Page 2 of Six for Gold (The Magpie Rhyme #6)

R omeo pulled the duvet off the bed after stepping into the bedroom and latching the door. He tipped his head towards the mattress, signaling for Chad to lay down.

“On my back or front?” Chad asked.

“Back.” Romeo decided. “I want to see your face.”

The room was too dark for Romeo to see Chad blushing, but he knew he would be. Despite everything they’d done, sexual and otherwise, he still got embarrassed at Romeo expressing a need to see Chad’s expression.

“Wait,” Romeo said, stopping Chad with a hand to his chest, “t-shirt off first.”

Chad peeled the damp t-shirt from his skin. Romeo took it from him before he could toss it aside and hung it over the side of the wardrobe with a blatant glare.

Chad rolled his eyes. Romeo didn’t see him do it, just knew he would’ve, but the t-shirt wouldn’t dry if left in a heap on the floor, something Chad never seemed to learn.

“Bed.” Romeo ordered.

Chad crawled onto the mattress then collapsed onto his back. He watched Romeo with big brown eyes as he strolled around the bed and pulled open the curtains. The moonlight shone through the window. Chad’s right hand flexed, as if he was instinctively trying to clutch the duvet to cover himself.

The scars from Marc Wilson bothered him.

If Romeo was honest with himself, they bothered him, too, not because they were unsightly or a sadistic claim to Chad by another killer, but he hadn’t been there to stop them from happening.

They were a reminder of what Romeo had almost lost, but also a reminder that Chad was a survivor, and for that reason he climbed onto the bed and brushed his lips over every number carved and sliced into Chad’s skin. He worshipped them, not for being there, but for healing, for becoming part of Chad.

Chad shut his eyes, sighing softly as Romeo licked over one of the deeper numbers.

A three that had been cut beneath his left pectoral.

It wasn’t clean lines like the others.

This wasn’t merely etched into his skin, but Marc had sliced the outline of the number before peeling away the skin with surgical tweezers, leaving a bloody three behind.

There had been talk of skin grafts to cover the wound, but Chad had asked for the surgeon to stitch it together, leaving overstretched skin, and a ragged scar that was sensitive to Romeo’s tongue.

Chad hissed through his teeth and Romeo moved on, licking up his pec to his left nipple. He nipped, he sucked. Chad gasped and flailed.

Chad’s erection strained in his boxers, and Romeo thought about grabbing him, jerking him off with familiar pulls of his wrists and bringing Chad to orgasm, but that would only get him an hour, maybe two of rest afterwards, Romeo wanted to make sure Chad had a lot longer.

Chad’s skin held the tang of sea-spray, and it was cool under Romeo’s lips. He kissed his way up Chad’s neck to his face but avoided Chad’s mouth when he turned his head for a kiss. If Romeo kissed him, it would be over too soon. If they kissed, Romeo would need to own and devour, so he kept his mouth from Chad’s, ignoring the twitches of Chad’s lips.

Romeo kissed, licked, and caressed Chad’s body until Chad stopped trying to kiss him, and his erection softened in his boxers. Chad’s eyes stayed closed, and the only sounds he made were content sighs. He relaxed fully into the bed, breathing heavily. Romeo didn’t pinch or pull or nip for a reaction. He didn’t want goosebumps, or shivers, or a restless Chad begging him. Sure, there was a time and place for that, but it wasn’t then.

This was all about relaxing Chad so he could get the sleep he so desperately needed.

Romeo removed Chad’s boxers, slipping them down his legs, and letting them drop to the floor. He took hold of Chad’s left calf, placing his foot flat on the bed before doing the same to the right.

“You’re so fucking beautiful.” Romeo murmured.

The only reply he got was a blissed-out sigh.

Romeo snorted and reached for the bedside table. He grabbed the bottle of lube, placing it next to Chad’s left foot while he kneeled between Chad’s legs.

He didn’t need it yet.

With a little more forward thinking, Romeo would’ve laid a pillow beneath Chad’s lower back, propping him up, but there was no way he was going to break the relaxed spell he’d put Chad under.

Romeo kissed down Chad’s thigh, then pressed his face into Chad’s ass, spreading his cheeks as much as he could with his hands, but it wasn’t the best angle for that kind of play. All Romeo succeeded in doing was frustrating himself, unable to press his tongue into Chad’s hole. He swiped and licked instead. Chad didn’t clench, or twitch—he remained completely relaxed, allowing a small moan to slip past his lips.

Romeo licked him for as long as he could, until his chin started to burn from rubbing against the mattress, then he grabbed the lube.

He coated his fingers, but only used one at first, pushing it inside without resistance. Two went in just as easily, and when Romeo stretched Chad open with three, he didn’t bear down, or clench, he exhaled a long breath.

Romeo pushed his fingers inside Chad, leaning back to watch Chad’s face for any sign of discomfort, but he knew Chad’s body as much as his own, and knew exactly what he needed. Romeo sunk his three fingers deeper, brushing against Chad’s prostate.

Chad groaned softly.

