by Ana Night
He drove through the gate and parked his bike. It wasn’t long before Scar pulled up next to him. He didn’t bother talking to her. Didn’t really want to. He made his way into the clubhouse, unsurprised to find people drinking and dancing, music blasting through the speakers. He walked to the only free spot on a couch and sat down next to Nash with a huff.
“Someone’s in a mood,” Emery said.
Juno glanced up and found himself surrounded by the lovefest people. Fucking hell.
Emery, Bones, and Gabe sat across from him, Nash, and Saint. Skinner was sitting in one of the chairs, Auggie in his lap, and Elijah was sitting in the chair next to them. The only ones missing were Hawk and Joker. Well, Stiletto and Jordan, too, but they were on the dancefloor getting handsy.
Juno glared at Emery. He wasn’t in a fucking mood. Was. Not.
“Fuck you,” he growled.
Okay, so maybe he was? Who cared?
“Whoa, what the hell happened to you?” Nash asked, his eyes big. “You’re usually the resident happy camper.”
“Nothing,” Juno snapped and crossed his arms.
“All right. Spill it, bro,” Bones said.
That was the fucking problem, wasn’t it? He couldn’t talk about it. Usually, Bones would be his go-to guy for something like this, but he’d promised Rome not to say anything to anyone.
“Nothing to spill,” he hissed.
He got up and walked to the bar. He went behind it to grab himself a bottle of tequila. He took out some shot glasses and, seeing Scar headed his way, poured them two each. Scar lifted herself onto a barstool and when Juno pushed her glasses toward her, she didn’t question it, she just grabbed one and threw it back along with Juno.
“I take it we’re gonna get drunk and get laid, then?” Scar asked.
Juno must’ve pulled a face because she let out a chuckle.
“It’s that bad, huh? You guys exclusive?”
Juno shook his head. Fuck. Were they? He didn’t even know. He doubted it, really.
“I just don’t…” he trailed off with a shake of his head and downed his second shot. “Fuck. Why am I so fucking worried about him?”
“Because you care about him, babe,” Scar said, a smile on her lips.
Juno groaned and laid his head down on top of his arms resting on the bar top. When the hell did he start caring about Rome this much?
Rome
He peeked out the window, seeing several shadows through the curtains of the other house. They’d been watching it for over an hour as they tried to determine the best plan of action. They weren’t as reckless as Juno seemed to think. But he probably wasn’t much off.
He moved back to lean against the wall with a sigh.
“How certain are you of this intel?” Rome asked.
Marco’s glare was the only answer he got.
Right. The intel was from Neil and Marco trusted the man. Rome only trusted him as far as he could throw him.
“That’s a lot more than one guy, Marco.”
“I know,” Marco hissed. “We’re gonna have to be stealthy about it.”
Rome groaned, mostly because he knew they were doing it whether he liked it or not, but also because he knew stealth wasn’t going to be possible in this situation.
They made their way outside, staying in the shadows as they tried to assess the situation. There were three cars out front and from what they’d seen so far, there were at least eight men inside the house.
“Where did he get all these men from? I thought you said he was doing this without approval?”
The look on Marco’s face hardened and he motioned with a tilt of his head to the house as he said, “There’s your answer.”
Rome followed Marco’s line of sight to the two men walking out of the front door. Rome felt his eyes widen as recognition sparked. Those motherfuckers.
Eduardo and Montez Brunetti. They were made men. Marco’s men. It was one thing for their business associates to turn on Marco, but this? Fucking insane.
Fuck. He’d trusted Eduardo. Had taken him to the container terminal. That fucker had been playing them. Playing him. He was so fucking relieved he’d decided not to trust anyone with Marco’s safety outside of himself and Neil. And Juno. He didn’t doubt Juno’s loyalty. He had no reason to want Marco dead. In fact, he had more reason to want Alvaro dead.
“Forget Alvaro,” Marco growled. “We’re taking out those traitors.”
