Page 20 of Six for Gold (The Magpie Rhyme #6)

S ome people struggled . Some people froze.

Keeley attempted a different approach. Her unwavering gaze didn’t leave Romeo, and her lips curved into a confident smile when he took hold of her.

She wanted to be brave in the face of death, and she was. Up until she wasn’t.

Instinct took over, her arrogant composure died, and she pulled away, hands coming up and clawing at Romeo’s wrists. She jerked, trying to escape, trying to get away. Her feet slipped from her heels in her attempt. One of her hands swung for Romeo’s face but he leaned away, and she resumed scratching at his wrists.

He didn’t feel her nails cutting into his skin, not when he could feel everything else.

The monstrous part of him wasn’t caged or chained. It wouldn’t be again. It wasn’t a violent takeover of his body, it drip-fed through his veins, filled his muscles, expanded in his skin. They weren’t separate, never had been, it just had been easier to think of it that way when he’d been a child so eager to be normal, and man desperate to make his parents proud, always knowing he couldn’t.

His parents thought he was a good person when they died.

How wrong they were.

The two most selfless people on the planet had made a monster.

It wasn’t fair on them, they deserved a good son, but Romeo had respected them enough to wait until they were gone before allowing himself to be who he was always supposed to be.

A killer without conscience.

Romeo strangled Keeley with both hands, crushing the muscle in her neck into all it was designed to protect. Her arteries, her veins, her windpipe, the cartilage that protected her thyroid. It dug into Romeo’s palm until he adjusted his grip, pushing his thumb against the hard ridge, and applying pressure until it collapsed in on itself with a satisfying crunch.

Keeley made a choked sound as her knees gave out. Her eyes were wide, still unblinking, but they no longer stared at him in challenge, they were watering, and darting, trying to find something in his eyes, some doubt to exploit.

All his victims had used the same look on him. Romeo thought it must’ve been instinctual, something in the biology of humans that had been passed down through time.

Don’t kill me.

When people were too weak to fight, the eyes were the last resort.

They were supposedly windows to the soul.

That’s why Romeo never looked away at the end.

He wanted his victims to see he didn’t have one.

He had what he referred to as the monster instead and it was elated watching them slip away.

Romeo relaxed his grip, and the same instinct that made Keeley look for human in his eyes, made her take a painful jagged breath. He trapped the air inside her again, and she spluttered blood onto her lips.

Something had burst, or split, of torn in her throat, and blood gurgled at the back of mouth.

He wasn’t going to let this death be quick.

“You almost took him from me.” He pressed his thumbs into her throat, jabbing at the cartilage just to hurt her. “I didn’t see it coming.”

And he hadn’t.

He’d even encouraged Chad to talk to her about the nightmares, was always relieved alongside Chad when he came home from a session a little lighter, a little happier.

He’d not foreseen this predator on the horizon.

She’d hid herself perfectly.

“Romeo...”

Chad hadn’t kept his distance. He stood right up against him. Romeo dragged his gaze away from Keeley and onto Chad. His magpie. His Juliet. His damned detective who had put the pieces together and gifted Romeo the ultimate prize.

Chad heaved through slightly parted lips. His pupils had engulfed his irises, and his lashes fluttered with slow blinks as he stared at Romeo with want.

He swallowed. “Can I...”

“Can you?”

Chad licked his lips, reaching for Romeo. He squeezed Romeo’s bicep before brushing his fingertips along Romeo’s arm until he got to his hand. He stroked Romeo’s metacarpals, following them until he placed his own fingers on top of Romeo’s.

It was only then he realized what Chad was asking.

Romeo didn’t protest, or insult Chad by asking whether he was sure.

Chad had made his decision.

He didn’t want to be a bystander to Keeley’s murder.

He wanted to contribute.

Romeo groaned, letting his arm closest to Chad go limp, and hang down so Chad could step between him and Keeley and settle against his chest. Chad put himself in the middle of murder, tilting his head back, he asked Romeo without his gaze ever leaving Keeley. “Will you show me how?”

Romeo spoke into Chad’s hair. “Yes.”

