Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 67966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Belladonna Mansion
Conservatory
Virginia Beach Oceanfront
February 2nd, 1:45 a.m.
The conservatory was so quiet and peaceful, no chaos of a ball or loud music, only the distant hum of the ocean outside the glass walls.
Jonah was curled into Ross’s chest on the chaise lounge, with his head pillowed against the steady rise and fall of the man he thought he’d lost forever.
Their tuxedo jackets had been tossed to the floor, shirts loosened and opened at the collar, skin against skin.
Jonah’s eyes stung, not from fresh tears, but from disbelief.
He’d been starved of touch, starved of someone looking at him with desire instead of pity, with love instead of disgust.
Now, here was Ross, the boy he’d loved, returning as a man, stroking his hair with those familiar, strong fingers.
“I like your hair like this,” Ross murmured, his voice warm and low, twisting the longer strands on the top between his fingers. “Fits your face.”
“You…look good with a beard.” Jonah tilted his head enough to bury his lips in it.
They lay there in silence again, the kind that said so much without words. Jonah clung tighter, terrified Ross would disappear if he let go.
Finally, he couldn’t wait anymore. His voice was pained and quiet, but he had to know. “Where did you go?”
Ross sighed, tightening around him before he answered. “The night my mom left, after she’d been beaten so bad she could barely walk, she packed us up in the middle of the night. I wanted to come to you first, Bear, I swear I did—but she wouldn’t let me. Said if we got held up, and found out, we might not get away.”
“I’m sorry, Ross. I know it wasn’t fair to want you to stay.”
“We went to a shelter, new names, whole new lives. She was terrified of being found, and at seventeen, I was the man of the house. I was mad at her, yeah, but I had her and my little sister’s safety to put first.” Ross squeezed his eyes closed. “Even though it meant losing you.”
Ross’s voice was rougher. “Once we were settled, I wrote you. God, I wrote so many fuckin’ letters. I wanted to go back for you, but Mom still needed me. I had to work and help pay the bills. And when every letter came back return to sender over and over, I thought…” His voice broke. “I thought you hated me.”
Jonah shook his head fiercely against his chest. “No, Ross. We moved too. My dad couldn’t keep a job, couldn’t stop drinking. Every time teachers got suspicious or I started showing too many bruises, we’d move again. So your letters never…”
Ross let out a guttural sound and pulled him close until he was almost crushing him. “Bear…did he still—” His voice faltered. “Did he still…hurt you after I left?”
Jonah was quiet for so long that Ross had his answer.
“It got worse,” Jonah whispered. His body trembled at the memory, at the bruises that had never quite faded from his mind.
Ross pressed desperate kisses to the crown of his head, to his forehead, to his cheek. “I’m so fucking sorry I wasn’t there.”
Jonah turned his face, meeting his eyes, whispering, “If I had a mom, I would’ve done the same thing.”
Ross exhaled shakily, then brushed his thumb over Jonah’s jaw. “You wanna know how I found you?”
Jonah nodded.
“I saw a post you made on Facebook about your new job in Norfolk. Instead of being nineteen hundred miles away, you were now a four-hour drive from me. I had to try. I thought for sure you hated me… But I had to try.”
“How’d you know I was here? How the hell did you become a gentleman?”
“I followed you from your job to the gym and then here.” A crooked grin flashed across Ross’s face. “You know I’ve always had the gift of gab. I talked to your trainer. Cracked and pushed until he told me why you were here and what Belladonna does.”
Jonah blinked up at him, overwhelmed. “All this time, and you still…?”
“I never found anyone else like you, Bear. Not one. No one has your laugh, your heart. No one ever touched me the way you did.”
Jonah laughed bitterly. “No one’s wanted to touch me with a ten-foot pole.”
Ross tilted Jonah’s chin up and hovered over him, breath mingling, until finally—finally—he closed the gap.
The kiss was soft at first, a slow, sweet reunion until Jonah moaned into it. Their tongues met, and his body lit up like it hadn’t in years. He felt clumsy and inexperienced, like a virgin again.
Ross shifted and moved him as if he weighed nothing and eased him onto his back.
Jonah shivered as Ross’s weight pressed into him.
Ross began to unbutton Jonah’s shirt, his calloused palms exploring his bare skin.
Jonah blushed, instinctively wanting to cover himself, but Ross’s gaze stopped him. His pupils were blown wide, lips parted, his cock already fully hard and leaking against his thigh.