Chapter 333

Chapter 333
"Fuck," Ice kicked the side of his bed. "Ouch." He hopped on one leg, not expecting to hurt his leg that hard.

"Are you okay?" Kenji gently pushed Ice's door open and slid in, the soft click of the lock sealing his entrance.

Ice took a deep breath and regained his composure even though he would've loved to hop some more until the pain subsided.

"What are you doing here and why are you locking my door?" Ice questioned, folding his arms as he realised he was shirtless in front of Kenji for the first time.

Kenji took his time, letting his eyes map out the tattoo along Ice's arm, and as his eyes moved up, he finally got a clear view of that cherry tattoo that always teased him through Ice's shirts.

The red cherry sat just a few inches from Ice's nipple, complementing the colour of the real "cherry."

"I love cherries," Kenji said, not moving from his position.

Ice glared at Kenji, watching the way Kenji's eyes glued to his chest.

"Great, now let's add pervert to the list," Ice muttered.

"I'm not a pervert. I'm simply appreciating the beauty... your beauty—"

"You know what? I don't care. What are you doing in my room and why is my door locked?" Ice asked again, firmer.

Kenji took a step... just a step.

"Because we're not the only ones in the house anymore, so I need some privacy when I speak to my husband." His eyes never wavered from Ice's blue ones as he answered calmly.

Ice gulped, his heart skipping a beat from the way Kenji looked and spoke to him... grounding, implying.

Ice chuckled. "You don't have to lock the door. You know nothing is going to happen in here."

"You can't always be sure." Kenji slowly covered the distance between them.

Ice refused to back away. It would only prove to Kenji that he was affected by his presence, and he already said he wasn't in the morning.

"Look, just go back to your cooking lessons. I left to give you two some privacy." Ice murmured.

"I don't need privacy with War. We were cooking. Why were you hopping? Hurt your leg with your bike?" Kenji gently wrapped his hand around Ice's wrist, pulling him toward the bed.

"Sit."

Ice wanted Kenji to leave, but deep down he wanted to keep Kenji here until that innocent monster returned to his room.

"I know you'd really like for me to hurt my leg riding my bike. So you'd say you told me so." Ice said as he sat on his bed.

Kenji shook his head, tilting Ice's chin to look up at him. "I don't want you to hurt your leg at all... that's my point. It doesn't matter where."

Ice swallowed hard, darting his eyes away from Kenji's intense dark eyes.

"Look, I'm fine. Just..." Ice moved his face away from Kenji's hand. "Go. I need to shower."

Kenji stared at Ice for a second, then he sighed. "You shouldn't be out on your own. People know you now as my husband. My rivals would do anything possible to get their hands on you. Am I clear?"

Ice frowned and suddenly stood up, glaring at Kenji. "Fuck you, Mr. Takumi." He sidestepped him and walked toward his bathroom.

But he never made it through the door.

"What the fuck?" Ice gasped and groaned as Kenji easily pulled him to the side, slammed his back against the wall, and pinned his wrist above his head.

"Get your hands—"

"You will respect me, Ice," Kenji growled lowly, eyes sharp. "That's the least you could do for what I'm doing for you."

Ice chuckled. "You should respect me too. That's the least you could do for what I'm doing for you." He arched his brows. "We're both doing each other a favor. Stop acting like you're the hero." He shrugged.

Kenji dragged in deep, slow breaths to calm himself, but never released Ice's wrist. The moment he did, Ice would shove him away.

"Why the hell are you so stubborn?" Kenji laughed softly, shaking his head and leaning closer to Ice's ear. "You know that turns me on, right?" He whispered.

Ice's lashes fluttered for a few seconds as he fought the urge to tilt his head to the side and meet Kenji's lips. Once again, he was trapped in Kenji's intense flirtation.

"I need to shower. War must be missing you downstairs." Ice's voice lost its fight, softer now, almost exhausted.

Kenji frowned, lifting his face to lock eyes with Ice. "Is that the type of man you think I am? Wanting the next cute guy?" He questioned softly.

