Book safety, content warnings and tropes & tags down below.

Something about Nicky triggered a Pavlovian response in Cy. The need to protect him came as easy to Cy as breathing. It always had. Maybe it always would. Protecting Nicky was in his DNA.

Reread (audio this time, Liam did a fab job as per usual) and gonna edit my original review a little and add more detailed safety info and content warnings.

I feel like I didn’t know Webster that well sometimes, even after meeting him several times in the Elite Protection series. It was like he was a different person. They do explain that Cyrus makes it possible for Webster to be vulnerable and that he likes being taken care of, so that could 100% be the reason why. I suppose if you go through your entire life expecting abuse and have tons of trauma, you put up walls that might change how you act when you suddenly feel safe.

If Webster had thought county lockup was bad, prison was a never-ending overstimulation of his senses. Lights flickering, alarms blaring, doors buzzing, metal doors slamming, men hollering and banging things against the bars.

Webster is neurodivergent and easily feels overstimulated, which I wish was expanded on a little, as it kinda fell away after a certain point and seemed to be a non issue.

This book is a pretty extreme case of instalove. Thankfully I adore instalove when it’s done well, and I think it is with this one. Nicky and Cy had a strong connection and a bond made through trauma when they were children/teenagers, and this quickly fell back into place when they meet 20 years later.

I think my one ‘issue’ with the book is that Cyrus honestly seems pretty unaffected by being wrongfully imprisoned for 20 years. Like, you’re not even a little bitter? I suppose people are different, but I would think that affected a person pretty strongly in one way or another.

Even after twenty years, Nicky still fit perfectly in Cy’s arms, though his body’s reaction to that fact was a much different one now.

The boys are very cute together, and if you’re looking for protective men, look no further. I enjoyed the suspense/mystery part of this which heavily touches on systemic racism, modern slavery, and much more. It doesn’t get super heavy even with these topics, but they’re there and it’s real.

I of course loved seeing cameos of Linc and Wyatt from Intoxicating. Those two are the best.

⬇️ Blanket spoiler warning ⬇️

⚠️ Tropes & tags ⚠️
Prison romance
Step brothers
Past trauma
Tech genius
Age gap
Neurodivergent MC
Tattooed MC
Fast burn
Marking/bruises
Throat-bulging
Mild pain kink
Fast feelings

⚠️ Content warning ⚠️
Explicit sexual content
Death of a parent (violent, prologue, some details)
Child abuse - psychological, physical, (past, some details)
Themes of systemic racism
Violence between MCs (punch to keep up appearances)
MCs simulating rape (acting in front of prison guards)
Wrongfully imprisoned MC
Throat-fucking
Erotic spanking
Inmates threatening rape against MC (not carried out)
Exhibitionism (blowjob in front of bad guy)
Rough sex (marking/bruises/some pain - all consensual)
Physical assault and attempted sexual assault (beating, trying to remove clothes - stopped)
Graphic violence
Themes of systemically framing POC
MC sexually assaulted as a child (few details)
Brief moment of animal neglect/abuse
Drinking (MC drunk on page)
Abuse of power

⚠️Book safety ⚠️
Cheating: No
Other person drama: No
Breakup: No
POV: 3rd person, dual
Genre: Contemporary romance
Pairing: M/M
Strict roles or versatile: Versatile
Main characters’ age: 27 and 38
Series: Interconnected standalone
Kindle Unlimited: No
Pages: 224


Cy needed to be needed, and Nicky always needed him, even when he didn’t. Maybe that was toxic, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.



You can find most of my reviews on Instagram as well: https://www.instagram.com/booksafety?igsh=MWZ3azhkdDc2Y2ludg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr