. It had more white porcelain tiles, giving it a spacious feel.
Judah opened the second door to the right and waved his hand at it. “This will be your room, Ellis.”
“For how long?” Ellis blinked at Judah before his attention slid to me. “It’s supposed to be one night, right?”
Supposed to be were the important words. Judah could claim it was only for tonight, but I knew him too well. He wasn’t purposely manipulative, but he was used to getting his own way. He cared for certain people, but sometimes his means of showing it came across as dominant and selfish. It was the result of how he’d grown up, and certainly not a topic I could explain to Ellis.
“Don’t worry about it, lad.” I patted Ellis’s shoulder and winked. “Think about the flatscreen TV and your own bed.”
“King-size bed and your own bathroom, including a jacuzzi,” Judah drawled, and that was enough to get Ellis rushing through the door and slamming it shut behind him.
I laughed and shook my head. “You’ve distracted him for a little while.”
“Enough for alone time, then.” Judah’s grin turned wicked, and he seized my hand, dragging me farther down the hallway as though I was a rag doll. I let him because I loved it when he got rough with me. The younger Judah had always been too scared of hurting me, but this man craved to dominate me, and I wanted it just as much.
He took me to the first door on the right—which was different from the other room we’d had sex in—and shoved me inside. I laughed loudly, nearly tripping over my feet as he dumped my bags on the floor. He closed the door, then stalked toward me, and I backed away from him, the desire to tease him tickling my brain.
He paused and I did, too, grinning.
His eyes flashed and he took a small step forward, and I met the move with one of my own by shuffling away from him.
“What are you doing, Tav?” He knew, I could tell by the way a smirk slid onto his face.
I shrugged. “Making you work for it.”
“Me?” He chuckled. “Shouldn’t you be making up for lost time?”
My eyebrows shot up. “I don’t know, should I?”
He slowly slid off his suit jacket and folded it in half before throwing it to his left. I followed the path of the jacket and took in my surroundings. This room belonged to Judah, and it was so different from the parts of the house we’d seen. Instead of more white and tiles, this space was designed with dark wooden floorboards and a feature wall—a dusky mixture of driftwood and onyx—behind the ash gray divan bed. The throw across the mattress was charcoal, which matched the open walk-in wardrobe to the right. The jacket had landed on a gray chair the same color as the fabric on the bed, and beside that was a bookcase. I spied his favorite copy of Fahrenheit 451, the same one he’d had as a teenager. The only light colors came from the white ceiling and pillows.
