“Our truck’s this way.” I nodded up the street. “Now’s the time for you to ask questions.”
He took a drag from his smoke and walked alongside me while River fell behind and checked his phone.
“Am I supposed to have questions?” Shay wondered. “I don’t wanna be stuck out there with y’all for two weeks, but you’re not gonna win, so it doesn’t matter.”
I shook my head. “You forget that we’ve seen you fight.”
“Huh? No. Not one bit. But I barely use half of what I know at those things,” he said. “There comes a time when it’s no longer about not underestimating your opponent. I just haven’t met a single stranger in five years who could beat me.” At my frown, he quickly tacked on, “I haven’t fought in cages for that long—just a few months.”
So he was basing that on men he’d trained against? Or competed against?
“What makes you so sure?” He turned the question on me.
“Life,” I replied distractedly. Something wasn’t adding up. Who the hell had he been fighting in order to get so cocky? It didn’t make a lick of sense, given that River had called him sharp.
“Life,” Shay stated flatly.
“Mm. After we got outta the Army, I spent eighteen years as River’s personal security detail in some of the most hostile environments on the planet. Life.”
Shay could ponder that for a moment.
“You…you were in the Army?” he asked.
“Not very long,” I replied. “We went through basic training. Top of the class too. But when all was said and done, we only did the bare minimum because there was already talk of separating us.” I’d fucking hated the Army, though it had nothing to do with the military branch and everything to do with the anxiety we’d felt at the prospect of being stationed at different bases. We’d wised up quickly and gotten out, thankfully. “First thing we did when we got out was to go to this bar for old grunts and get wasted. There, we met a British guy who took us under his wing. He introduced us to the private sector and put us through the roughest training imaginable.”
Showing Shay a glimpse of what was in my arsenal, to use my brother’s words, made an impact on him. He quieted down and stared at the ground as we walked up another street.
“Have you heard of the SAS?” I asked him.
He squinted and exhaled some smoke. “Isn’t that some special forces type of branch?”
I nodded. “One of the most elite forces out there. The British guy was SAS. He used everything he’d been put through at their selection and wouldn’t work with Riv and me until we’d gone through it too.”
“I get it,” Shay bit out with some annoyance. “You can fight. Whatever. It doesn’t mean anything.”
Oh, it meant everything—to anyone who reasoned logically. But something was telling me that Shay’s argument came from somewhere else entirely.
I decided to shelve that for later. We were almost at River’s truck, and we had other things to discuss before we reached Mclean.
“Let’s talk limits.” I gave the back of his neck a squeeze and lingered, wanting him to get used to my hands on him. Because when this ridiculous fight tonight was over, he’d feel them a lot. “Do you have your own safeword, or do you use the color system?”
He rolled his eyes. “I prefer not to use one at all.”
“Good thing masochists are used to being denied.”
I wasn’t convinced he actually was a masochist yet, but it wouldn’t be difficult to find out.
But the text on his T-shirt was a cute touch.
“Color system, I guess,” he said with a shrug. Then he glanced back at my arm. “Are you afraid I’m gonna run away from you?”
“No.” With my hold on his neck, I slowed him down and gestured toward River’s F-350 off the sidewalk before I released him. “In my experience, some casual touches make it less of a shock later when I try to fuck them.”
Shay blanched, an adorable sight, and blinked. “Y-you’re gonna fuck me?”
I grinned and exchanged a glance with an amused River as he rounded the truck to get in behind the wheel. Then I slid my gaze back to Shay and opened the door in the back for him. “That’s up to you. I don’t know your limits yet.”
I jumped in to sit next to him in the back seat, refusing to miss any of his reactions to what I said. Considering he was hiding a lot and, most importantly, seeking sadism for reasons he wouldn’t discuss, it was imperative that Riv and I observed him every chance we got.
“Starting right now, you can use your safeword whenever you want,” I mentioned.
“Okay…” He cleared his throat. “By the way, I’m not a sub,” he told us, as if he felt the need to warn.
I wasn’t convinced about that either. The way he’d reacted when I’d told him fuck off had pulled at something in me. He’d withdrawn with his tail between his legs and looked away in a combination of unease and worry. River had felt something too, I was certain. He’d squeezed my leg under the table.
“I’m not asking you to call me Sir.” I patted the middle seat between us. “Sit here instead. Have you eaten dinner?”
“Um, yeah. I had noodles at home.” He slid closer and buckled the seat belt.
“That makes you one of two people who qualify that as a sufficient meal—you and River.” If I didn’t cook for my brother, he’d live on ramen.
“Nothing wrong with noodles,” Riv muttered as he stopped at a light.
Shay was evidently in agreement. “I love the cups where you just add water.”
“For fuck’s sake.” I shook my head. We had a cupboard full of noodle cups.
“I’ve had two of those today.” River smirked in the rearview.
Shay chuckled under his breath and clasped his hands on his lap.
All right, so they’d found something to bond over.
“If you win our little fisticuffs tonight, you can have all of River’s ramen cups.” I put a hand on Shay’s leg. “When was the last time you had an STI screening?”
He did a double take at me. “Is that really something you discuss like it’s the weather?”
“No. I hate discussing the weather.” I wanted to discuss him. Fuck, I wanted to crack him open and let all his secrets fall out. Touching his leg wasn’t enough. Instead, I draped an arm along the back of the seat and gripped his chin, forcing him to look me in the eye. Much better. His eyes were out of this world. Not blue, not green, something in the middle, dark and clear, such a vivid color. “Answer my question, boy.”
River cleared his throat demonstratively. I didn’t have to face him. I knew he was reminding me to slow my roll. I could get…too eager. Sometimes. Or, in my brother’s words, “more impatient than the IRS when they audit someone.”
Shay swallowed, and he immediately struggled to maintain eye contact. But it wasn’t the topic at hand; it was the close proximity.
“I’ve never had a damn STI in my life, and I get tested regularly, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“That’s what I’m asking.” I slid my hand up his stubbly jaw and brushed my thumb over his lips. “We fuck with protection but prefer to go without for oral.”