Page 31

DANTE

F inally, my stitches are out and I’m all healed.

I skip out of the doctor’s office feeling like a free fucking man.

Am I excited to be cleared? Yes. But I am more excited to see Reid because he promised all sorts of vile and despicable things once I finally got permission from the doctor.

I even got a nice little doctor’s note clearing me for all physical activities.

Parker idles at the curb waiting for me since it’s snowing again, which means no motorcycle. I shake off the snow from my jacket once I’m in the heated passenger seat. It’s so fucking cold. I miss summer and spring.

“So?” Parker asks while navigating out of the parking lot.

“All clear!”

“Nice, now you can get back to work.”

“Now I can fuck my boyfriend,” I clarify.

Parker rolls his eyes. “Getting back to work is more important.”

“Let’s agree to disagree.” I tap my fingers on my jean-clad thighs for a few moments, too anxious to sit still. Good time to bother Parker. “How’s it going with Mason? ”

Parker cuts me a look so vile that I fight the urge to squirm. “I’m keeping him safe, that’s it. I’m straight.”

“Sure.”

“I am!”

“Absolutely.”

“Dante.”

“Oh my God, fuck off. I don’t really care. Just that’s Reid’s brother, so don’t be a total asshole, okay, or I’ll have to do something very serious…. to you.”

Parker snorts. “I’m not afraid of you. Big baddie with a heart of gold.”

“I have a higher kill count than you.”

“That you know of.”

Parker slams the car into park the moment we pull into the garage, jumping out to head inside before I can even think of how to parse apart his answer.

The house is quiet when I step inside. Darkness falls over the kitchen from the heavy snow falling past the windows.

A plate of brownies sits in the middle of the dining table, and I grab two as I head off to locate Reid.

Finding Reid is easy these days. He’s sitting by the fire in the living room, curled up in the chair that Hayden bought for him since the couch is usually taken up by the four of us.

He looks so small in the chair, smaller than normal, his small feet tucked up under his thighs.

He’s got his sketchbook balanced on his thighs, lip caught between his teeth in thought.

How this man is mine will always amaze me.

I drop to my knees in front of him, handing him a brownie with a smile only ever meant for him.

“I’ve had one already,” Reid murmurs, nose wrinkled in disdain.

“You can have another. ”

Reid sniffs, but doesn’t argue. He lets me feed him bites of the brownie as he continues to draw.

Feeding him is something we’ve found that we both like, even when it’s not my cock.

Something about taking care of Reid lights up all those fun receptors in my brain, the same ones that find joy in making him cry, in making him hurt.

I don’t want to think too much about it.

“What are you drawing?” I ask, leaning over to try to sneak a peek.

Reid tilts his sketchpad up with a scowl. “Excuse you.”

I wiggle my eyebrows. “I can make you show me.”

“Likely story.”

I rise to my knees and loom over him, tucking my head into the crook of his neck to kiss the rapid beat of his pulse.

His breath catches in his chest, sketchbook falling to his lap as his fingers come up to tangle in my hair.

Moving his shirt out of the way, I bite the tender, meaty part of his shoulder, and he hisses in pleasure at the feeling of my teeth against his skin.

When I pull away, his eyes are blown and I can’t help but lean down to kiss his plush lips.

He opens up for me like always, eager and wanting.

“Excuse me,” Hayden calls out from behind us.

Reid drops his hands from my hair like he was burned. Clearing his throat, Reid’s eyes dip down to the sketchbook in his lap, tugging it against his chest before I can sneak a look.

Hayden comes to stand beside us, hand held out with a thin letter dangling between his fingers. “This came for you.”

Reid takes the envelope with a confused look, eyes tracking Hayden as he disappears up the stairs, Jacob hot on his heels.

Reid spins the envelope in his fingers a few times, then gazes up at me with a million questions in his eyes.

I shrug because I have no idea what it is either.

I stand quickly, picking Reid up despite his squawk of annoyance, then toss myself back to settle him in my lap.

Reid raises one eyebrow. “I assume the doctor went well?”

“Yes, all clear.” I squeeze his hip hard. “We can talk about that later though. What’s in the envelope?”

I will never be able to explain why it turns me on when Reid delicately uses his finger to open the flap of the envelope.

He peers inside for a moment, hair falling into his eyes, then shakes his hair away as he tugs the piece of paper out.

His eyes scan over the paper, squinting in confusion, then crimson dots across his cheeks.

Whatever is in the letter made him happy.

“Did you do this?” Reid asks, voice tinged with awe.

“Do what?” I lean closer to read the letter hanging precariously in his hand.

Reid

Thank you for keeping my secrets. In exchange for your helpfulness, I’ve had the CEO of FlyNow killed. By the time you read this letter, he’ll be lying in a pile of his own vomit, appearing to have died from an overdose. Nasty things those painkillers are.

I’d also like you to consider becoming one of my boys.

Hayden reports that you’re very savvy with hacking and coding, which can be useful so that I can utilize Hayden in other ways.

Your parents’ killer being put down should not sway you, make the decision with your heart so that you can have a clean conscience like the other boys .

Please give Hayden your answer.

Keep Dante safe, he’s very important to me.

What.

I stare down at the letter a few times before lifting my gaze to look at Reid. His eyes are already firmly on me, flicking over my face as if trying to memorize the moment.

“Did you know about this?” Reid asks breathlessly.

“No? Only Hayden communicates with Robin.”

“No… killing the CEO. Did you do it?”

“No…” I say slowly. “But I wish I had thought of it first.”

“You’d have killed him for me?”

“Reid, I killed men to save you just a few weeks ago, what would one more be to me?”

Reid makes a sort of broken sound before surging up to kiss me.

