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he gave in to the need to pout. Why should he worry about trying to be mature when he was
surrounded at this moment by two men who each had the mentality of a teenage boy? And
that was being generous. Josh was pretty sure most teenage boys would have more sense
than these two. He sank farther down into the seat as Nick started the truck.
Watch your knee.
Josh felt the brush of a hand over his leg then watched as Nick carefully moved his leg
aside in order to shift gears. Justin rumbled and Josh, well past fed up with the cavemen on
either side of him, drove his elbow into Justin s ribs. The grunt and hissed exhalation from
his brother almost made Josh feel better.
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The silence in the truck was anything but comfortable on the drive to the hospital and
Josh didn t care to attempt to ease it. Normally he d have babbled until some of the tension
bled away, but screw it. He wasn t going to waste his time trying to make this easier on
Justin or Nick, and he was too miserable to let something like their discomfort affect him. He
wouldn t even let Justin hold him like this, pressing him to his brother s side, if he wasn t
hurting so damned bad. And as stupid as it was, Josh wished the pain that was twisting him
up inside was from his ankle, not from the way his brother had left him lying there hurting
on the asphalt.
* * * *
Stupid, selfish, idiotic fucking jackass! Nick gripped the wheel until his abraded knuckles
ached, then squeezed even harder. He glanced at Josh huddled against his brother s side,
using the right turn he was making as an excuse to do so. What kind of man had he become,
following the kid, bullying and intimidating him, hurting him? Nick knew he had. Josh s
pinched expression, his pained gasp when Nick had grabbed the smaller man s ankle in the
truck, would be haunting Nick for a long time.
And I didn t stop there, did I? Maybe at first he d been trying to defend himself, but he
hadn t even tried to talk to& to Justin, had he? No, he d just gone after the man in a manner
that was so unlike himself Nick wondered if he shouldn t have his head checked out. Then
when Justin had made that comment about Annabelle and him& and another man, Justin s
partner, who must have been the guy Josh was with earlier, well, Nick had kind of freaked
out.
Which was beyond stupid, considering he hadn t ever talked to Annabelle or Rory.
He d known about them, of course he had. His bastard of a father hadn t ever missed an
opportunity to throw his two perfect kids two perfect white kids in Nick s face. Ian
Calhoun had made it perfectly clear that he thought it was fine to fuck around with Nick s
Hispanic mother, but the idea of having a kid with her or marrying her was contemptuous.
But in the end, the old bastard had been glad enough that Nick s mama hadn t got the
abortion Ian had tried to force her to get. If she hadn t considered herself a good Catholic girl
despite being seduced by her employer, Nick likely wouldn t have been born.
Next left, Justin grunted out.
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Nick signalled. He knew where the hospital was, but pointing that out would likely
lead to another fight with the hot-headed man. And contrary to his earlier behaviour, Nick
wasn t a violent man. If he was, he d never have let Josh take him down in the Xxchange.
Nick was more than capable of defending himself, but he hadn t wanted to hurt the smaller
man, and it wasn t like Nick hadn t deserved what Josh had done. He risked another quick
glance at the small form beside him. Hell, he deserved a lot worse. Nick caught Justin s angry
gaze and tipped his head in acknowledgement. Yep, Nick was an asshole. Justin s disregard
of Josh didn t make him feel less like an asshole, either. Nick could understand the other
man s fury; he felt strangely protective of Josh and he didn t even know the guy, not really.
But I know how he tastes, how his lips feel against mine, those little whimpers he makes when
he s turned on, the way the muscles rippled in his back under my hands, the way his ass fits in my
palms. And damned if Nick could understand why any of it got to him, why it made the pit of
his stomach clench and burn and his dick ache to feel Josh s touch. He wasn t gay, hadn t
ever thought of another man that way, so why now? Why Josh? Nick couldn t figure it out.
Maybe it was just the influence of where they d been. Nick hadn t ever stepped foot in a
place like the Xxchange before why would he have?
But when he d seen Annabelle and Josh slip inside the place, he d followed, and
gaped like the redneck straight guy he was. He d snapped his mouth shut, but not before a
few kids had snickered and even groped at him. Nick hadn t been aroused by them he
wasn t even sure they were legal, and he d nearly broke himself backing away from their
grabby hands but he d seen the way Josh had looked at some of the other men there with
hungry eyes, and Nick had come up with what he thought was a brilliant plan. Now he
wondered if it hadn t just been an excuse to get close to Josh. Even in the dim light of the
club, Josh s beauty had been obvious, and maybe that was part of the reason Nick found
himself drawn to the smaller man. His big eyes and lush lips were beautiful; Nick would have
been drawn to any woman with features such as Josh s.
Yeah, right. That body you slid your hands over, the firm muscled flesh you touched and
squeezed, Josh s hard cock pressed up against my thigh none of those things felt the least bit
feminine, and they all set my balls to boiling and my dick to leaking. And the way Josh s sweet mouth
tasted, the strength in his small body, his fierce grip, there wasn t anything feminine about those
things, either, and I want him more than I ever wanted anyone else. Fuck! How did this happen? And
what am I gonna do?
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* * * *
Some of Josh s anger had bled away by the time Nick pulled up to the ER. Josh just
didn t have the energy to hang on to his mad. He let Justin help him out of the truck but, as
much as he hurt, it wasn t enough to let Justin carry him into the hospital like his brother was
trying to insist on doing.
Nick s arm slipping around Josh s back, the bigger man nudging his shoulder into
Josh s armpit, stopped Justin mid-argument. Get his other side and try to remember Josh is
a man, not a kid. He s got his pride just like you do.
Josh knew he was staring, knew his mouth was wide open in shock, but he couldn t
help it. Somehow he d totally missed the alien invasion that had placed a mature and
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