One Dirty Night

“No?”

“I don’t want a relationship.”

“What? Like ever?” My eyebrows shot up.

“Ever.” He bared his teeth. “I don’t have time for a wife.”

“Everyone needs someone.”

“Not when they’re dying, they don’t.”

My heart plummeted. “What?”

Dying?

He’s…he’s dying?

Nick’s voice turned cold as he said, “I’m determined to find a cure for cancer. Not for the rewards or accolades but because I want to make a difference in this diseased world. With every generation, people get sicker. Corporations get away with murder by feeding chemicals and poisons to unsuspecting populations. They pay off scientists to stay silent and bribe the FDA to slap stickers on foods that are chock-full of pesticides and herbicides and God knows what else, claiming they’re safe and effective, all while knowing they’re killing us.”

“Y-You’re dying?” I whispered.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he shook his head. “I don’t have time for what I want when I vowed to do whatever it takes to stop the millions who are sick and diseased from suffering and dying. Their death is on my hands, just like my father and his father. Like my older brother—” He cut himself off, sighing heavily.

Hunter exhaled with a wince and went to his side. Placing a hand on Nick’s shoulder, he squeezed. “Their deaths are not on your hands. I lost my older sister to breast cancer. I get it, man. Truly.”

Nicholas looked up, and the tightness in his face eased a little. “According to genetics, I’m statistically likely to get the same pancreatic cancer that the other men in my family did. I might only be thirty-one, but I’m running out of time.” Flashing me a look, he shrugged. “I have to find a cure before I get sick because if I don’t…then I can’t complete my promise to do something about this never-ending pandemic.”

“So…you’re not dying?” I asked quietly.

“Not yet. But it’s an almost guarantee.”

Climbing off the bed, I went to him.

I didn’t think about the blended wetness oozing down my inner thigh.

I didn’t think about the stinging of my back or the throbbing of my core.

All I thought about was him.

Nick.

The man I’d lusted after from afar and appreciated his career-obsessed nature, all while never truly knowing what drove him. I’d nursed an unwanted crush for months, but I didn’t really know him and that made me ache with guilt.

Without a word, I wrapped my arms around him.

He stiffened and tried to pull away, but I just moved with him.

I jumped as Hunter wrapped his arms around me from behind, sandwiching me between both men.

“We’re all dying, Nick,” Hunter whispered. “Doesn’t mean you have to die alone.”

“I’m not putting someone through that,” Nick muttered into my hair as his arms tightened around me against his control. “I won’t. I’ve seen what watching a loved one dying does to those left behind, I will never inflict that curse on someone. Ever.”

“You don’t get a choice of who loves you,” Hunter said softly, embracing me tight. “All you can do is be grateful for the time you have.”

“Fuck off,” Nick breathed, burrowing his face into my neck. “This isn’t a therapy session.”

Hunter chuckled. “Sex is sometimes the best therapy.”