Rome gave Marco a nod. They went back to the house they’d hidden in and walked out through the backyard which they’d come in through earlier. The car was parked on the other side, so they got in and followed the road until they ended up a bit behind the Brunettis. Marco kept a good distance to them as they drove, but Rome knew they’d be too cocky to even consider they were being followed.
When they turned down a road Rome knew well, his suspicions were confirmed.
“No,” Marco breathed with a shake of his head.
“Fuck. Marco…”
“Don’t,” Marco snapped.
Rome knew Marco wasn’t pissed with him, so he let it go.
Marco parked the car a few houses away from the one they knew Eduardo and Montez would be stopping at and got out of the car to walk there. They stopped at the neighboring garage, hiding behind it. Rome leaned out enough to see Montez looking through the small window in the next-door house’s garage door.
“Car’s here,” Montez said and they both unholstered their guns.
Rome leaned back and turned to Marco.
“They’re here to kill me,” Marco said.
It wasn’t a question. They were both certain now.
Montez and Eduardo went through the gate and they followed them as quietly as they could. Once they were in the front yard, they stopped and raised their guns, each aiming at one of the men.
“You have exactly ten seconds to come up with an excuse I might believe,” Marco growled.
The men froze in their tracks for a second. Then they whirled around with their guns out, but Rome and Marco were faster. Rome blinked with each shot he fired, the noise loud in the otherwise quiet neighborhood.
Rome stared at the men lying on the burned grass in front of them. The blood didn’t affect him much. The betrayal, though? That hurt too fucking much to even think about.
A creaking door had them both jerking their guns toward the front door of the house. Marco cursed and holstered his gun while Rome kept his aimed at Neil. The man didn’t seem to care as he had a shoulder leaned against the doorjamb, his gaze on Marco.
“I suspected someone might come for you,” Neil said, a slight tick of his jaw all the emotion he showed. “I didn’t much like finding this place empty and you not picking up your fucking phone.”
Marco crossed his arms and glared at Neil. “I don’t much care what you like.”
Neil straightened and walked with purposeful steps up to Marco. He raised a hand to grab Marco by the chin.
“We both know that’s a lie,” Neil said.
Marco clenched his jaw but didn’t say anything. Neil let go and took a step back, his gaze turning to Rome. With a sigh, he said, “Put the damned gun down, Rome.”
“I don’t take orders from you,” Rome said.
“Rome,” Marco said on a sigh.
Rome reluctantly lowered his gun.
“I’ll have this taken care of,” Neil said with a wave at the men on the ground. “Ain’t no one around here calling the cops, anyway.”
Neil was right about that. The people who lived on that road was either smart enough to stay the hell out of things like this or already involved and desperately trying to keep the cops away.
Rome didn’t want to stay, anyway. In fact, the only thing he wanted right then was Juno’s arms around him. All he wanted was to crawl into bed with Juno and hold him tight. So that’s exactly what he was going to do.
“Car keys,” Rome said and held his hand out.
Marco handed them to him with a frown.
> “It belongs to the Kings. I doubt they want to be connected to this. I’ll take it back to them. I’m sure Neil can find you a safe place to spend the night.”
“Got somewhere more important to be?” Neil asked with a knowing look in his gray eyes.
“I just don’t want to be around you, spook.”
Neil shrugged. “Fair enough.”
Rome walked toward the gate, then stopped and turned around, his gaze on Neil.
“Anything happens to him and I’ll kill you.”
He caught Marco’s annoyed sigh, but he didn’t care. The gleam in Neil’s eyes had him narrowing his eyes at the man.
“You’d better,” Neil said.
Rome snorted with a shake of his head and walked away with only one thing on his mind. Juno.
Juno
He woke when the bed dipped and then a body pressed against his and Rome’s scent wafted over him. Rome snuggled close, running his nose down Juno’s neck, then pressed a kiss to the spot between his neck and shoulder.
“You’re wearing my shirt,” Rome said, his voice low and rough.
Juno hummed and turned onto his other side to face Rome. He raised a hand to run his fingers down Rome’s jaw, his stubble prickly under his fingertips.
“And you’re still alive,” Juno said.
