Page 18 of Six for Gold (The Magpie Rhyme #6)

T he magpies, and the other birds were back on the feeder Friday evening.

Romeo shook his head at them.

They hadn’t learned.

The predator still lurked close by, but they were outside again, putting their lives in danger.

“Why do you look at them like that?”

For all Chad had remembered, the raven alluded him.

“Romeo?”

“Before we went away. A raven swooped down in front of us and killed one of the magpies.”

“I don’t remember.”

“I know you don’t. There were more magpies back then, six, but it killed one of them. Then the next day, I put seed out, and I sat outside for most of the day, but the minute my back was turned, it came and killed another magpie. I wanted to protect them but couldn’t. I threw rocks where I knew the raven hid but couldn’t kill it.”

Chad joined him by the window, looking out on their field.

“The next day, I removed the feeders. But the magpies still came. They hopped about in the field, looking this way, waiting for the seeds, and the raven killed number four and number three until there were two left.”

“Those two?” Chad asked.

“I reckon so. You told me not to interfere. To let nature run its course and balance would be restored. That is what I am doing, but it doesn’t make looking out the window comfortable viewing.”

“They look pretty content to me.”

And they did, or as content as a magpie could look.

Romeo sighed, glancing at Chad. “Sorry.”

“There’s no need to apologize.”

“Have you heard from Josh?”

Chad shook his head. “I’m giving him some space.”

Romeo nodded.

“So...” Chad clapped, looking around the kitchen. “What are you making me?”

“Very forward of you.”

Chad shrugged. “What can I say? I love your food.”

“How does apple and blackberry pie with custard sound?”

“It sounds like you’ve gone into my head and picked out the recipe guaranteed to get you a blowjob.”

Romeo laughed. “It will take about an hour.”

“It would take less time if you used shop bought pastry...”

“Never,” Romeo pinched Chad’s side. “I can’t believe you’d say such blasphemy.”

Chad grinned. “Just think, quicker the pie, the quicker I get down on my knees for you.”

“Or the longer the pie, the more anticipation builds for the both of us.”

Chad hummed. “Or...”

“Or?”

“I give you a little taster and you might hurry proceedings along...”

Romeo caught Chad under the armpits as he tried to drop to his knees.

“A tempting idea.”

Chad pouted. “Obviously not tempting enough.”

Romeo leaned in to kiss Chad on the lips. Chad surged onto his tip-toes, keeping the kiss going, and Romeo indulged, pressing his tongue into Chad’s mouth. Chad’s hands were everywhere, stroking up Romeo’s sides, on his neck, in his hair. Romeo snorted, bringing their kiss to a stop.

“Don’t laugh at me.”

“I’m not laughing at you.”

Chad frowned. “You’re certainly not laughing with me.” He poked Romeo face where his smile twitched. “What’s this all about?”

Romeo opened his mouth, about to tell him he smiled because a spark had returned to Chad’s eyes. It had been dwindling for months, maybe years, going out so slowly that Romeo hadn’t seen, but it was back, along with his smiles and his flirtatious side.

The happiness Chad so easily expressed could be felt by Romeo too.

He felt happier, lighter.

Romeo didn’t get a chance to tell Chad all that, though. The instant his mouth opened, Chad took advantage and kissed him again. Chad plastered himself to Romeo’s chest.

Romeo pulled his mouth away, then spoke by Chad’s ear. “Maybe I should give you a little tease of what’s to come later...”

“Later?”

“Tonight,” Romeo clarified. “When we’re in bed together.”

Chad shivered as Romeo forced his hand down the back of Chad’s jeans.

They’d rutted against each other like desperate animals, Chad had pleasured him in the shower with his mouth, and they’d kissed for long hours into the night since they’d started sleeping in the same bed two nights ago but hadn’t gone further.

“Yes,” Chad breathed, “Fuck, yes.”

He rubbed himself against Romeo, overwhelmed by the sensation of Romeo’s fingers creeping closer to his hole.

Romeo stroked against the puckered entrance, biting his lip. He wanted to wet his fingers, push inside, stretch Chad open, but he resisted despite his cock throbbing at the idea.

Chad’s pants for breath were only interrupted by his groans and huffs of frustration. He scrunched his eyes shut, and his eyebrows twitched as he rubbed himself without shame against Romeo.

“What are you thinking about right now?” Romeo asked, keeping pressure to a minimum.

“All the times before,” Chad replied. He shook his head. His glassy eyes were pleading when they locked on to Romeo’s. “Fuck the pie.”

“I’d rather you didn’t.”

“Romeo...” Chad whined, thumping his head against Romeo’s collarbone. “This isn’t fair.”

“You’re the one that started it.”

“Yes. Maybe. But you,” Chad pressed a finger to Romeo’s chest. “You kept it going. You ... you took advantage.”

“Took advantage?”

