The bullet struck right between Gary’s eyes, leaving only the tiniest of holes. Noah stared at it, ears ringing, watching a tiny line of blood trickle down the man’s nose. Almost immediately, there was a flurry of activity. August snatched the gun from his hand and the boys untied Gary, dumping him among the others.
They didn’t set the fire right away. Atticus forced them all to strip naked and dive in the water to scrub the blood off. Their clothes were collected in garbage bags with new clothing distributed to each of them. Weapons were collected in a metal box to be melted down later, and the bloody clothing would be burned off site where August could be certain it was gone.
Striking the match was the very last thing on their list. Noah stood back, watching as the small flame erupted, chasing the trail of gasoline around the building before catching the wood. The building was almost immediately engulfed in flames. Still, they all stood, watching, until they were certain nothing would keep the fire from doing its job, before going their separate ways.
They were far from the scene when Adam finally looked over at Noah. “You okay?”
Noah shook his head. “My ears are killing me. At the range, they give you ear muffs.” He tugged on his earlobes as if that might help the problem.
“I meant are you okay with what you did? To Gary?”
Noah nodded once more. “Maybe I should feel guilty or, at least, have some kind of regrets. Maybe it will come later, but I honestly just feel…relieved. Like it's all finally over.”
“It is,” Adam assured him before adding, “Well, it will be once Calliope forwards the evidence to the appropriate law enforcement officials.”
Noah yawned. “Can we go home? I want a shower and Thai food. And maybe ice cream.”
Adam nodded. “Yeah. Sure.”
They were just pulling into Adam’s parking space when he said, “Did you mean it?”
Noah tried to think back to the million things he could have meant. “Mean what?”
Adam put the car in park and then turned in the seat to look at Noah. “The text message. Did you mean it?”
Noah could feel himself flushing. “Which part?” he hedged.
Adam grinned. “The part where you said you loved me?”
Noah’s gaze dropped to his lap, his heart pounding. He clutched his hands together to stop them from shaking. How was that question more stressful than murder? “I don’t know. Maybe?”
Adam chucked his finger under Noah’s chin, forcing him to meet his gaze. “You maybe love me?”
Noah wanted to say it. He did. He wanted to say he loved Adam, but the words wouldn’t come. So, he just nodded.
Adam’s grin widened. “Well, I maybe love you, too.”
Noah’s chest tightened, his face twisting into a grimace. “Don’t say that. Especially if you don’t mean it.”
Adam frowned. “I do mean it. I mean, I think I do.”
“You think you do?” Noah echoed.
Adam nodded earnestly. “Like, I don’t know what love feels like, but I know that whatever I feel for you, I’ve never felt for another person—ever. So, who’s to say that’s not love?”
“I don’t know,” Noah said. “Maybe it is.”
“So, maybe I love you.”
Noah shook his head, a stupid grin forming on his face as he leaned across the console until they were nose to nose. “Then maybe I love you back.”
“You know, when you said you would chain me to the bed if I ever tried to leave, I thought it was just possessive posturing,” Noah said around a laugh, tugging at the metal links attached to the leather cuffs around his wrists and ankles, tethering him face down to the four corners of Adam’s bed.
His laugh quickly became a moan as Adam’s lips trailed from his hairline along his spine. He hissed as Adam’s teeth sank into the fleshiest part of his ass, wondering if there would be teeth marks later. The thought made his dick throb, and he rubbed against the bedding below. He loved when there was evidence.
“Possessive?” Adam murmured. “That doesn’t sound like me at all.”
Before Noah could call him on his obvious lie, Adam’s tongue teased along his balls, sucking at them before spreading him open to lave across his hole. Fuck, that felt so good.
Noah’s breath hitched. “You know, I still have to leave, right? Your father is paying a fortune for me to go to this top secret ninja training place for wannabe mercenaries. I can’t say no. It’s part of his plan.”
Thomas hadn’t been lying about ensuring Noah received proper training. Over the last six months, he’d worked with personal trainers, a martial arts instructor, had clocked numerous hours at a shooting range, and had even completed a pseudo SWAT training course with a bunch of overly muscled meathead types, who just wanted to feel like ‘real’ cops.
“You’ll make your plane,” Adam promised, moving up to blanket himself over Noah, his hard cock snug against his entrance. “But you’ll do it with my cum still inside you.”
Adam’s words had Noah working himself against the mattress, whining in frustration when he got no relief. “Adam…”
His name was a plea, but it fell on deaf ears. Noah was well aware that Adam hated whenever he left, whether it was for five hours or five days. Adam was wild whenever they were apart. His brothers found it amusing. Noah pretended to find it annoying but, deep down…he fucking loved it.
This was always his punishment. This frustratingly slow one-sided fuck that would go on until Adam decided it was over and that Noah had earned his orgasm.
“I love you like this,” Adam said. “Naked. Helpless. Completely at my mercy.”
A warm rush washed over Noah. Adam used the word love a lot. So much that Noah was starting to believe it was true. Still, they didn’t talk about it, poke at it, or examine it too closely. There was no reason to. Their relationship worked. It just did.
“You can’t just tie me to the bed every time I do something you don’t like,” Noah chided, breath leaving in a rush as Adam sank into him in one thrust.
“Oh, we both know that’s not true,” Adam crooned against Noah’s ear. “I can do whatever I want to you in here. Remember? That was your rule.”