by M. D. Grimm
“Andrew,” he said in a strained whisper. Thoughts flowed into my mind, full of warmth, devotion, adoration, and such desire that I feared my pants would rip. I was painfully hard at what he let me see as his mind touched mine. I tormented the tip of his cock while stroking his shaft, and let my free hand move farther between his legs. I tentatively pressed between his ass cheeks. He groaned and spread his legs as far as his pants would allow. I swallowed him deeper as I pressed fingers against his asshole.
“Fuck yes,” he said with a hint of growl.
I pressed harder, sucked harder, and his fingers tightened painfully on my head an instant before he came. Since his hands held me captive, I couldn’t move as I swallowed him down. I took shallow breaths through my nose, waiting for release.
Marcus, I need air, dumbass.
He let out a shaky laugh and let me go. I leaned back on my heels and wiped my mouth, my jaw and lips sore. I smiled proudly at his blissed-out face.
“Dain always said I was a quick learner,” I said despite my rough voice.
Cassius panted and his eyes gleamed red with need despite my ministrations.
“You are that,” he said a second before he tackled me to the floor. I laughed before moaning when he sucked on my neck. He cupped my bulge painfully and I squirmed.
“My turn.”
So there, in the entry hall of his condo, Cassius got his own back and had me surrendering with joy. Afterward he carried me to the bathroom and drew us a bubble bath. I sat on his lap, my back against his chest and decided that this was the most indulgent I’ve ever been. He held me tightly and nuzzled my head, sometimes pressing kisses to my temple, my neck, my shoulders.
“I love you,” I said, feeling freed.
“Carissime,” he murmured. “I love you, too.”
“Thanks for not, um, giving up on me. I can be stubborn.”
He chuckled and held me tighter. “I can out-stubborn you any night of the week.”
I tilted my head back, now enjoying the softness of his expression, meeting his eyes without fear of the whammy. “When it comes to your safety, you can’t.”
A darkness passed over his expression. It only lasted a blink but I knew I’d seen it. Was he ever going to tell me?
“I will say the same,” he said. “You will protect yourself or I will do it for you.”
I stuck my tongue out.
He kissed me.
This time I made sure he was safely in his coffin when the sun came up. I returned home for the day, to sleep and work on a few more minor commissions. I’d yet to receive the gold from the troll in the Black Forest. Not surprising since shipping took forever.
As I cleaned off one of my main work tables, I stopped and simply stood in the center of my workshop and remembered. The first time I’d stepped foot in here, and watching Dain forge a sword. The first time he’d given me a leather apron and hammer, then hovering over my shoulder the entire time. His instructions, his caustic criticisms, his modest praises. The pride that gleamed in his eyes when I’d made my own sword, going through the entire process without needing his help even once.
I set my hands flat on the table and felt the years of work this shop had seen and heard. If the walls could talk… I sighed.
Now it was just me. No one else had stepped foot in the shop but me and Dain in years. This was my life. This was how I defined myself and my worth. I looked at my scarred, burnished hands, eyed my muscled biceps. I still saw myself as the scrawny little rat beaten by his father. Jesus, that wasn’t me anymore and hadn’t been for a long time. Cassius didn’t see me like that.
So why did I?
I shoved away from the table and finished tidying before checking the time. It was late evening. I ate a snack before locking up and getting on my bike. If I was going to have this relationship, I wasn’t going to half-ass it. I was going to commit fully and completely. It was the only way I knew how to function—all in or all out. There was no doubt in my mind it was all real, that he was mine. Despite what a miracle that was, the problems such a relationship presented didn’t fade. I had to talk to him about going feral, something I’d rather avoid at all costs. Then there was the almost certainty he would need to turn me.
I shivered. To become a vampire? Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine such a fate for myself. But to lose him when I had the means to prolong if not prevent the inevitable? I couldn’t imagine doing that either.
There was a step I had to take first, though. An important one.
I arrived at Cassius’s condo just before sundown. He’d given me a key the night before and I used it with a thrill. I shrugged off my coat and sat on the couch. I took out my tablet to keep from becoming too antsy and tried not to count down the minutes until nightfall.
Sounds in the second bedroom caught my attention and my stomach fluttered at what I was about to do. The door opened and Cassius shuffled out. He only wore boxer shorts and now my stomach fluttered for a different reason. He was so damn pretty. His frown was distracted and his eyes distant. Cassius mussed up his hair and yawned before spotting me. His smile was instantaneous.
“Good night,” I said.
Without a word, he approached before sitting down on the couch beside me. Then he lay his head on my lap, wrapped his arms around my waist, and curled his legs on the couch. He pressed his face into my stomach and closed his eyes. I shuddered out a breath and set down my tablet on the side table. I stroked his hair, my eyes burning with emotion at the vulnerability and trust he was showing. He wanted my comfort, my embrace. Perhaps he felt as safe in my arms as I felt in his.
This time I kissed his temple, his neck, his shoulder. He shivered and nuzzled my stomach.
“Good night,” he said, words muffled against me.
I swallowed hard. “I want to show you something. Does the duchess need you tonight?”
He shook his head.
“Will you come with me?”