“You can’t fondle me there , then leave me hanging.”

“Fondle?” Romeo bopped his nose against Chad’s. “I’m barely touching you.”

“I know .”

Heat filled Chad’s cheeks.

“I’ll stop.” Romeo said, pulling his hand out.

Chad reached behind himself to grab Romeo’s wrist and pushed it back down his jeans. “I don’t think so.”

“Oh, really?” Romeo pushed off from the counter, pressing into Chad. “We’ve got to stop this or we’ll end up fucking in the kitchen.”

Chad smiled. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“I’m making pie.”

“You could do that or you push me over the table and have me.”

“I can do both, but the pie comes first.”

“You’d rather make the pie come than me.”

Romeo rolled his eyes. “You’re pretty much there anyway.”

He backed up a step to get a hand between them and gave Chad’s erection a squeeze. Chad’s bravado vanished the instant Romeo made contact.

“ Please .”

Chad gripped Romeo’s other wrist to keep his hand against his cock. He held both of Romeo’s hands hostage, not that he was complaining.

“You’re going to leave the kitchen to calm down.”

Chad shook his head.

Romeo carried on regardless.

“I’m going to make a pie for us to eat. Afterwards, you’re going to get yourself ready for me in the shower and then I’ll give you what you want.”

“And what is it I want?”

Romeo stared into Chad’s needy eyes. “You want me to choke you unconscious while my fingers are inside you.”

Chad froze. For a second, Romeo worried he’d gone too far, then Chad started nodding. He kept nodding, looking stunned.

“Yes,” he whispered. “I want that.”

“Okay,” Romeo yanked his hands free. “And you can have it.”

Chad took a step towards him.

Romeo put every ounce of authority he possessed into his voice. “Later.”

“Later.” Chad repeated. “But ... why not now?”

“Because.”

“Because what?”

Romeo sighed, glancing at the Tupperware box on the side. “The apples and blackberries have thawed, and if I re-freeze them or put them in the fridge, they won’t taste as nice.”

“Are ... are you serious right now?”

“And I like the anticipation.” Romeo pushed Chad towards the door. “Now go. You’re too distracting to be in the kitchen with me.”

“You’re such a house husband.”

Romeo widened his eyes.

Chad winked as he left the room.

House husband.

He’d only ever referred to himself as a house husband once, at the cottage. Chad had been unable to recall anything about that week until that moment. Just two words.

It was almost enough for Romeo to follow him, pin him down and give Chad what he’d said he would.

‘You want me to choke you unconscious while my fingers are inside you.’

Romeo saw Chad’s dead body when he blinked. His hand around his throat, fingers digging into his skin, dripping red down his neck. His cock deep inside him when rigor mortis set in—

“No.” Romeo growled.

His erection had gone.

Romeo pushed the thoughts away and got started on the pastry.

Fifteen minutes later, while stewing the apples and blackberries on the stove, the living room door slammed.

Romeo took the pan off the heat. “Chad?”

Keys jangled.

Romeo opened the door just as Chad was leaving the front.

“Chad!”

Chad ran to his car and flung open the door.

Romeo pursued, but Chad took off, leaving Romeo behind.

“What the hell...”

He yanked his phone from his jeans, and tried calling Chad, but he didn’t pick up.

“Damn it.”

He took a step towards the outhouse before remembering he no longer had the car.

Chad’s car faded until Romeo could no longer see it on the horizon.

Chad had gone.

Chad had left him.

And the darkness inside of Romeo grew and he couldn’t ignore the monster’s snarl.

It seethed, it spat and hissed at the rejection, infuriated at how easily Romeo could be hurt.

He’d given Chad too much power over himself.

And it was time to change that.

****

R omeo found himself sitting at the kitchen table with his phone within reach.

Broken plastic glinted at him from the tiles from where he’d smashed the clock, driven mad by the constant beat of time.

The sun had gone down long ago, and he hadn’t got up from the chair to switch the light on. He waited in the darkness, not knowing what he was even waiting for.

His texts and calls had gone unanswered.

The camera footage offered little clues.

It recorded Chad’s crazed rush to the car, and him taking off at breakneck speeds.

On the third watch, Romeo noticed something scrunched in Chad’s fist, but no amount of zooming into the image could reveal what he held. Romeo had glared at the pixelated squares of something clutched in Chad’s grip, but he hadn’t unearthed the mystery.

Nothing was out of place in the living room. Chad had set up the TV ready for the next episode of the Spanish crime drama Romeo enjoyed.

Romeo pressed down on his phone, bringing up the time.

It was 3:00 in the morning.

3:00 in the morning when Romeo heard the grumble of an engine outside, getting closer. It got close enough that he recognized it to be Chad’s car, and got to his feet, numbly stepping out of the kitchen and into the hall. There was ringing in his ears. He opened the front door and stepped out in time to see Chad locking the car with the fob.