He didn’t rush pleasuring Chad, he wanted him completely boneless on his fingers. Chad relaxed into the touch, and Romeo lowered his legs back to the bed, so he was lying flat with Romeo’s forearm between his thighs.

Romeo stopped sliding his fingers as far as he could. His knuckles twitched as he got the right position, the right depth. He applied steady pressure with his index and ring finger while stroking with his middle one.

He took his time massaging Chad’s prostate, keeping the speed easy and the touch gentle.

There was no outward sign Romeo was doing it right. Chad didn’t react, his cock remained soft, but Romeo knew his man, and when it happened, it did so almost unexpectedly despite Romeo knowing he was building towards it.

Chad’s cock didn’t have a chance to get hard. He was too relaxed for his blood to fill him out, but he didn’t need a full erection to orgasm, not like that.

Chad’s easy breathing abruptly stopped as he held his breath, then his semi-hard cock released waves of cum. It didn’t rush out in squirts but drooled in great gushes until his cock rested in a sticky pool on his lower abdomen. Romeo bit back a moan. There was something insanely arousing about watching Chad come like that, with no stimulation to his cock only his prostate. Completely relaxed and swamped with pleasure.

Chad exhaled a long breath, then resumed breathing heavily.

Romeo kept stroking until the last few drops left Chad’s cock, then he removed his fingers. He rubbed his thumb against them. They were still sticky with lube, and he bit back a groan knowing they’d been inside Chad, touching him in his most intimate area, bringing him to orgasm. Romeo kneeled up on the bed. He used his left hand to pull his boxers down, and took hold of himself with his right hand, the hand he’d used to get Chad off, and began to stroke himself.

He wanted to make it last, tease himself a little while he watched Chad beneath him, but Romeo was too far gone for that. He pulled brutally at his cock, watching a now asleep Chad as he got himself off.

It was the surrender, the trust, which did it for him.

Chad trusted Romeo with himself completely knowing what he was, the inclination he had.

He accepted and loved Romeo. All of him.

Romeo bit his lip not to moan, and shifted suddenly as he came, hitting the bed instead of Chad’s chest with his load. He sat back on his heels, doing his best not to pant as his heart went back to normal, then he crept into the bathroom without flicking the light on, and grabbed some tissue to clean Chad’s skin.

They’d need a shower, but Romeo wasn’t even risking turning the tap on in case it woke Chad. He padded back to the bed, wiped off Chad’s stomach, then the bed where he’d come. Chad didn’t wake, not even when Romeo returned from the bathroom for a second time after throwing the tissue in the toilet to flush down in the morning.

Romeo pulled the duvet up from the floor and over them as he settled beside Chad on the bed. He didn’t care about the damp patch against his hip as he gently eased Chad onto his side, his preferred sleeping position, and sidled up behind him.

Chad sighed out Romeo’s name, and Romeo tensed, but Chad didn’t wake, he reached back with a sluggish hand to find Romeo’s arm and pulled it around himself.

“My Juliet,” Romeo whispered into the back of Chad’s hair.

****

R omeo woke first, much to his surprise. The open curtain let in the sunlight which shone directly onto the bed, but it hadn’t woken Chad. Romeo still had his arm over Chad’s side, and he cupped his hand to Chad’s chest, closing his eyes at the feel of his heart.

It was strong and steady beneath his palm.

Romeo pressed his chest to Chad’s back, hoping subconsciously he’d feel Romeo’s beating, too, completely in sync with his.

It was the last morning of their weeklong getaway.

Mercutio, apparently sensing Romeo was awake, whined at the door. Romeo sighed, carefully retrieved his arm and went to feed him. Even when he returned, Chad was still asleep, and Romeo slipped beneath the duvet. He ran his hand up and down Chad’s side, stroking him before picking off a piece of cum covered tissue.

“Ouch,” Chad murmured. He shifted, pressing his back into Romeo’s chest as he looked down his body to the patch.

“Time for a shower,” Romeo said, before slapping Chad’s ass when he didn’t move immediately.

Chad grumbled beneath his breath as he slipped from the bed and trudged to the bathroom. Romeo followed, stripping off his boxers he’d hastily shoved on so he could feed Mercutio.

They brushed their teeth first before climbing into the shower, needing the minty freshness in close quarters.

Romeo washed the cum from Chad’s stomach, then Chad returned the favor, washing Romeo’s hip where he’d been lying on his side all night. Chad didn’t need to crouch down to do it, but he did, running his hand up and down Romeo’s thigh.

Romeo bit his lip, gaze fixed to Chad and how tantalizingly close his face was to Romeo’s crotch. He suspected that was the point and was proved right when Chad began kissing the head of his cock. Romeo went from half hard to straining in roughly three seconds and beat his fist weakly against the tiles.

“You play dirty.”

Chad leaned back to smile at him. “I can stop if you want?”

Romeo shook his head.