He took Chad’s hand in his hand, slipped his fingers through Chad’s fingers, then took hold of Keeley’s neck. Chad pressed into Romeo’s chest, he turned his head slightly, so his temple touched Romeo’s chin, but he didn’t look away from Keeley.

“And the other one,” Romeo murmured, taking Chad’s other hand in his, positioning their fingers.

It was Chad’s palms against Keeley’s throat, but it was Romeo who applied pressure, using Chad’s hands to trap her breath, and make her choke on whatever blood vessels had burst open inside her.

It was Romeo doing it, Romeo killing her, all until it wasn’t just him.

Chad’s fingers twitched.

Then he squeezed too.

Chad strangled with him.

“ Fuck ,” Romeo’s voice shook. “Yes, Chad, yes.”

Chad didn’t say anything, he gripped onto Keeley harder.

His fingers crushed Romeo’s as his hold tightened again.

“You’re so fucking perfect for me,” Romeo said, stooping slightly to press a kiss to the side of Chad’s face. It was sloppy, wet, but he was caught between wanting to kiss Chad and wanting to spew out encouragements. He ended up doing an in between, pressing words to Chad’s cheek, to his chin, to his lips when Chad turned his head enough for Romeo to kiss him. “It’s us,” Romeo said. “It’s all of us, and it’s always going to be all of us.”

Chad’s lips parted, and with a desperate groan, Romeo leaned down, taking his mouth. They were kissing and killing, and Romeo’s cock wanted in on the action, throbbing in his boxers. Chad arched his back, rubbing against Romeo’s hard-on, teasing him through his jeans. Romeo bit Chad’s lip in retaliation, earning him a gasp.

Keeley gurgled, and Chad looked back to her. Romeo did too. Capillaries had ruptured beneath her pale skin, forking dark lines that stretched from her temples to her lips. Her eyes were open, but her irises had rolled back, staring into her own head, and the whites were pink, leaking at the corners. Through her parted lips, her tongue was visible, jutting, and coated in blood. Romeo’s gaze locked on her throat, his and Chad’s fingers entwined as they strangled her. His eyelashes fluttered as a wave of heat went to his cock. It was already throbbing painfully against his jeans.

“Can you feel her pulse, Chad?”

Chad shivered. “Yes.”

“Can you feel it slowing?”

Chad’s breathing hitched, then he whispered, “Yes.”

“Are you ready for it?”

It was an unfair question. Chad didn’t know what he was waiting for, but Romeo knew he’d know when he felt it. He shifted his hips, knocking them into Chad so Chad could feel just how affected he was watching Chad kill, not just watching but getting to experience it alongside him.

It was his ultimate fantasy, one he’d accepted couldn’t come true.

But it was happening, and not because Romeo had pressured him, or because he felt forced into murder.

Chad had chosen to kill Keeley.

He wanted to kill her.

And that realization alone was enough to make Romeo’s head spin.

He was never supposed to make Chad fall.

But he was supposed to catch him when he did.

And Chad fell further into the grey, closing the distance between them until they met with a jolt.

“Romeo...”

“I’m here, Chad. Keep going. We’re almost there.”

Romeo whispered encouragement in Chad’s ear, and told him to wait for it, wait for it , because it was coming, and it was going to be like nothing Chad had ever felt before.

It wasn’t the slowing beats, or the extra hard one right at the end. The moment peaked when no beat followed. “There,” awe filled Chad’s voice. “ There . Romeo, it’s ... stopped. It’s stopped.”

Romeo let go of Chad’s hands and wrapped him up in his arms to catch him. He held him close while kissing the back of his hair, his ear, the side of his neck.

Romeo showered Chad in kisses, keeping him up.

Keeley was gone, but Romeo remembered the first time he’d killed, when he’d been inexperienced, and he’d needed to stay holding on to get familiar with the sensation of no pulse after feeling it so intensely. Even when it was slowing, he’d felt it through his whole body—zaps of electricity against his skin, it became his pulse, and when it stopped, it felt like being untethered, set free.

Romeo nestled his nose into the side of Chad’s neck. Keeley’s heart had stopped, but Chad’s sped up with excitement, with the flood of adrenaline and arousal. It mocked her, every flutter of the heart in his chest laughed at her.

