Page 113 of Forgotten Prejudice

“You’re staying over, right?”

Kai seemed surprised at first; his brows raised all the way up before his shock melted into a warm smile.

“Of course.”

I usually made a clear separation between our sex life and friendship. After fucking for years, the lines sometimes blurred, and I tried avoiding it as much as possible. It wasn’t that I was a cold man. Quite the opposite—I yearned for love, yet in the same breath, I’d learned to fear it. In the two times I’d loved, my heart got broken. The pain nearly killed me, and I had no plans to ever experience it again. Especially when Kai was the first man to break me. And yet, despite our past, we couldn’t help but get closer over the years. Since it was unavoidable, I came up with ways to ensure I wouldn’t get hurt again. If it were avoiding defining our relationship, allowing him to sleep with others, or not letting him take care of me after sex, somehow, we made it work. And despite all of that, the last thing I wanted tonight was to be left alone.

Soren

I’d just finished talking to the few reporters waiting for me at the entrance to the courthouse when the roar of a motorcycle whizzed in my ear, making me turn around. On the side of the road, not too far from us, a red bike stopped with two passengers.

One of them got off, and I knew who it was even before he took his helmet off. After years of being obsessed with every bit of him, I recognized Ashton by body language alone. Bitterness overtook me when the one giving him the ride lifted his helmet shield. Not that it took a genius to guess it was Kai driving my precious Ashton on this death machine.

“No more questions,” I bitterly told the reporters before walking past their crew and into the building. Stopping before the security line, I looked at my watch. There was still a bit of time before I needed to meet my team, so I could afford to wait for—

“Good morning, darling,” I oozed at Ashton, who just walked in, his eyes pinned on the floor.

Jerking his head up at my greeting, he seemed shocked for a mere moment before the frown I was familiar with appeared on his face.

“What do you want, Soren?”

“Keep saying my name that way and I might just think you’re unhappy to see me.”

He responded with a deep glare that earned a chuckle from me.

“It was a joke, Ashton.”

“Since when do you joke?” he hissed as we took our spot in the line for security.

The line moved slowly, which was perfectly fine because I enjoyed looking at Ashton’s back.

“I can feel you staring,” he rasped.

“Can you?”

He grunted, half turning to look at me while also moving along as the line proceeded. “I hate it when you play games. So stop it.”

I would have stopped if it weren’t for how cute he looked with that frown.

“How did you come here today?” I asked, and he rolled his eyes.

“So that’s what this is all about. You saw Kai giving me a ride?”

We finally reached our turn, so I took out my phone and briefcase and put them on the table for a security check, my eyes not leaving Ashton as I did.

“Maybe.”

“I can’t believe you two,” he muttered before walking through the metal detector.

“What do you mean?” I followed him but was stopped by one of the guards, who decided to place his hand on my chest.

“Wait for your turn,” he warned me as if I were some child.

“Will do.” I glanced down at his hand, which, for some reason, still hung on my chest. “Do you mind?” I was running out of patience because while this moron was holding me back, Ashton had already moved on.

The officer finally removed his hand and then asked me to walk through the metal detector once more before I was free to go.

“What did you mean earlier?” I asked Ashton after catching up to him.