Ice gritted his teeth. "So you do think he's cute? You know what? I don't give a shit about the type of man you are—"

"You're jealous," Kenji murmured, his eyes darkening slowly.

Ice paused, his heart hammering loudly in his chest. He gazed into Kenji's eyes for a second, then he barked out a dry laugh.

"Really? Me? Jealous? Come on, Mr. Takumi, that's too much."

"Is it?" Kenji's free hand came up to Ice's face, his finger trailing along the delicate yet defined jawline. "I don't think it's too much, Ice. I think you're jealous, Mr. Arisaka."

Kenji's hand dropped from Ice's jaw to his shoulder, his fingers trailing along the collarbone and down to his chest, his thumb slowly circling the cherry tattoo above Ice's nipple.

Ice's breath hitched. "Stop." He murmured, lips falling apart slightly.

"Let's make something clear," Kenji said, his face a breath away from Ice's, their deep but controlled breaths mingling. "I'm married. To you. You're my husband. Do you understand that?" He whispered huskily, pressing his warm lips to Ice's chin.

Ice froze, but he wasn't about to let himself fall for Kenji's tactics. "Um... move..." but his voice came out as a pleading whisper, wrist weakly tugging in Kenji's hand.

Surprisingly, Kenji released Ice's wrist, but he made no move to leave.

"Now get out of my room," Ice ordered, rubbing his wrist as faint finger marks started to appear there.

"You will have to be more fierce than that if you need me to leave," Kenji said, hand reaching to touch a white strand on Ice's forehead.

"If I ask again, I'll shove you," Ice warned.

"Do it." Kenji leaned in and kissed Ice's shoulder. "That's the only way I'm leaving." He whispered against Ice's skin.

Ice gulped as Kenji's mouth stayed on his shoulder for a second longer, then drifted lower.

He suppressed a moan as Kenji kissed his way down to the cherry tattoo, warm lips brushing the inked fruit just above his nipple.

Kenji murmured against the skin, voice low and almost reverent. "I love cherries."

Ice fought the reaction rising in his throat. His fingers twitched at his sides. He hated himself for standing there and doing nothing—for not shoving Kenji off, for not walking away, for letting the heat crawl down his spine instead.

Kenji pulled back just enough to lock eyes with him.

"I'm about to taste the real cherry," he said huskily. "Shove me away if you don't want it."

His gaze never left Ice's as he closed his mouth around the pink nipple and sucked it sweetly into his mouth.

"Mm..." A moan escaped Ice's lips, his eyes involuntarily fluttering shut.

Finally his hand snapped up—but not to shove Kenji away. It cradled the back of Kenji's head and pulled him even closer, pressing him against the sensitive peak.

"Ohh..." Ice's head fell back against the wall as the sensation rolled through him, sharp and humiliatingly good.

Kenji sucked once more, slower, then straightened.

He smirked at Ice's flushed face, leaning in until their mouths were almost touching.

"That was not shoving, Ice," he teased, voice still husky.

Ice opened his mouth, trying to say something snarky, but the words died in his throat, his head too messed up to think straight at the moment.

"I'm sure you're rethinking calling me boring. Am I right, Kitten?" Kenji cupped Ice's jaw, forcing him to look into his hungry eyes and see just how much he wanted him, too.

With an inaudible curse under his breath instead, Ice suddenly grabbed Kenji by the front of his shirt and yanked him in.

The kiss was dirty. Angry. Hungry.

Ice kissed him like he was trying to punish both of them at once—teeth catching Kenji's lower lip, tongue pushing in without permission, breath coming fast and uneven.

Kenji made a low sound in his throat and answered it, one hand sliding to Ice's bare waist, the other bracing against the wall beside his head.

Ice hated how good it felt.

He hated that he didn't stop.

The kiss didn't stay against the wall for long.

Kenji's hand tightened on Ice's waist, dragging him closer until there was no space left between them.