Chad let go.

Keeley dropped like a stone.

Romeo ignored the thump of her body hitting the floor, too distracted with kissing the side of Chad’s neck and grinding himself against him. Romeo sucked a mark into Chad’s skin.

“She’s dead.”

Romeo hummed his agreement. “And you’re alive.”

He trailed a hand down Chad’s chest to his trousers where he felt the heat, and hardness against his palm. Romeo squeezed Chad’s erection. “You’re definitely alive.”

Chad tipped his head back against Romeo’s shoulder, rolling his hips as Romeo ground his hand on him.

“And I’m going to take full advantage of this.” He nipped Chad’s ear. “Your clothes. I want them off. Right. Now.”

Romeo unlatched Chad’s pants, then tugged at the zip.

Chad started on his shirt buttons, fumbling as he got swept up in excitement, lost to the haze of the kill.

It wasn’t quick enough.

Romeo shoved the sofa up against the wall, flipped the coffee table onto its side.

Romeo needed to be inside of Chad, and he wanted to tell him such, but instead, he pushed on Chad’s shoulders, forcing him to the rug. Chad made a startled sound as his knees connected with the floor, but Romeo didn’t spare it any thought. He pressed a hand between Chad’s shoulder blades, pinning him down. Chad struggled, still trying to remove his shirt, but there was no time for that, not when Romeo’s need outweighed everything else.

He needed to be inside of Chad while he was still riding his high, and he didn’t care if it was his cock, fingers, or his tongue, as long as it was his and as long as it was fucking into Chad.

Romeo yanked at the back of Chad’s pants, tugging down his boxers in the same grip. He spat on Chad’s lower back before feeding his saliva down Chad’s crack with his thumb.

“Fuck,” Chad growled, rubbing the side of his face on the rug. “I’m already clo—”

Romeo pulled Chad’s cheeks apart and used his tongue. He pushed, and pushed, until Chad was squirming, trying his best to crawl away, but Romeo didn’t allow it. He licked and sucked until Chad’s hole loosened, then started with his fingers, pressing them inside, curling them, rubbing them in a way he knew would make Chad see stars.

“Too much, Romeo,” Chad groaned. “It’s too much.”

Romeo relented, allowing Chad to catch his breath. He yanked Chad’s shirt, pulling it from his arms until he could he see the notches of Chad’s spine. He kissed every one until he was back at Chad’s hole, driving his tongue in almost brutally.

“Romeo!”

He flipped Chad onto his back, then got to his feet to remove his own clothes while Chad kicked off his boxers and trousers. Chad lifted his arms, reaching for Romeo so he could pull him down on top of him, but Romeo grabbed his wrists as he went down to the floor, and pinned them either side of Chad’s head.

Chad lifted off the rug, trying for a kiss, but Romeo kept out of reach.

“I’m never going to hurt you again,” Romeo whispered. “Not with my hands, not with my words.”

“I know,” Chad murmured back. “And I’m never going to leave you, not while we live, not when we die. Because I am yours, you are mine and it’s us. It’ll always be us.”

Romeo smiled. His eyes burned. He thrust his tongue into Chad’s mouth in the same manner he’d pushed it into his hole.

When he pulled back, Chad blushed, but there were tears in his eyes and a smile on his lips.

Romeo released Chad’s wrists, but he kept his hands by his head on the carpet as Romeo sat back. When he closed his right hand over Chad’s throat, he didn’t fear the monster taking over. His thoughts were only of making Chad soar even higher.

He used his fingers on Chad’s hole again, pushing inside. Three that were a snug fit as he began to squeeze Chad’s neck.

“Oh, God, Romeo,” Chad whimpered, tipping his head back.

Romeo chocked Chad unconscious while his fingers were inside him. He thrust them in and out of his hole when he began to stir, his body ceasing in pleasure.

When Chad’s cock looked on the edge of exploding, Romeo choked him out again, squeezing either side of his neck, and applying pressure beneath his jaw. Chad’s eyes rolled back, and his expression was one of bliss. Romeo pulled his fingers out while Chad was still unconscious, and replaced them with his cock, pushing inside his heat.

