Always His | (Book 3) 18+

twenty three

He met my gaze and held it, waiting for a reaction. When I simply pursed my lips, Lucian sighed and sat back. I entwined our hands but he didn't look at me, keeping his focus on the giant bandage on his side.

"How the hell can I protect you if I can't even protect myself?" He asked, playing with my fingers.

"Don't do that," I said, frowning.

He glanced at me. "Don't what?"

"Don't pin this on yourself," I responded. "is not your fault for any of this and I know that you know that."

Lucian sighed and I cupped his cheeks, forcing him to look into my eyes. When I had his full attention, I gently kissed his forehead, then his cheekbone.

"I know you," I murmured, "and I know you won't let anything bad happen to anybody here."

He decided against arguing with me and nodded, resting his head on my shoulder.

"You're... you're not gonna leave because of all of this, are you?" He asked quietly.

I smiled gently, running my fingers through his messy hair. "No. I'm not going anywhere."

***

When dinner came around, I had a quick shower while Lucian napped. I knew that if I tried while he was up he'd just try to sneak in with me and we all know how that would end. By the time food was ready, it took both me and Xavier to get Lucian downstairs without him hurting himself.

Lucian looked like he was run over by a bus from how tired he was but I would never tell him that. He had enough stuff going on to hear me teasing his giant eye bags.

"How are you doing?" Liam asked, grabbing a giant spoonful of pasta and dumping it on his plate.

"Better than yesterday," Lucian muttered back, taking the spoon and adding some food onto his plate. "Who made this?"

"Ren," I answered, stealing a forkful of Lucian's pasta. He playfully glared at me and I grinned back, then made my own plate.

"It smells delicious," Lucian said with a grateful smile.

Liam and Ian snickered when Ren turned red from the compliment, whereas Xavier grunted and continued eating.

Lucian glanced at me in confusion and I waved him off, continuing to eat. Ignoring my dismissal, Lucian leaned down to my ear.

"What's going on with them?" He whispered.

I had to hold a shiver back as his deep voice flooded my ears. I shifted in my seat and crossed my legs, feeling Lucian's lips curl up into a small smirk. He noticed.

"Xavier and Ren are together," I whispered back as quietly as possible, meeting his eyes. "And Xavier is a little bit possessive over him because Ren's—quote unquote—too naïve to see when someone gives him "fuck me" eyes."

"And what does Ren think of that?" Lucian asked back, his voice barely audible from the chatter going around the table.

"Ren is in denial that Xavier even wants something more, which I think is complete bull," I said, watching Lucian's eyes flicker up to look at them. I forced his attention back to me. "Don't stare or they'll know we're gossiping about them. Don't you know anything?"