The lights flashed.

Chad was halfway to the house, halfway home when Romeo grabbed him by the throat. He rushed him, slamming him against the side of the car.

Chad gasped in pain, but Romeo didn’t care. He tightened his hold, using both hands on Chad’s throat. Chad’s eyes were wide, watering in the porch light. Romeo closed his eyes, not wanting to see the light leaving them.

There should’ve been euphoria, but there wasn’t.

Chad pushed against Romeo’s chest, and when that had no effect, he struck Romeo’s face, but his slaps were weak, useless.

Chad dropped, using all his strength to pull himself down, and to the right. Romeo lost his balance at the move and lost his grip too. He knocked into the car as Chad scrambled across the ground.

“Romeo,” Chad croaked. His throat sounded wrecked. “Stop it.”

Romeo pursued Chad, rolling him onto his back with his foot. “Can’t.”

He dropped down, knee on either side of Chad.

“Yes. You can.”

“It needs to be done.”

Chad slapped his hands to his own throat, covering it from Romeo. “Stop it .”

Romeo yanked at Chad’s wrists, trying to get him to let go.

“Why are you doing this? Why now?”

“I can’t let you do this to me anymore.”

“Do what?” Chad asked.

“Have this ... this control over me.”

Chad’s eyes widened. They were pink from where his blood vessels had burst. Romeo had done that. He closed his eyes not to see the damage. “Just shut up,” Romeo pushed the words through gritted teeth. “Just shut up and die like the rest of them.”

“I’m not like the rest of them.”

Chad wriggled but couldn’t move with Romeo straddling him.

“And control, Romeo?” Chad blurted. “Who’s controlling you right now? It’s not me. It’s not you. You don’t want to kill me, I know you don’t.”

“You know nothing.”

“You’re angry with me. I’ve hurt you. I didn’t mean to, I—”

“Shut up,” Romeo growled, covering Chad’s mouth. “You won’t let me strangle you, then fine.” He pinched Chad’s nose closed. “There’s other ways to kill you.”

He held fast as Chad thrashed his head against the concrete. “You left me.”

Chad stilled, his eyes were searching.

“You left me again.”

Chad tried to shake his head but Romeo didn’t let him.

“I didn’t know if you were going to fling yourself off another bridge or if you’d just vanish into the night and not come back.” Romeo’s eyes burned. “The sun, Chad, the fucking sun. It doesn’t rise when you’re not with me, that’s what I found out these last few months. It’s cold, it’s lonely and it never-ending. It’s just me and the darkness in my head and I hate it.”

Chad’s hands slipped from his throat. Romeo knew he was fading fast. He shut his eyes against it, scrunching them up tight. He didn’t want to see Chad go, didn’t want to witness the life leave him.

“I could handle that before, before I knew you, but not now. You put a heart in my chest. You did! And you broke it. You may not have meant it, it may not even have been your fault, but it hurt worse than anything, and I can still feel it.” His bottom lip shook. “I don’t want to feel it again. I don’t want you to have the power to do that to me. I’d rather... I’d rather do it myself. I’d rather break my own heart so you can’t ever do it again.”

Chad gripped Romeo’s wrist, but it was a feeble hold.

“You’re the light, you’re the sun. I don’t feel cold with you. I don’t even feel like a fucking monster. I feel like your Romeo, and you feel like my Chad.”

Romeo flinched at the touch to his face. He opened his eyes, looking down on Chad’s pale face. His eyes were closed, but his hand... It had cupped Romeo’s face, and his thumb smudged an escaping tear.

“I love you, I do, but I’m terrified of losing you. I have to do this so I won’t have to live with that fear.”

Chad’s hand dropped. It hit Chad’s chest with a dull thud, completely boneless.

He’d fallen unconscious.

Romeo stopped smothering and pinching and closed his right hand on Chad’s throat to finish the job.

It hurt.

His palm throbbed with fire, but he persisted.

He wouldn’t fear losing Chad.

It would’ve happened.

He would’ve taken the control from him.

The darkness would be his choice.

Being cold and lonely would too.

And his heart would die, and he’d never have to feel it be broken again.

Stop it.

Those were Chad’s words.

Not stop ‘this’ or stop ‘that’ but stop it .

The monster.

It growled and gnashed its teeth in encouragement.

It told him he was doing the right thing.

But he didn’t want to do it.

He’d stopped before, when he’d attacked Chad in the outhouse soon after they’d moved to Bardhum, but back then he hadn’t been full of anger, fear, and despair. The emotions were potent, easy for the monstrous side of himself to exploit. He’d never known them in their entirety until he’d met Chad. He’d turned the dial right up.

But he hadn’t known happiness or love until he met Chad either.

Those emotions had grown within him because of Chad.

And he wanted to keep hold of them for as long as he could.

What was the point of existing without them?