Rome grimaced, then sighed. “You were right. We weren’t thinking.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard that right. Can you repeat it?”
Rome snorted and grumbled under his breath, making Juno chuckle.
“So, what are you gonna do now?”
“I don’t know,” Rome said with a sigh. “We need to get rid of this guy. I just don’t know how or what the consequences are gonna be.”
“You should totally quit. Come work at the shop. You’d make a cute receptionist,” Juno teased.
Rome grunted then shook his head.
“Never gonna happen. I’m in it for life.”
Juno arched a brow at him and said, “Until your death, you mean.”
“Juno…”
He sighed and pressed his face against Rome’s chest.
“I don’t want to lose you,” Juno mumbled and the second the words were out, he hoped Rome hadn’t heard them.
Rome pushed Juno back and met his gaze. Rome’s dark eyes were fiery.
“I don’t want to lose you either, il mio re.”
“What does that mean?” Juno asked, hoping to get the conversation away from all the vulnerable, affectionate stuff he didn’t know how to handle.
Rome’s smile was cheeky as he said, “It means ‘my king.’”
Juno blinked at Rome. “What?”
Rome chuckled and leaned close to press a kiss to Juno’s lips.
“I thought it was very fitting with you being a King,” Rome said as he pulled back.
Juno swallowed hard. It wasn’t the ‘king’ part. It was the ‘my’ part that had his heart stuttering.
“Are we… Are you seeing anyone else?” Juno asked tentatively.
The crease between Rome’s brows didn’t bode well.
“Are you?” Rome asked, his voice sounding rough.
“No.”
“Good.”
Juno arched a brow at Rome. The fuck did ‘good’ mean?
“Do you want to be exclusive?” Rome asked and before Juno could figure out how to answer that without sounding needy, Rome said, “Because I do.”
“Okay,” Juno said in a hoarse voice. He cleared his throat. “I do. Want to be exclusive.”
The smile on Rome’s lips made Juno grin and lean in for a kiss. Rome pressed his lips to Juno’s, then pulled back to wrap his arms around Juno and bury his face against the back of his shoulder. Juno was still grinning as he fell asleep.
Chapter Ten
Rome
JUNO WAS gorgeous. The man was sexy as hell. But when he was asleep, a content look on his face as he clung to Rome’s side, he was even more attractive to Rome. Of course, the man knew he was hot. He had that laid-back surfer attitude and looks. The blond hair. The muscular body. Those captivating green eyes that always had a naughty gleam in them. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say he was falling hard for the guy. But he wasn’t. Couldn’t be.
He pushed the blanket down and pulled away from Juno who rolled onto his back with a cute huff. He really shouldn’t be finding anything about Juno cute, but there was no helping it.
His gaze caught on the shirt Juno was wearing. His shirt. He’d noticed last night, but seeing it now made him realize just how much he liked Juno in his clothes. He ran a hand up Juno’s thigh, loving the hairs under his fingers. When he reached the hem of the shirt, he wasn’t surprised to find Juno not wearing underwear. A groan pushed past his lips. Fuck.
He bent down to press kisses to Juno’s cheek, moving down his jaw to the side of his neck. A sharp intake of breath let him know Juno was awake. He slid his hand under Juno’s shirt, pushing it up.
“What’cha doing?” Juno mumbled, his voice rough from sleep.
“I figured I owed you for last time.”
“Wha—”
Whatever Juno had been about to say turned into a hiss when Rome took his hard cock into his mouth. He took him to the back of his throat and hollowed his cheeks as he sucked hard. He held Juno’s gaze as he licked across the head of his cock, pressing the tip of his tongue into the slit and eliciting a needy groan from Juno.
“Fuck. Fuck,” Juno hissed.
One of Juno’s hands landed on the back of Rome’s head, fingers digging into Rome’s hair. Rome moved the hand he had on Juno’s stomach further up until he found a nipple and pinched it. Juno jerked under him, moaning as he arched into Rome’s touch. He kept sucking Juno’s dick while he played with his nipples, teasing and tweaking first one then the other.
