Page 22

22

PEACE AND QUIET

EDDIE

I rested my head against the wall behind me. The elevator buzzed, and I could feel the quiet sound resonating through my skull. The headache was killing me, but soon, I’d be home.

I let myself into our apartment, and Russel came from the living room, wearing nothing but loose yoga pants. He took one look at me and sighed.

“Sweetheart, come here.”

He put my laptop bag aside and pulled me closer. I laid my head on his shoulder while he tugged the jacket down my arms and hung it on the coat rack. Then he unbuttoned my shirt and slid his hands underneath. He ran them up my back.

“God, you’re tense.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Who’s the culprit?”

“Charles Carlsson Jr.”

“What did Charlie do now?”

“An insignificant right-winger joked about Charlie wearing a baby carrier. He said that the greatest action hero of our time had quit his career to become a nanny and that he’d been neutered. Just one of those bitter incel podcasts, you know, which would have had zero reach.”

“Except Charlie took the bait.”

“Yup. He replied. Left a thread of comments, some in all caps.”

“He never learns, does he?”

“Nope. The podcast blew up, and the asshole is rubbing his hands because Charlie’s rants brought him several hundred K new followers in just a few hours.”

“Pierce must be furious.”

“Let’s just say that I hope Charlie’s into spanking.”

Chuckling, Russel picked me up, and I wrapped my legs around his waist as he carried me to the living room.

“So you spent the afternoon cleaning up their messes yet again.”

“We’ll be having a serious meeting on Monday. Pierce wants me to help him convince Charlie to relinquish his social media accounts to us so we can manage his presence.”

“They should have done it months ago. Charlie is hopeless.”

“He’s a good guy, but he sure has a temper.”

Russel tugged my pants off and sat on the sofa with me straddling his lap. He massaged my shoulders, and I kissed the side of his throat. I could feel his half-hard cock against mine, but I wasn’t in a hurry. We had all the time in the world. I would have to work on Sunday afternoon, but for now, there was just my vampire and me.

“Do you want to talk it through?” he asked. His fingers dug into my tense muscles, and I felt myself melting in his expert care.

“Nah. Maybe on Sunday after lunch. I’ll have to work a bit then. From now until then, I want to pretend none of that concerns me.”

“It doesn’t. It’s their mess, not yours. If they don’t listen to your advice, that’s their problem.”

“That’s what Anthony said. He was really chill about it. He even hinted that we have lucrative long-term clients as long as Helen and Pierce are with Charlie because he’ll always stir shit.”

“There’s that.”

“We might ask you to come in next week and sit with Charlie for a few hours. He listens to you more than me. But we won’t talk about that now. Not until Sunday.”

“No work until Sunday.”

At least I didn’t have to go see Mom this weekend. Since Russel began coming with me, the visits had been easier to navigate. She seemed scared of him and even showed signs of grudging respect toward me when she witnessed his apparent devotion to me. But thinking of her still made me anxious, and right now, I wanted to forget about everything except Russel.

His lips brushed my forehead, and I knew what I needed to let the last of the tension go.

“Bite me?” I whispered.

I tilted my head to the side, and Russel nuzzled the tendons on my throat. He pressed a lingering kiss to where I knew my scar sat like two diamonds embedded in my skin. Then he licked and teased around it with gentle nips until I was shivering.

“Please.”

He parted his lips over the vein, and my heart picked up with anticipation.

I moaned when his fangs pierced my skin. The adrenaline rush came first, then the wave of arousal, and then…pure joy.

Closing my eyes, I let everything go. Russel sucked the stress out of me and replaced it with desire. He spread his hands on my ass cheeks, and I thought of how I’d get on my knees for him later tonight and have him fuck me through the mattress.

He licked the wound to close it, laid me next to him on the sofa, and freed my cock. Wrapping his lips around my cockhead, he cupped my balls and rolled them in his hands. Like always, with a fresh dose of his venom in my system, I came in seconds. I bucked into his mouth, and Russel swallowed everything. He sucked until I stopped shaking and finished with a soft kiss against my slit.

Then he gave me a cocky grin. “Better?”

“Much better. Want me to suck you?”

I loved doing that. He always looked at me with such adoration; it made me feel all-powerful. But Russel shook his head.

“Later. First, I’ll make dinner.”

I raised my eyebrows. “You will?”

“Uh-huh. Trying a new recipe. I’m curious what you’ll think.”

“You don’t eat food. Why do you keep cooking for me?”