Which meant he had to put the monster in its place once and for all.

“Stop.” He pressed his teeth together until his gums ached. “Enough!”

Romeo curled over, resting his forehead to Chad’s chest. “I won’t let you take him from me. You don’t get to use my hands or my strength. He’s ours, and I can be mad at him, I can be confused and hurt but it doesn’t have to lead to this.”

His hold weakened on Chad’s throat.

“I always think of you as being separate to me, this monster in my head that takes over, but it’s not true. You’re part of me, but I’m not part of you . I’m Romeo Knight and you are the darkest part of me. There’s no going back into the cage, I wouldn’t want that even if it was possible, but I can’t be controlled by this darkness anymore. Not when I have a life that means more to me than death. His life, because it’s mine too and I need him to live.”

Romeo let go.

A volley of coughs exploded from Chad, and he tried to turn onto his side. Romeo climbed off him and eased him over until he lay in the recovery position, gasping and choking.

“Chad?”

He didn’t respond. His eyes remained closed, but he heaved and pawed at the ground with one of his hands. One of his covered hands. Chad wore gloves, black gloves.

The hoodie he wore was also black, oversized on Chad, one of Romeo’s he kept beneath the back seat.

“I’m ... I’m still alive.”

Romeo slumped. “You’re still alive.”

“You stopped it .”

“I did.”

Only just.

Chad began violently coughing again.

“You can’t do that,” Romeo murmured once Chad had stopped spluttering over the concrete. “You can’t disappear. You can’t ignore my calls and texts, not right now, not when I’m so ... unsettled. Not when...”

“When what?”

Romeo clutched his hair. “When it’s so loud in my head. It’s been so loud, Chad, ever since I found out you chose to take yourself from us—”

“I didn’t choose that,” Chad snapped. He groaned as he sat up and coughed into his elbow.

“It doesn’t matter whether you did or didn’t anymore. It’s the thought, and all the emotions that came with it are still there and you drove off without saying a word to me.”

Chad crawled as far as the car and propped himself up against it. “I shouldn’t have taken off like that.”

“No,” Romeo agreed. “You shouldn’t have.”

“I wasn’t ignoring you. I left my phone behind.” He shook his head. “No, that’s not fair. I shouldn’t have driven off like that. It was selfish. I’m sorry, Romeo.”

“And I’m sorry for almost killing you.”

Chad waved the apology away. “You didn’t.”

“I—”

“You. Didn’t.” Chad repeated with more force.

“It was closer than you think.”

Chad touched his throat. “You still picked me. You picked us . All of us.”

“All of us?”

“The monster, the detective, Chad and Romeo,” he snorted. “We’re all still here, and we’re all us and we can’t have this disconnect. We need to work this out ... we need to...”

“Merge them all together.”

Chad nodded. “We’re all broken pieces, but they will fit together. It might not be a pretty picture but—”

“It’ll be perfectly imperfect. That’s what we are.”

Romeo watched Chad taking deep breaths for a few moments. Chad’s head dipped forward, like he was falling asleep, and he startled when Romeo said his name.

“What was in your hand?” Romeo asked, frowning. “When you left...”

“Oh,” Chad murmured, shoving his hand into the hoodie. “This.”

He held his hand out. Romeo hesitated before reaching back.

Chad dropped the rabbit ear onto his palm.

Romeo curled his fingers around it, still frowning. It was from one of Mercutio’s toys. He’d chewed both ears off.

“Why are you dressed like that?” Romeo cocked his head, studying Chad’s attire. “Where have you been?”

Chad smiled his way. “I was setting a trap.”

“A trap?”

“For our next victim.”

They were buzz words for Romeo’s brain.

Our.

Next.

Victim.

“You’ve been waiting,” Chad said. “You’ve been waiting so patiently, and I know it must hurt with how badly you need it.”

Romeo’s throat tightened. He nodded.

Chad’s brow twitched in sympathy, and he nodded too.

“Graham Brennan,” Romeo managed to get the name out.

“He was the last time,” Chad whispered. He shifted closer. “It’s been too long, I know, but I’m bringing someone to you.”

“Bringing someone?”

Chad nodded again.

Our next victim.

Romeo was still basking in the effects of Chad’s words as Chad struggled to get to his feet. He snapped to attention, and rushed over, steadying him.

“Okay?”

“Lightheaded,” Chad answered. He winced. “I’ve got a few more scrapes and bruises than when I set out, but apart from that...”

“When are we to expect this victim?”

Chad smiled. His eyes sparked. “I expect they’ll come here tomorrow. I’ve things to prepare first...”

“You’re not going to tell me who they are?”

“It’s a surprise. But I can’t wait to see you kill them.” Chad grabbed the front of Romeo’s t-shirt, twisting the fabric. Fire flickered in his gaze. “I really can’t fucking wait.”