The sounds coming from Juno had his cock hard and leaking but he kept his focus on Juno. He wanted to see him come. Wanted to swallow his load.
When the grip on his hair tightened, he knew Juno was close. He slipped his fingers between Juno’s cheeks and brushed them over his hole, then moved them up to rub his taint. Juno came with a shout, his hot come spilling down Rome’s throat. Rome swallowed, then licked a path up Juno’s cock before pulling back to meet Juno’s dark gaze.
“Come ‘ere,” Juno mumbled, crooking a finger at Rome.
A smile teased Rome’s lips as he crawled up Juno’s body to kiss him. Juno’s tongue fought his for control, the kiss turning heated fast. He groaned into Juno’s mouth when a hand wrapped around his hard length. Juno teased him with soft strokes, and he wasn’t having it. He drove himself into Junos’ grip, snapping his hips hard as he chased his orgasm.
“Juno,” he gasped as his muscles tightened and pleasure burst through his body.
Juno kept stroking him until he was completely spent and then he rolled off Juno, breathing hard. Fingers brushed over his chest, making him turn his head and open his eyes. He looked right into Juno’s green gaze. He didn’t know why but he liked the way Juno looked at him. Liked the small teasing smile on Juno’s lips.
Juno
He’d left Rome in bed, walking naked into the bathroom in hopes of having Rome follow. He knew Rome wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to get dirty in the shower.
He stepped under the spray, the warm water pelting his skin soothing. He grabbed the bottle of shampoo and lathered up his hair. He turned around to wash it out and found Rome leaned against the sink, watching him. The man didn’t care much for clothes once he’d taken them off, which Juno rather liked. He couldn’t see more than the top of Rome’s chest, though, and that wouldn’t do.
Juno tipped his head back and rubbed his scalp, keeping his eyes on Rome the whole time. Juno grabbed the soap and spread it over his chest, then moved further down. A wicked smile spread on Rome’s lips right before he pushed away from the door and walked into the shower.
Rome stepped under the spray, forcing Juno to move backwards. He let out a hiss when
his back met the cold shower wall. Rome put a hand on either side of Juno’s head and leaned against him, something hard poking Juno. A moan escaped Juno and Rome’s eyes darkened just before he slammed his mouth over Juno’s. Juno tilted his head and parted his lips for Rome’s tongue. He ran his hands up Rome’s back, loving the feel of muscles under his fingertips.
A phone ringing had Rome pulling back and Juno cursing.
“I’m gonna kill him,” Juno growled. “You’d better tell him if he interrupts us one more time, I’ll fucking shoot him.”
Rome’s chuckle was low, but Juno heard and smacked him in the chest. Juno grumbled under his breath as he watched Rome step out of the shower and grab a towel. He barely dried himself off before hurrying into the bedroom for his phone. That man was too fucking committed to Serrano. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say Rome was crushing on his boss. His man was nothing if not loyal, that was for sure. He nearly slipped on the wet floor when he realized he’d just thought of Rome as his. Well. Rome had called him his, too. His king. But did it mean what he thought it meant? Did it mean the same to Rome as it meant to him? Fuck. This whole dating thing was confusing as fuck and they weren’t even dating. Shit was weird.
Rome
He was chuckling to himself as he grabbed his phone from the nightstand. Marco should be careful, ‘cause, he was sure, one of these days Juno might just kill him.
“Hey, Marco,” Rome said as he picked up.
There was a bit of cursing from the other end before Marco sighed and said, “Rome.”
“Is the spook driving you crazy?”
“He’s driving me up the fucking wall. One second, I want to kill him, the next I want to fuck him. It’s not exactly productive.”
Rome couldn’t hold back a snort of laughter. He’d figured as much.
He grabbed a pair of pants and put them on, figuring Marco was calling because he needed Rome somewhere. He tried to focus on Marco’s voice while he pulled his pants up and buttoned them. When Juno walked into the room, naked, he didn’t even bother pretending to be listening to what Marco said. When Juno went so far as to bend down to pick something up off the floor, Rome couldn’t hold back a groan.