Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 58874 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58874 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
An uppercut to the right side of Tor’s ribcage made him cough. “That hard enough for you, bitch?” He curled his palm around Tor’s throat.
“Not even close.” Tor moved his hands to the back of Jule’s head and cradled it. “Love your passion.” His gorgeous eyes were sparkling as he gazed at him. “What else you got?”
“I don’t understand what’s happening. Why are you hitting him? Julian, are you okay?” Brad must have walked over because his voice was right beside him, but, like always, Jule only had eyes for Tor.
“Take the dare, Tori,” Jule rasped.
“You sure?”
Jule nodded, knowing he was about to blow up a relationship with yet another good-on-paper boyfriend and deciding he didn’t care because that was the first time he had felt alive in eight long months.
“Hell, yeah.” Tor gripped his shirt with both hands and yanked him forward until their lips collided. Rough knuckles slid up the front of his neck and then warm hands snaked around both sides as Tor ate at his mouth, their lips and tongues moving together in a familiar dance.
He felt Tor and strength. He smelled Tor and sweat. He tasted Tor and blood. It was comfort and excitement. It was home. He cupped Tor’s cheeks and buried his fingers in his hair. “Fuck, I missed you,” he murmured into his mouth.
“Missed you too, Julie.”
Chapter 7 – Age 21
“Where’s Eric?”
“He ran off when you started wailing on your not-cousin.” Patrick shook his head. “Which was about sixty seconds before Brad and Henry stormed out because you started kissing him.”
“I’ll send him a text.” Jule owed Brad that much at least.
“Yeah, sure, that’ll make him feel better.” Patrick laughed and then cleared his throat and looked back and forth between him and Tor. “He isn’t your cousin, right?”
Jule shook his head. “No shared blood.”
Tor smirked and Jule just knew he was thinking about that bloody kiss.
“Shut it.” He kicked Tor’s foot under the kitchen table where they were sitting, fresh beers in front of them.
Patrick picked up a towel, opened the freezer door, and scooped some ice onto it. “For your face,” he explained as he held it out to Tor.
“Thanks, but I’m good.” Tor waved him off and tipped his bottle against his mouth.
“Of course you’re fine. Meanwhile, my hand hurts like a motherfucker,” Jule said, rubbing at it.
“It’s really weird to hear you cuss,” Patrick said as he handed Jule the ice.
Shaking his head, Tor said, “Frozen vegetables are better. They’re more malleable.” He got up, went to the freezer, pulled out a bag of edamame, and then sat back down beside Jule. “Give it here, killer.” He put Jule’s hand in his lap, carefully easing the bag around his knuckles, and held it in place. “Sorry I hurt your hand with my face.”
“Eat me.”
“Quit flirting with me in front of your roommate, Julie. You’re making him uncomfortable.”
“What’s making me uncomfortable is that this is what you consider flirting.”
Tor grinned and tipped his chin toward Patrick. “He’s alright.”
“Yeah, he is.”
Patrick was one of the few people he actually liked in California, which was why he’d agreed to move in with him when his other roommate left after they’d signed the lease.
“The boyfriend was a questionable choice, though,” Tor said. He rubbed his thumb back and forth across Jule’s palm while he continued holding the frozen edamame against his knuckles.
“Brad’s nice,” Jule said.
“Exactly.”
“You’re the one who told me to be normal!” He shoved at Tor’s shoulder with his uninjured hand. Tor didn’t move so much as an inch.
“Normal, yes. Lobotomized, no. There’s a difference.”
“I guess I can’t see the distinction. Anything but violent and unhinged looks like it’s swimming in the same murky pool.”
“Stop, you’re describing the perfect man. It’s turning me on,” Tor said.
“Now who’s flirting?” He gripped the back of Tor’s neck and pulled him in for a kiss. “Your jaw’s really okay?” he murmured as he skated his lips across Tor’s sharp jawline.
“Promise. It takes more than a couple of punches to take me down.”
“I’ve never seen anything take you down.” Jule skimmed his mouth over Tor’s.
“You’ve seen me go down for years, Julie.” Tor’s voice was sandpaper rough.
“Well, I can see the PDA thing’s not true. So not cousins, but what exactly? Is he your ex?”
Jule looked over to Patrick. He had forgotten he was in the room.
“No,” he and Tor said at the same time. Ex implied a relationship that ended. That would never happen with them, no matter how long Tor stayed away.
He turned back to Tor and kissed him again. “Like I said, he’s family.” He brushed his hand over Tor’s head. His hair was on the long side, like it’d been when they were sixteen. He remembered tugging on it when Tor was bent over his lap, taking him deep.
“That is not how I touch my family,” Patrick said.