Chad snorted, then took hold of Romeo’s cock at the base with his dominant hand. He kissed, he licked, he flicked his tongue. He did all the things that drove Romeo crazy. Chad knew how to tease, and when he parted his lips, slipping them all the way down Romeo’s cock to meet his steady hand, Romeo groaned, shuffling forward so he could rest his forehead against the tiles. The same way Romeo knew Chad’s body, Chad knew his.

Chad bobbed his head back and forth, dragging his squeezing hand along with him until Romeo was panting at the tiles. “I love your mouth.”

Romeo loved all of Chad, but right then, all he could remember about him was his warm, wet mouth, his soft but firm tongue, the perfect amount of suction, the occasional touch of teeth.

“Fuck,” he moaned, coming on Chad’s tongue.

And Chad’s mouth, his perfect mouth, ceased sucking, and touching, and held Romeo’s cock while it jolted, catching and swallowing it all before waiting for the sensitivity to wane, then licking Romeo clean. He resumed kissing the head of Romeo’s cock, and there was a moment Romeo thought about letting him carry on, and fucking Chad’s mouth in a mad chase for a second orgasm. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d done so, but Chad hadn’t been well. He’d been feverish and croaky, and Romeo doubted any rough treatment, no matter how much they both enjoyed it, would help his recovery.

“Enough,” Romeo mumbled.

Chad smiled again as he got to his feet. Caught in a daze, Romeo’s brain reiterated that it loved Chad’s mouth whether it was stretched round his cock, sighing in contentment or smiling at him.

“Thank you.” Chad said so softly Romeo barely heard him above the shower. He leaned in and pressed his lips to Romeo’s, and Romeo got to taste his perfect mouth, picking out himself on Chad’s tongue and loving it.

It made his stomach flip.

Chad’s words caught up in Romeo’s brain, and he broke the kiss, frowning. He turned the shower off.

“Why thank me? If anyone should be thanking—”

“For last night,” Chad said. “It felt really good. I ... I needed that.”

He ducked his head, blushing. Romeo caught his chin, lifting him so they could look each other in the eye. “I love you.”

Chad’s breath stuttered. His gaze was awed. “I love you, too.”

“And we’re going to work this out. We’re going to be okay.”

Chad’s forehead wrinkled. He averted his gaze until Romeo squeezed his chin.

“Do you believe me?” Romeo asked.

“I...” Chad’s voice died.

“Believe me.” Romeo said firmly. “It’s me and you against the world.”

Mercutio barked loud enough to be heard through two closed doors. Chad’s eyes snapped towards the sound, but he didn’t remove his face from Romeo’s hand.

“Me, you, and Mercutio.” Chad whispered.

Romeo rolled his eyes. “If you like.”

Chad’s expression softened. He pinched Romeo’s side. “You love him really.”

“I tolerate him.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Chad said, sliding the shower door open. He stepped out and passed a towel back for Romeo.

They both dried off.

“I didn’t check if the mattress had a protector on top.” Romeo mused.

Chad glanced back at him blankly. “You need to work on your post sex talk.”

Romeo snorted. “I came all over the mattress—excuse me for thinking about your reputation on the booking website.”

“You think we’ll get a one-star rating from the owner?”

“Yes. One-Star for the cum stain on the mattress.”

Chad laughed and Romeo closed his eyes, relishing in the sound.

“It’s a bed,” Chad snorted. “It’s one of its functions.”

“To be a semen sponge.”

Chad laughed harder. He wiped his eyes. “If you’re that worried about it, you can clean it while I take Merc for his morning walk.”

“I want to come with you.”

Chad pouted. “Rather than on the bed.”

Romeo scoffed. “That was weak, even for you.”

Chad flung his towel at Romeo’s face and bolted from the bathroom. Romeo pursued him, and they both dressed quickly, Chad on one side of the bed, while Romeo stood on the other. Before Romeo could launch across the bed, and possibly get Chad naked again, Chad opened the door and Mercutio ran in, yipping and yapping while pawing at Chad’s leg.

“We’re coming,” Chad told him before pointing a finger in Romeo’s direction. “If you try to make that dirty, I’ll ban you from the walk.”

“I wouldn’t dream of lowering myself to your level.”

Chad grinned, then held out his hand for Romeo to take. They left the cottage with Mercutio trotting in front of them and headed down the staircase to the beach.

Chad didn’t let go of Romeo’s hand as they stepped their way over the biggest boulders to get to the smooth pebbles to walk along. Mercutio trotted up front, glancing back every few meters to ensure they were following him, and Chad filled his lungs with sea air before letting it go again on a sigh. He caught Romeo watching him.

“What?” Chad asked.

“Nothing.”

Chad’s eyebrow twitched, unconvinced, “Uh huh...”

“It’s just,” Romeo swallowed. “I never thought I could have this,” he squeezed Chad’s hand. “I never thought I wanted it, but, fuck, I do. It’s everything, and I’m not going to lose it. I’m not going to lose you. If it’s us against the world, then the world is in trouble, because there is no way it can win.”

Chad stopped. His eyes were wet, and his bottom lip shook. He tugged on Romeo’s hand until he got the message, leaned in, and kissed Chad on the lips.