He shrugged. “I like it. It’s fun. And I love watching you eat what I’ve made.”

Russel’s first experiments in the kitchen had been pitiful, but he’d improved vastly over the past few months.

I scraped my fingers through his stubble. “What are you making tonight?”

“Carbonara. I went to the Italian deli, and I bought Guanciale, Parmigiano, and Pecorino Romano. It’s the original recipe from Rome.”

My lips twitched at his impeccable pronunciation. He’d been watching Italian cooking channels online. “Sounds amazing. I’m hungry.”

He grinned like a kid at a fair. “Then c’mon! I have everything chopped and grated, ready to go. It’ll take ten minutes. We can open a bottle of Sangiovese. I got us the real deal, from Tuscany.”

* * *

Pleasantly full and relaxed after the glass of excellent Italian wine, I took a long, hot shower. I used the douche bulb to clean myself up. We hadn’t had time for a proper fuck during the hectic week, and I craved Russel in me. I wanted it rough and thorough.

I didn’t bother putting on the robe or underwear. I walked naked straight to the bedroom. Russel waited for me on the bed, a book in his hand. He put it aside as soon as he saw me.

I loved that he still looked at me with the same desire as he did a year ago. He threw the blanket away, and I crawled on my hands and knees toward him. I gave him a biting kiss.

“Fuck me hard, please.”

Instead of replying, he let his fangs drop.

His sinister smile sent a wave of raw want through me. I drew in a shuddering breath as I lowered myself to my elbows with my ass in the air. I didn’t have to play coy.

Russel gave me a few shallow bites on my ass cheeks. The heat spread through my skin and muscles, making my balls draw up and cock throb. Then he licked up my spine, and two lubed fingers breached my hole. His cock pressed to my thigh.

“You want it hard, huh?”

“Yes.”

Another bite, this time on my neck. One more. My skin felt tight on my body, and my erection tingled. Russel rained open-mouthed kisses all over my back and down to my ass. He pulled my ass cheeks apart and bit the soft flesh in my crease. Then he found a vein on the inside of my thigh. When the venom entered a major vein, the aphrodisiac effect grew in pulses. Every heartbeat sent me higher and higher, until I was whimpering with need.

I clung to the pillow, my fingers curled around lumps of crumpled fabric, as I struggled to stay still. He licked over the wound and to my crease again, then kissed my pucker. Opening his mouth wide, he grazed his fangs over it.

“Please!” I was losing it.

The sting just by my hole drove me wild.

“Please! Fuck me!”

I was going to self-combust.

I let out another whine, but finally, the mattress dipped by my knees. Russel’s cockhead nudged my hole, he shifted behind me, and then came the blissful fullness.

Groaning, I pushed my ass out, meeting his slow thrust. He filled me up in one long slide, stretching my insides and sending sparks of pleasure into my body. I could tell from the angle and weight that he crouched behind me. When he grabbed my hips, I only had a split second to prepare before he rocked out and pushed back in. The rough thrust punched a wail out of me.

“Like this?” he asked, his voice sounding almost evil.

“Oh fuck, yes!”

“Whatever you need, my love.”

He was spectacular. With measured but rapid fucks, he drove in and out of me, all but milking my prostate. His balls slapped into my crease with the force of his thrusts.

The energy built in my core, like a roaring fire in the pit of my stomach, and I mewled like an animal. He fucked me through my orgasm and beyond, and when the pleasure began fading away, he bit my shoulder, feeding the blaze.

The last few thrusts were slow but deep. I could feel him shudder, and his cock jerked deep inside me. With a blissful smile on my lips, I collapsed on the bed. He stayed in me as he lay over me and bucked his hips a few more times.

“That was epic,” I mumbled.

Chuckling, he pulled out and rolled off me. I turned my head to look at him. His eyes were almost always copper as he fed from me in small doses every other day. Now they had the color of the sunset above the ocean.

“I think we need to do this a few more times this weekend,” Russel said. “To manage your stress levels.”

“Uh-huh. Very wise.”

With the last of my strength, I shuffled to press my body to his side. I lay my head on his chest with a sigh.

He hugged me and breathed into my hair. “I’m going to spoil you this weekend, my love.”

“You spoil me all the time,” I murmured, already sleepy.

“You deserve that and more.”

I didn’t have the energy to protest, and probably no reason either. “Love you,” I whispered instead.

“I love you, Eddie. Sleep well, my sweetheart.”

The End