Cassius turned his head and gazed up at me. I was a little breathless at the openness of his look.
“I will always come with you.”
I smiled and kissed his cheek.
It didn’t take him long to shower, dress, and drink, and then we were on the road, roaring toward my home with him on the back of my bike. The butterflies in my stomach were monstrous, and I kept second guessing myself. Then I’d ask myself, again, didn’t I want him to fuck me in my own home? Yes, yes I did. But it wasn’t just my home, it was my shop. My place of creation.
As we turned down the gravel lane to my home, Cassius started to make suggestions on how to strengthen security. I only half listened to him. I was too aware of the big step I was taking, the desperate need for it, and the fact that Dain would have had a stroke if he was still alive.
I parked the bike and took off my helmet. When Cassius turned toward the house, I shook my head and grabbed his hand, leading him to the shop. He followed silently. I stopped at the door and fumbled with my keys a moment.
I fumbled with my words as well, not looking at him. “I need to, you know. I mean, you should see…” Oh hell, just shut up Vulcan!
I unlocked and opened the door and flipped on the lights. I took a deep breath in my sanctuary, the place where everything made sense. It was well-insulated from the weather and filled with a new, well-structured forge, with anvils and hammers, sauntering tools, and blades. I had sanding and polishing wheels, and tools for any job asked of me. For a moment I tried to see it through his eyes. To the untrained eye, I suppose it might resemble a serial killer’s den or something.
“It’s beautiful.” Cassius kept his hands in his pockets as he slowly walked around, investigating everything, interest alight in his eyes. He noticed the Vulcan effigy on a high shelf, watching over the workshop. He lightly touched it with a soft smile.
“Yeah?”
“Yes, carissime.” He turned and gazed at me from the middle of the shop. “I’m honored that you would share this with me.”
At that mom
ent I realized he was probably the only person in the entire world that had ever truly got me.
“I have a commission I need to finish and I, um, want you to stay. If you can.” It took me a moment to find a chair. I cleaned it off and brought it out of the corner. “You can sit or stand, whichever.”
I felt so awkward but I needed to do this.
Cassius grinned and walked over to me. He hugged me tightly and I squeezed him back.
“I would love to watch you work.”
And so he did. He took off his jacket and folded it precisely before setting it on the chair. I took off my jacket and put on my leather apron. I turned on the music and got to work. I soon forgot he was there as I sank into the rhythm of crafting. I didn’t know how much time it took me to attach the hilt and guard to the blade but once I was done, I came back to myself and looked up.
Cassius was staring at me so intently, you’d think I had the answers to all the questions of the universe. I was sweaty and a bit sore as I turned off the music and moved away from the sword. I needed to let it set before boxing it up for shipment.
“Sorry if you got bored.”
He shook his head. “You should know by now that I enjoy watching you.”
I laughed slightly and strode to the water cooler. I filled the paper cup and swallowed all the water in one gulp. Then filled it up again.
“You know how stalkerish that sounds?”
He shrugged.
“Don’t pull an Edward Cullen on me.”
Cassius made the best faces. Then he simply dropped his head in his hand. “Don’t, I beg you. That travesty does not exist, you hear me?”
I giggled and didn’t even attempt to hide it. “Ouch. Tell me how you really feel.”
He lifted his gaze and it burned. “You want to know how I feel?”
My eyes widened as he used his superspeed to seemingly disappear and then reappear before me. I barely had time to gasp as he lifted me and set me on one of the work tables that had the least amount of tools on it. He tugged at my pants as I started to untie the apron.
“No, keep that on.”
I raised my eyebrows but did as he asked. He pushed me flat on my back and shoved off my shoes and pants before grabbing my hardening cock with both hands. I groaned as he worked me under the apron. Red tinted his gaze as he watched me.
“Marcus, shit.”
He growled and pushed the apron aside just enough to expose my erection. He sucked the tip into his mouth and tormented me as he used both hands to stroke and tease. I couldn’t catch my breath and reached above my head to grip the edge of the table. I needed an anchor as Cassius whipped me higher.
I gazed at Cassius as he sucked me with single-minded focus, his hands now massaging my balls and rubbing my asshole. Dain would be so appalled. And I realized I didn’t care in the least. This was my shop now and if I wanted my vampire lover to fuck me on every surface inside it, that was my business and no one else’s.
Dain might have been able to live happily paranoid and isolated. I just couldn’t. Not when I had a good man who wanted me.
Cassius brushed my mind, and I locked away those thoughts before letting him in. His senses swam through me, his enjoyment, his desire, his desperate need. Apparently it had been a trial in patience to keep from jumping me as I worked. I loved his appetite.
When I felt myself on the edge, I sat up and gripped his head. He growled, causing delicious vibration against my dick. I came with a gasp into his mouth, and I held his head against me just as he had done to me before. When the tension eased, I let him go. I slipped out of his mouth and he lowered to one knee, wrapping his arms around my waist. He rested his head once again against my stomach. I hugged him close, trying to get my breath back.
“Stay tonight,” I said softly before my desires checked with my brain.
“I will. I want to be in your bed.”
“After I get a shower.”
He snorted and stood before scooping me once more into his arms. I rested my head against his shoulder and closed my eyes.