Ice made a frustrated sound into his mouth and kissed him harder, fingers twisting in Kenji's shirt like he still wanted to fight even while he was taking what he wanted.

Kenji answered with the same heat, tongue sliding against Ice's, the kiss turning wet and messy and far too hungry for two men who kept pretending this was nothing.

Ice's back hit the wall again. Kenji pressed in, chest to chest, and Ice felt every inch of that controlled strength. It should have pissed him off. It did. It also made his knees weak.

Kenji broke the kiss just enough to breathe against his mouth.

"Still want me to leave?"

Ice's answer was another kiss, sharper this time, almost a bite. Kenji cursed softly and lifted him in one smooth motion.

Ice's breath punched out of him.

His legs wrapped around Kenji's waist on instinct, thighs locking tight as Kenji carried him away from the wall.

The sudden shift sent heat straight through Ice's stomach. He grabbed Kenji's shoulders, then his neck, kissing him again while Kenji walked them toward the bed like he had already decided how this was going to end.

Ice's back met the mattress a second later.

Kenji followed him down, one knee between Ice's thighs, mouth finding his again. The kiss turned slower only in the way a fire gets lower and hotter.

Kenji's hand slid up Ice's bare side, over the cherry tattoo, then back to his waist as if he couldn't decide where he wanted to touch first. Ice arched into it before he could stop himself, a broken sound caught in his throat.

Kenji kissed down his jaw, then his throat.

"You taste better than I thought," he murmured against Ice's skin.

Ice's fingers dug into Kenji's back. He hated the way his body opened for it. Hated the way his hips shifted up. Hated that he was kissing Kenji like he had been starving for it all day, ever since he saw War standing too close in that kitchen.

Kenji's mouth returned to his, deeper now, one hand sliding under Ice's thigh to keep him wrapped around him.

Then—

A knock.

Three polite, careful taps against the locked door.

Ice froze.

Kenji went still above him, breath hot against Ice's lips.

"Kenji?" War's soft voice came through the door. "Dinner's ready. The lasagna's out. I… I plated some for Ice too."

The silence in the room was sharp enough to cut.

Ice's heart was still racing. His legs were still around Kenji. His mouth was still wet from the kiss.

War knocked again, lighter this time.

"Are you both coming down?"

The knock landed like cold water.

Ice's eyes snapped open. For one second he was still under Kenji, mouth swollen, legs still locked around him, body still stupidly hot from the kiss. Then reality slammed back in—War's soft voice on the other side of the locked door, dinner, lasagna, that polite little interruption that made everything feel cheap and exposed.

Frustration hit first.

Then anger.

Ice shoved Kenji off him hard enough that Kenji had to catch himself on one hand. Ice sat up fast, chest heaving, white hair a mess, lips still wet.

"Get off me."

Kenji stared at him, breathing just as hard. "Ice—"

"Don't." Ice's voice came out sharp and shaking with it. He shoved at Kenji's chest again, forcing space between them. "Don't you dare."

Another knock. Softer.

"Kenji? Ice?"

Ice dragged a hand through his hair, furious at himself more than anyone. He had let it happen. He had pulled Kenji in. He had moaned for him. Now War was standing outside the door like some perfect little reminder of why Ice should never have touched him in the first place.

He stood, grabbed the nearest shirt off the bed, and pointed at the door without looking at Kenji.

"Never come into my room again."

Kenji's jaw tightened. "Ice."

"I mean it." Ice's eyes finally cut to him, flushed and furious. "You don't lock my door. You don't touch me. You don't come in here. Get out."

He didn't wait for an answer.

Ice walked straight into the bathroom and slammed the door so hard the frame rattled. The lock clicked a second later.

On the other side, War's voice came again, uncertain now.

"Is everything okay? Kenji?"
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\[Author\]: I know I created him, but can someone help me with a pair of hands... to strangle War! WTF???!!!  
I'm calm, I'm calm... see you in the next chapter. I think I'll make War die in this story... yep, I'm gonna do it.