by Richard Amos
“You were?”
He pulled a cigar from seemingly from thin air, lighting it up. “No Mr. Winter tonight?”
“No. Why were you expecting me?”
“Because of Sander.”
“Right. You knew we’d need to talk to you.”
“Of course.”
“Are you willing to talk about this now?”
“Sure.”
“Out here?”
“Yes. I need the air.”
While puffing on a cigar? Bit contradictory, but his business. “That’s fine. What can you tell me about Sander?”
“He was a human servant of mine. I fed on him a few times, but I didn’t really like the way he tasted. There was something rather unpleasant about him.” He grinned, making his handsome face flood with shadow. “He took care of some business for me—courier duties. He had a bad attitude and had some unsavoury friends.”
If Jake were here, this would be the moment he’d put his foot in it. Brem was one to talk—a dodgy bastard who kept most of his business outside of Amsterdam aside from the odd thing no one could get him on. They call that not shitting on your own doorstep.
A lot of folk wanted to get him on something.
I waited as he watched me, quite obviously in no rush. I guess stuffing yourself with blood and sex resulted in contentment—just like a Sunday roast.
“A particularly odd group,” he continued. “I had the sense that they were organising a death cult of some kind.”
“A death cult?”
“Committing murder for a deity.” He blew a huge cloud of smoke into the air. If he had working lungs he’d be hacking himself to death right now. “Sander would say strange things when I fed from him, in his sleep. It is fascinating how sleep can spill some of the darkest secrets held within a human heart.”
I didn’t answer, preferring him to do all the talking.
“The night of his murder he was supposed to come and feed me. My darling Lydia and I were looking forward to a threesome with him after the feeding. No matter his dark heart, he was always rather fun in the bedroom.”
Again, I kept my mouth shut between the pauses. If I had to speak, I would.
“Alas, he didn’t show up. Now, Mr. Tseng, what is important information for your investigation is the group I spoke of. Unfortunately, I don’t know much about them, only that they used to meet in a hideout within the Metro tunnels. Highly dangerous activity if you ask me. I’d hate to go out meeting a train at full speed. Messy.” The two golems nodded in agreement.
“Do you know where?”
“I do. Near Nieuwmark. Be careful if you pay it a visit.” He winked. “What I would presume is those four murders after Sander are of those from his group.”
“Don’t you mean three?”
“Oh, did you not hear? There was another earlier today over in Centrale Markt involving some shimmering human.”
“Right.” Did Jake know about this?
“Anyway,” Brem said, “I wish you all the luck in the world.”
I didn’t buy it. Anything he said lacked sincerity, sounding more like the words of a demonic serpent.
“Thank you for your time,” I said.
“Indeed.”
I left, not looking back, feeling his eyes burning into my back until I turned off his street.
EIGHTEEN
JAKE
The front door opened, and I didn’t move. The bedside clock had just passed one. Sleep was miles away, but at least Lou was deep in it. That’s all that mattered. I hoped she was dreaming of space, of Jupiter, of the things that made her happiest.
The sounds of Dean’s footsteps coming up the stairs making me tense up all over. It’d been a while since we’d argued. It never really happened because what was the point in fighting? A waste of energy and time that could be better spent.
But he’d messed up massively. He’d put Louise in danger and broken the promise he’d made.
He went into the bathroom. I waited, listening, expecting him to go into the study or back downstairs. He wouldn’t come in here. Not tonight. For the first time since we’d officially become a couple, we’d never slept apart. Even when one of us was sick.
Fuck.
I didn’t realise having one night in separate beds would sting like this.
Fuck.
But he didn’t go downstairs or into the study. The bedroom door opened, closed gently, and he crept to the bed.
I listed to the rustle of his clothes being removed, of his light breaths. Within my anger was happiness at his weight dipping the bed beside me.
He didn’t lay down. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I should’ve stayed home. I wish there was something I could do to make it better.”
I didn’t react.
“I love you and Louise so much. You have no idea. You might think you do, but you don’t. I’ll put things right with you, I promise. That’s one I’ll keep.”
At my silence, he spread out, adjusting his position to get comfortable—his back to me, only inches away from my spine.
The threads of anger weakened. I rolled over. “I shouldn’t have said those things to you.”
He immediately rolled over to face me in the dark, the moonlight painting his face with silver and shadows. “You’re awake.”
“I know you’d never do these things on purpose. I just…I just don’t…I need to get over it, you know?”
He reached for me, placing his palm on the side of my head. It was so warm, so safe and reassuring. There was no repel in me now, like when I’d raged at him. His touch was so bloody welcome.
“I’m so scared, Dean. What’s happening with our girl?”
“We’ll figure it out. I’m going to contact my dad.”
“You are?”
“I have to. He might be able to help.” His thumb stroked the tip of my ear.
“I don’t wanna fight,” I said.
“You have every right to be angry, Jake.”
“I know, and I am. But I don’t have the right to speak to you like that.”
“How else are you supposed to react?”
“I don’t know.”
He shuffled closer. “Don’t hate me, Jake.”