He cursed at Chad opening up for his cock. There was no resistance as he sunk all the way inside. Chad’s lashes fluttered and he groaned through gritted his teeth as his hole clenched around Romeo.

“Okay?” Romeo asked him,

Chad voice slurred. “I feel fucking amazing.”

Romeo snorted. “I agree. You do feel fucking amazing, especially when I...”

Romeo squeezed his neck again.

Chad’s head thumped against the floor as he passed out.

Romeo let go, then fucked Chad hard as he came back to him, whimpering and clawing at his sides. The sounds of pleasure he made weren’t human, and his tight body thrashed, tugged at Romeo’s cock, making it impossible to pull out.

Romeo’s cock pounded and he bit his lips not to come.

The sensation was too addicting.

He had to put Chad out again, groaning into the crook of Chad’s shoulder when he came back.

“Romeo!”

Chad’s stomach contracted, his hips jerked up, pushing Romeo deeper inside him, then Chad came, thick white stripes slapped onto his skin, shooting all the way to his chin, and the back of Romeo’s choking hand.

Romeo followed soon after, curling over Chad, and sucking the come from the back of his hand.

Chad’s chest heaved, and Romeo was careful not to collapse his weight on top of him.

“You good?” he asked.

Chad nodded. “More than good.”

His voice was soft fuzz, drifting.

Romeo kissed from Chad’s neck to his belly button, not caring that his hair slid through the mess. He kissed all the way down, breathing Chad in before taking his cock into his mouth.

Chad jerked in surprise, arching his back against the floor. Romeo gripped his hips, pinning him down as he took Chad deep into his mouth. He sucked, and let Chad feel his hands on his body, leaving bruises like he left on their victims.

Chad got to wear them beneath his clothes. He got to admire them in the mirror. His bruises got to heal so Romeo could press them into his skin all over again.

Chad gasped Romeo’s name, his thighs trembled, and his cock quivered as he came for the second time in Romeo’s mouth.

Romeo swallowed it all, and even that wasn’t enough to satisfy him. He licked Chad’s dirty chest, following back up the trail of cum until he was at Chad’s mouth again, slipping his tongue past his lips so he could share his cum.

“ Fuck ,” Chad pulled back to nip Romeo’s chin. “Stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

Chad’s cheeks glowed. “Making me taste myself.”

“You taste delicious. Can you blame me for wanting to share that with you? Besides,” Romeo brushed his nose against Chad’s, “I think you like it.” He licked Chad’s mouth as it pleaded for another kiss. “I think you like knowing where my tongue has been. On your cock. In your mouth.” He poked his tongue at Chad’s mouth, the tip only just passing his lips. Chad shivered.

“In and out of your body.”

“Stop it,” Chad murmured with no heat.

Romeo smiled, kissing Chad deeply.

Chad pushed his chest, forcing him back, until Romeo slipped off with a questioning frown. Romeo sat on the floor, back against the sofa as Chad crawled onto his lap, straddling him, knees either side of Romeo’s hips on the rug.

His brown eyes brimmed with love, and he used fingers to stroke Romeo’s hair away from his face, then held it with one hand at the back of Romeo’s head. He looked at Romeo for a long moment, and Romeo felt the look in his chest. It knitted his wounded heart back together, sealing it tight so it was only a scar.

“I love you.” Chad said, lifting onto his knees. “You know that, right?”

Romeo closed his eyes at the words. His smile was soft. “I know.”

He lined himself up for Chad so all he had to do was lower himself onto Romeo’s waiting cock.

“I love you too,” Romeo replied, reopening his eyes. “And you know that?”

Chad had been waiting for that reconnection. “Yes. I do.”

He sunk himself down on Romeo’s cock, never looking away. His hand tightened into a fist in Romeo’s hair, and he gripped the sofa cushion with his other hand to give himself leverage to fuck himself onto Romeo’s cock.

He rode Romeo hard, yanking his hair when he tried to lean in for a kiss. He wanted to watch Romeo come apart for him, wanted to ride him into oblivion, so Romeo let him. He rested the back of his head against the sofa, and through half-lidded eyes looked at Chad as he made Romeo come for the second time.

His magpie.

His Juliet.

His damned detective.

His Chad .