Fifth Vision of Destiny - Brett Read Free Page B

watched
her go. The open space above the breakfast bar offered a clear view
to the entryway, and he could see her putting on her shoes before
she left the apartment without a look back. He could have sworn an
icy draft slipped into the apartment when she opened the door. A
little numb, he started reaching for the wine bottle on the table,
but his hand seemed to have a mind of its own and picked up the
jewelry box instead. He turned it over between his fingers,
wondering how he could have ever thought that this was a good idea.
He should have known Lisa better than that by now. No, he did know her better than that, and
it was why he had been so hesitant. He should have listened to his
instincts.
    Leo took the box from him and flipped the lid
open with his thumb, whistling quietly at what he saw. “It’s
beautiful,” he said, and looked at the ring more closely. “She’s
gonna love it.”
    Something twisted painfully in Brett’s chest.
“I thought she would, yes. But she’d need to at least look at it
for that.”
    He tried to inject a bit of humor into his
words, but judging from the understanding look Leo gave him, he
missed by a mile.
    “You really wanted her to wear it, huh?” Leo
said, a half smile tugging at his lips.
    Brett shrugged. “As much as I wanted—”
Stopping short, he shook his head. “As much as I want you to wear yours.”
    Snapping the box shut, Leo dropped it on the
table and at the same time grabbed Brett’s belt with his other
hand.
    “What are you doing?” Brett sighed, even
though he could guess all too well what Leo had in mind when Leo
pulled him toward the bedroom.
    Leo only answered when they were standing at
the foot of the bed. “She told us to have fun, didn’t she?” he
asked, an eyebrow raised, as he worked on unbuckling Brett’s
belt.
    Brett caught Leo’s wrist and gently tried to
pry his hand off the buckle. “I’m not really in the mood for—”
    “Well, I am,” Leo said with a teasing grin.
When Brett answered with nothing more than a blank look, he shook
off the grin and leaned in, resting his forehead against Brett’s.
“Listen, if we go to her now, she’ll still be upset, and she won’t
listen to a word we say. Give her half an hour, an hour tops.
She’ll feed, she’ll dance, and when we go talk to her, she won’t
run off the other way.”
    “Talk to her?” Brett repeated, disheartened.
“And say what?”
    He had thought of what words he would offer
with the rings for days, and that hadn’t turned out so well in the
end. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what he could tell Lisa now
that would change anything.
    “I haven’t thought that far yet,” Leo
admitted. He pulled back and started grinning again, his fingers
playing once more with Brett’s belt. His voice dropped to a deep
whisper, as though he were sharing a secret. “Mostly, I’m stuck on
‘blow gorgeous boyfriend.’ Maybe once I’ve gotten past that, I’ll
be able to think more clearly.”
    Sighing softly, Brett tried to still Leo’s
hands again, but this time he couldn’t stop him from tugging his
belt out of his pant loops. It fell to the carpeted floor with a
muted thud.
    “Leo, I don’t—”
    “Do you trust me?” Leo cut in, voice gentle
yet firm.
    Without thinking, Brett reached up to brush
his fingers against the two puckered scars on his neck. Leo always
bit in the same place he had that very first night, reopening the
same scars again and again, and touching them always sent flashes
of warmth and lust coiling around Brett’s balls. If there was a
better way to prove his trust, he didn’t know what it was.
    Leo’s gaze followed his gesture, and he
leaned closer to press his lips over Brett’s fingers.
    “Then believe me,” he said as he pulled back,
smiling softly. “She’ll be in our bed tonight, and she’ll be
wearing that pretty ring.”
    As unlikely as it seemed, Brett wished he
could believe it. He wanted to
believe it, wanted to believe Leo. At that