“Why would I hate you?”
“I saw so much disappointment in your eyes. I never want that again.”
“But that doesn’t mean hate. Just means you’re a dickhead.”
He smiled. “It does.”
“Where did you go?”
“I went to the Faerie portal to talk to the guards.”
“What did they say?”
His hand moved down to my bare shoulder. “They didn’t see anything.”
“Dodgy fae tricks.”
“I spoke to Brem too.”
I suppressed a gasp. “You went to him alone?”
“I had to do something, Jake.”
That was how his mind worked, I knew. “Dangerous, though. Probably not as bad as when I’m with you.”
He laughed lightly. “It was drama-free.”
“Rude!”
“Truth hurts, I guess.”
“Double rude.”
Those threads of anger were breaking. Life was too short to hold onto it, to let it rot. Yeah, I’d need to fully get over it for it to completely fall away, but I didn’t wanna waste my life holding on to negativity. Dean was not a deceitful man. He made a bad decision for a good reason. Now the rage had died down, I was coming back to my senses piece by piece.
“What did Brem say?” I asked.
He told me. “Interesting. I’ve got some stuff to tell you too.”
I explained the stuff about Thomas and Kyler and the new murder. We’d not had a chance to get to any of it, the latest saga having pushed it out of my mind.
“Are you okay after seeing that?” he asked.
“I’m fine. I’m really fine. I just don’t know what to do next. How are we supposed to track them down? I doubt they’ll ever go back to Thomas’s again. Anyway, Th
omas said to Kyler they weren’t supposed to meet there.”
“We need to talk to Lars tomorrow, and then see if we can get any more information about those death charms.”
I reached for him, my turn to rest my palm on his cheek.
“Jake…” he whispered.
I rolled over, suddenly on top of him, my body reacting to the need of him. He looked up at me with surprise, and I kissed him. Our tongues and lips writhed as his hands slid into my hair, then down my arms before moving to my back. His fingers traced my skin, drawing circles all the way was down to my arse.
I moaned softly as his fingers teased the band of my boxers. “Fuck me,” I demanded.
To hell with this shit. A fire burst to life. No slow sex, no gentle. I wanted it hard and fast and sweaty, for that fire to burn everything down.
I broke our kiss, stretching over to the bedside cabinet to retrieve the lube from the drawer. He pushed himself up to reach my neck with kisses. That delicious cock of his was pressing against my belly, only his boxers between my skin and the pierced tip.
First things first, I removed my underwear, then pulled his off, moving with determined speed.
“Jake…” he breathed.
I kissed him again, grinding my arse against him, the metal ring brushing against my crevice in teasing strokes.
Tongues and lips, the intensity of our kissing going up some notches. His hands went everywhere. He slapped my backside and my cock pulsed with need.
I grabbed his face. “Fuck me, Dean.”
I got off him, rolling onto all fours.
“Oh, baby.” A cool finger, slick with lube, slid into me.
God, I needed this.
“You want me to fuck you, Jake?” He slapped me again, inserting another finger.
“Own it. Fucking own it.”
Another slap. “This arse is mine.”
He removed his fingers, and within seconds his pierced erection thrust deep into me.
There was no slowness, no making love. Just pure fucking. His thrusts came hard and fast, that ring of his striking my sweet spot over and over again. The sounds of flesh slapping on flesh chorused around the room, joined by my moans, his grunts of pleasure as he well and truly owned my arse.
I straightened, turning my head for his mouth. He met it, pounding me deeper, a hand going to my cock. I slid my arm behind his head as his lips moved to my neck, sucking and nipping as he worked.
I fell forward. His hands gripped my waist. I looked behind me, watching as he angled himself up so he was on one knee, pushing himself deeper into me. I liked to watch him, the moonlight casting shadows over his nakedness, the light glinting in his dark eyes.
He went for it on the last stretch, pounding me as I worked my dick. I came first, clawing at the bedsheets with my free hand as he pumped his way to climax, filling me up with his sweet heat.
Dean collapsed on top of me, flattening me to the bed, panting and sweaty. He kissed my neck again, cock still inside me.
“I love you, baby.”
“I love you, Dean.”
IT DIDN’T MATTER how late it was. It didn’t stop us from lying in the bath together, my back against his chest, his arms around me beneath the bubbles.
Steam curled upward in the candlelight, the sweet aroma of oranges and cinnamon wafting up from the hot water.
“This is our Valentine’s moment,” he said. “Technically it is the big day.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Thank God you didn’t tear your stitches.”
“By tearing you up like that?”
“Yeah, man.”
“All good on the shagging front.”
“Good to know.”
I loved this transition. Animal fucking to tenderness in the bath. That shag had been the need of that moment, now this softness was the need of this one.
We’d both agreed to not have a Valentine’s dinner during sociable hours later today. We’d have a family dinner instead. This was our romantic time, like he’d said, and we’d actually managed to do it on Valentine’s Day.