Chapter Fifteen
The trust Cassius freely gave me constantly astounded and humbled me. He knew I would make sure the sun didn’t harm him as he lay comatose in my bed. I slept most of the day away before my ringing phone woke me up. I grumbled and cursed as I rolled over, still half asleep, and fumbled for my phone on the table. I tumbled out of bed, knocking the phone onto the floor.
“Fucking daywalkers.” I finally snatched my cell, laying naked on the floor, on my stomach, and answered. “If this is a telemarketer, I fucking swear—”
“Vulcan,” Nicole said, her tone strained and impatient.
I rubbed my face, banishing sleep. “What is it?”
“You need to be honest with me, right now.”
“Uh. Okay.” I sat up with a grunt.
“It’s reached my ears that… you’ve started a relationship with a vampire. One of the old ones.”
I frowned and stared at Cassius’s slack face. “And who told you?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“Yeah, it kinda does.”
“So it’s true? Dammit, Vulcan! What’s wrong with you?”
“Whoa, hey, calm down—”
“You bastard. Did you honestly think something like that would stay secret? With you two flaunting it?”
“Just hold up! Jesus. We don’t flaunt it. And what I do privately is no one’s business!”
“You think so? Well, then you’re more stupid than I thought.”
I gritted my teeth. “Watch it.”
“You think the slayers are going to be understanding when they realize what you’re doing? Most have left you alone because you just work for the night creatures. But now if they think you’re a thrall—”
“I’m not a thrall!”
“Try explaining the difference to them!”
I stood as anger heated my blood. “You going to rat on me, Nicole? Is that what you’re alluding to? You going to sell me out because I made a decision with eyes wide open?”
“You bastard. I should, you know. I should so they don’t start gunning for me. But I won’t because I’m not a traitor. But don’t contact me anymore. Don’t come to my store, don’t order things from me. I can’t associate with you anymore.”
My gut clenched as my heart jumped into my throat. “Nicole, wait.”
“I’m sorry. It’s too risky. Lose my number. Goodbye.”
Click.
I stood there, frozen for a long moment before I finally lowered the phone. It slipped from my fingers and thudded softly on the floor. Just like that, I’d lost a friend. Jesus, just like that.
I suppose I could see her point of view but, God, it hurt. I stared at Cassius, wondering if I should blame him but how could I? I loved him. He made me the happiest I’d ever been in my life. We made each other happy. He was my guy.
I rubbed my eyes when they started to burn. Slayers knew. That was the likeliest way that Nicole had found out about us. I hadn’t spoken to her in weeks and this thing with Cassius was still so new. Shit. How could I have neglected slayers in my calculations? In their eyes, I was now worse than Dain. They’d left me alone until now, huh? Maybe I was an idiot.
I sat on the edge of the bed and thought of my options. I was under the duchess’s protection. I had been under the Red Moon’s as well but if they—when they—learned of my ties to Cassius then they’d take their busines elsewhere. I thought I’d been prepared for that but the pain shuddered through my heart. Why was there always a sacrifice for being happy? I had good security at my place and Cassius would help me beef it up. But if a determined slayer, say one with a vendetta against Cassius, were to come after me, there was only so much I could do to stop him.
I’d been so lost in passion and joy that I’d neglected the most basic facts of survival. I lay down and grabbed Cassius’s cold hand. I turned into him and wrapped his arm around me. I couldn’t give him up. Not now. Not ever.
; So… did that mean I was going to become a vampire?
Hell. Now I couldn’t sleep anymore.
I sighed heavily and got up. I took a quick shower before pulling on a T-shirt and briefs. I cleaned up my house a bit before my stomach began to protest. It was early evening, about the time for my breakfast. I turned on some music to try and distract my brain from unpleasant thoughts. I felt the urgency to make some hard decisions, and I just wasn’t ready yet. Couldn’t I just savor what I had right now? Couldn’t I just explore it a bit, wonder at it a little longer before I had to adult? I didn’t want to adult.
I cooked up some eggs and fried up some bacon as I began to sing along and dance awkwardly in my modest kitchen. I jumped around and twirled as my food sizzled, letting my freedom be the perfect “fuck you” to those that disapproved of my relationship with Cassius. Even Dain. He was rolling over in his grave, I was certain.
Well, while I still loved him, I wasn’t him. And I didn’t want to be. Not anymore.
I spun around during the song’s crescendo and then stopped short. I turned the yelp into a laugh as I spotted Cassius leaning against the wall at the kitchen entryway, watching with great interest. He was also buck naked. A real nice view in the morning.
My face heated but I gave him a cheeky grin. “Enjoy the show?”
His smile widened and his eyes glinted red. “Immensely.”
I snorted and returned to the food, heart pounding as I turned my back on my predator. “You’ll just have to hold your horses, Marcus. I need food before whatever you have in mind.”
He slid his arms around my waist, pressing his front tightly to my back. He nuzzled my head. “I’ll wait as long as I need to. Andrew.”
I wiggled my hips against his groin and he grunted.
“Tease.”
I giggled. Then I elbowed him in the stomach. “Back off. I need to eat.”