I stand from the chair in a smooth motion, laughing against Reid’s mouth when he squawks and scrambles to keep the sketchbook from falling to the floor.

Plundering his mouth as we climb the stairs to my room, his cock is hard as granite against my stomach.

Jesus. He gets so hard at the idea of me killing for him, almost as hard as he gets when I make him cry.

Kicking my room door open, I shove it closed behind us with the heel of my shoe.

Reid kisses me passionately, as if he’s starving for me, as if I’m all he needs to live.

Maybe I am. I set him down carefully on the ground, holding his shoulders when he sways closer to me.

With the tips of my fingers, I shove him against the door, pointedly saying, “Stay,” as I back up towards the bed.

The sketchbook falls to the floor when Reid presses his hands flat against the wood of the door.

I sit down carefully, kick off my shoes, then lean back on the bed. I let my gaze sweep over Reid because I know he’ll like it. The flush on his throat that works down under my T-shirt that he borrowed when he woke up. The darkness of his pupils even in the almost pitch black of the bedroom.

Snapping my fingers between my thighs, I say, “Crawl to me.”

Reid mewls in pleasure before dropping hard enough to his knees that I worry he’ll be in pain tomorrow.

He crawls to me slowly on all fours, head held high so his gaze can stay locked on mine.

It’s the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen, Reid on his knees for me.

The dynamic between us is ever changing, ever growing, but there’s a deep pleasure in knowing what Reid needs and giving it to him because it’s always exactly what I need. Our needs always perfectly aligned.

“Stop.”

Reid stops in his crawling, eyes locked on me.

“Grab the sketchbook,” I order.

Reid looks like he’s going to argue for one moment, before shifting to his knees and bending backwards to grab the offending object. He shuffles closer on his knees so that he can hold the sketchbook out to me.

“Good boy.”

Reid shivers at the praise. He licks his lips. “Don’t good boys get rewards?”

“Sometimes,” I reply, flipping through the sketchbook to the page he was working on. It’s us tangled in bed, Reid’s hands holding on to the headboard as I hitch one of his legs up to slide inside him. Dirty as sin to know he drew this while daydreaming about it.

Flipping to the previous page, my heart skips two beats.

Reid lunges forward to grab it from me, but I stop him with a hand to his chest. Why didn’t he want me to see this one?

It’s us curled around each other, clothed, contented smiles on our faces.

I remember this moment. It was a week ago when Reid’ bandages had come off, when I’d rubbed his abdomen with a loving smile while kissing him breathless.

He’d fallen asleep in my arms afterwards, pliant and pleased.

“Why don’t you show me these kinds of drawings?” I ask curiously.

Reid squeezes his eyes shut tight. “You already know… how I feel. I don’t have to show you all the time, do I?”

“I guess not, but you could.”

“Can’t I just suck your dick?”

I hum and toss the sketchbook aside, plans forgotten. “Change of plans.”

Reid groans in frustration. I tug him up onto the bed, kissing him to stop all his arguments.

Once he’s soft in my hands, I slide my hands under the baggy T-shirt, wanting to feel the familiar scars that are just as much a part of him as my scars are to me now.

Reid’s breath catches for a moment, before stuttering out in a rush as I tug the shirt over his head.

“Hey, Reid?”

“What?” Reid asks in frustration as I kiss down his chest.

Leaning my chin against his stomach, I smile up at him. “I’d kill anyone you’d ask me to. Kill a hundred million times for you. All you ever have to do is ask.”

“Oh, Jesus.”

And then I take him apart with my mouth until he’s screaming, begging me to let him come, thighs trembling around my head.

I only let him come after edging him for hours, blissed out on the thought of only me ever getting to give him this gift.

When Reid finally comes, he’s starry-eyed and moldable under my hands when I pull him against the line of my body.

I situate the covers over us, kissing his damp temple.

The bed is empty when I wake up in the middle of the night.

Fear grips me tight, but my phone is silent which means Reid is still somewhere in the house with his tracker on.

I pull on the shirt and sweatpants that were hastily thrown to the floor hours ago before we made love.

The glow of the fire downstairs greets me as I descend the stairs.

Reid is curled up in the chair, chin in his hand, staring at the fire like it contains every single secret of the universe.

He doesn’t lift his gaze to mine, but his hand falls into my hair when I lower myself to sit by his feet.

Taking one of his feet in my lap, I massage the arch until his gaze slides to me.

“I think I’m going to say yes,” Reid says, out of the blue.

Ah. “You don’t have to, it’s your decision.”

“I want to,” Reid argues, eyebrows furrowing as he stares back at the fire. “Maybe it’ll help me get over everything, doing something good, instead of punishing myself for something that isn’t even my fault.”

“It helped me,” I admit.

Reid’s worried gaze pings back to me. “Your sister?”

I nod. I watch the glow of the fire move across his face, aching with just how beautiful he is to me.

I think I’d love Reid in every universe, no matter how damaged we both are, our souls call out to each other with knowing.

Soulmates? Maybe. But his hurt aligns perfectly with mine, somehow making us just one person when we’re together.

“I don’t know what I’ll do after college, not sure this shit is a career, but for now it feels good, and that’s what matters most. Right?”

Reid nods in agreement, then leans down to kiss me. When Reid lifts his head, it’s to look over my shoulder. When I glance behind me, it’s to find a tired-looking Hayden standing in just a pair of sweats, skin dotted with goose pimples from the cold.

“So?” Hayden asks, voice carefully neutral.

“I’ll join you,” Reid says with a scary smile. “But you’ll need to teach me how to use a gun.”

I groan in despair at the very thought. But both boys smile at each other, in pleasure at my pain, or pleasure at Reid joining the brotherhood, I’ll never know.