He’d gone all out. Candles, rose petals over the bathroom floor, glasses of some fizzy pear and apple drink to make up for no champagne. It was gone two in the morning but who gave a fuck? Not me. I knew how to take good shit when it presented itself to be grabbed.
I wasn’t mad anymore. Okay, I was a bit, but fully embracing romance too. This was his way of making things right with me. Lou would be next.
“Can we stay like this forever?” I asked.
“You want to be a prune?”
“Maybe not forever, then, but let’s not hurry. Screw sleep.”
He kissed my neck again. Man, I loved him planting one there. “I’d rather screw you.”
“Yeah, me too.”
He wrapped his arms and legs tighter around me. We didn’t have the biggest bath in the world, but it was enough for us to have snuggle time in.
“By the way,” I said, “I think you have a little something for me.”
“I wouldn’t call it little.” He pushed his hardness against me.
“Oh, round two?”
“I’ll go as many rounds as you want.”
“What a charmer. Hold the sausage for a moment, I was talking about something else.”
“Did you just say hold the sausage?”
“Go with it, treacle. Now, have a think. It’s hard…oh, God.”
He chuckled. “Right. Go on.”
“You can drink from it.”
“You’re so dirty.”
“There’s a ring…” I threw that one in deliberately. Why not embrace the dirty talk?
“And it’s poking you in the back. Ding! Ding! Ding!”
“You horny bastard! You know what I’m talking out.”
“Yes, we’ve established this.”
“The mug.”
Another kiss on my neck. “I know, baby.” He sighed. “It was a…shit.”
“What?”
“My way of getting us out of the house. I told Louise we’d go get you a new mug.” His dick was softening. “You’re going to hate me again. It was manipulative, but it wasn’t like I didn’t genuinely want to get you a new one at some point.”
“Stop saying hate.”
“Well, I manipulated our daughter into leaving the house. I’m sorry. I wasn’t keeping it from you, I was going to tell you. Just so much was going on and—”
“Stop it, Dean. Lou already told me, so I kind of worked that out.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I don’t wanna go back to that,” I said. “I don’t wanna be angry. You’re not a bad person, and you did what you did because you felt like you had to. Okay, let’s put it this way. You fucked up. Fine. Once is bad enough. You do it again, and I’m putting your bollocks in the blender. Got it?”
“Ouch! Heard you loud and clear!”
“And, as part of these new conditions, you’re staying home tomorrow. We both are, but if something comes up then I’m the one doing the work. In fact, I’m going to leave you two alone as much as I can. You need quality time. Okay?”
“Okay. I’m so doing as I’m told.”
“I know you are. Also, you have a lot of making up to do with Lou. I know you know that, but I’ve got to follow this authoritative shit through.”
“It’s sexy.”
His dick was back up again.
“I’m trying to lecture you here.”
“I know, and it’s sinking in deeper than you know, baby. It really is. That’s a shit version of parenting I put out there.”
“It was. But now is the time to shovel the shit…can we not go down the shit road?”
“The shit road? Sounds gross.”
“There used to be an alleyway near my mum and dad’s house called Dog Shit Alley.”
“Nice.”
“Worse in the summer because of the stink. Annoying because it was a handy shortcut.”
“I think I’m losing my hard on again thinking about this wond
erful alley.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry, moving away from the shit talk. Let me stuff my face with something else to make sure I’m really silenced.”
“Now I like the sound of that!”
NINETEEN
DEAN
As I woke up to the sound of knocking, I could still taste Jake’s forgiveness on my lips.
Jake was asleep beside me, curled up into a ball under the covers, so beautiful, so amazing, even if he was snoring.
I didn’t deserve his forgiveness. By rights, he should’ve put me in the deepest parts of the freezer. But he hadn’t because he was an incredible man, and I wouldn’t take any of it for granted.
This was the truest love.
The knocking continued. The bedside clock read 10:30.
Oh, wow. We hadn’t slept this late in ages.
“Come in,” I said.
The door opened and Louise entered, her hair a wild mess, her thumb in her mouth.
“Have you just got up.”
She nodded.
“Come see Papa.”
I was expecting her to hesitate, but she didn’t. She padded across the room to my side of the bed, and I scooped her up, holding her so tight. She nestled her head into the crook of my neck.
“I love you so much, darling. I’m so sorry for what happened to you. Papa’s an idiot and I would never do anything to hurt you. Ever. I won’t break my promise again and I’m staying here all day with you. Whatever you want to do, we’ll do it. Okay?”
She nodded as best she could in her position, thumb still firmly planted in her mouth.
“Shall we do downstairs and let Daddy sleep some more?”
Another nod.
“We can make him some breakfast.” I stood up, carrying her out of the room as Jake continued to snore away. I grabbed my dressing gown from the back of the door on the way out.
I wouldn’t push her about the fae woman. We needed as much information as we could get, yes, but not now. This was a time for healing, to reassure her that her papa wasn’t a complete let down.
“You want me to carry you downstairs?”
Louise nodded.
So I did.
ONE OF MY specialties in the kitchen were pancakes. Jake enjoyed cooking more than me nowadays, but I could make a mean pancake.