by Trina Lane
Rick joined them and placed a kiss on both Conor and Calleigh’s lips. “Clay said Fredericks called a little while ago. He said that all of the cases Trevor’s worked recently are tied up with a neat little bow. No suspects unaccounted for, nobody out on bail. I’m trying to think what the next avenue should be.”
Matt’s eyes followed Clay as he headed their direction, carrying his coffee cup with eyes focused on the pot Niall had kept filled throughout the night.
“The video Trevor received implied that he belonged to whoever was behind this. When we questioned him, he said there’d been no nasty break ups and he said he never dabbled in BDSM, so there was no Master he’d run out on,” Clay said.
Logan’s hand landed on his fiancé’s shoulder blades and rubbed in circles. “No, he was never into that stuff. In fact, I was so glad when he started seeing the two of you because I knew you were good guys. I was tired of seeing bruises on his body when he came to work.”
Niall charged over from the sofa a few feet away. “What bruises?” he growled.
Logan sighed. “Trevor’s always like them big.” A blush stained Logan’s cheeks. “Sorry, Matt.”
“No apologies. I am a big guy, but I’d never use my strength to hurt someone.”
“I know, that’s why I thought you and Trevor—and of course you, Niall—were a good thing.”
Niall waved off Logan’s addendum. “I don’t doubt Trevor’s love for me. I may not be as bulky as Matt, but I still tower over Trevor, so he gets what he needs.”
Logan nodded. “Anyway, some of the guys Trevor dated had big egos and attitudes to match their bodies. More than once Trevor showed up with bruises around his wrists from where they’d grabbed him. He always played it off as an accident or the fact that the sex had gotten a little rough, but I never bought it.”
“Did this happen with one guy he was seeing in particular or in general?” Ryan asked. “Was it an abusive relationship, or was Trevor habitually attracted to violent types?”
“I’ve been trying to think about that all night. The problem is that I was never sure exactly who Trevor was seeing and when. He never stuck with anyone for very long. If I had known, you can bet your ass they’d have gotten a visit from a pissed off Army Ranger.”
Ethan joined their powwow. “So do you know any of their names?”
Logan rubbed his head, and Matt saw his hands shake. Matt sensed that the night’s stress was triggering some of Logan’s symptoms. He moved over towards his friend and patient. “Logan? Do you need anything? I appreciate your help, but don’t push yourself too hard. It’s okay if you need to rest a few minutes.”
Clay gathered Logan close and murmured something into his processors. Logan’s head shook and the tension slowly eased. It was good to see Logan’s trust in his partner. Clay’s support had been a critical element to Logan’s recovery process. All things considered, Logan had handled the anxiety around the day very well, and Matt was pleased.
Matt joined the rest of the group over by the sofa and fireplace, giving Clay and Logan a few moments to themselves. He sat on the sofa and pulled Niall onto his lap. Niall’s head immediately landed on Matt’s shoulder. Raven black hair as soft as the bird’s feathers caressed Matt’s neck. Matt’s hand skimmed over Niall’s hip, and Niall’s solid weight upon him grounded Matt. Logan and Clay came over with fresh cups of coffee.
“Sorry everyone,” Logan said softly.
“I didn’t mean to push you, Logan, I’m sorry” Ethan murmured.
“No, no, it’s not your fault. Sometimes stuff like that hits me with no warning. I was fine one minute and the next shaking as if I were a leaf.” Logan leant over and kissed Clay. “My fiancé has gotten very good at talking me down, and my psychiatrist has taught me invaluable tools to recognise the symptoms before they spiral out of control.” Logan smiled in Matt’s direction. “Okay, names. I think he’s dated maybe three guys in the six or seven months before getting together with the two of you.”
Ryan sat at Matt’s desk and opened up a database through the FBI’s network on Matt’s laptop. “Hit me.”
Ryan’s access had probably thrown a giant red flag up on his IP address, but all things considered, Matt didn’t really care that much.
“There was a Lee Anderson. That didn’t last more than a month. And Nick something with a ‘W’. Williams? No. Winters?”
Clay snapped his fingers. “No, it was Winger, like the band!”
“That’s it! Thank you. And the only other one I can remember was Frank Hampton.”
“Good. Now do you remember any of those three leaving more bruises, or Trevor saying anything about them being overly possessive?” Clay asked.
“Sorry, no. The last time was early fall, September maybe, because Trevor was already wearing long sleeves. I only caught sight of them in the restroom when he was washing his hands one day, but I don’t know in what order he saw those guys.”
“Okay, I’ve got address and places of work on all three. I’m going to hand this over to the detective in charge. Maybe they can get alibis.”
Ryan started down Matt’s spiral staircase, phone already to his ear. Matt nuzzled Niall.
“See, caro? We’re already one step closer”
Niall’s midnight eyes met Matt’s, and their foreheads touched.
“It’s been hours though, love. We have no idea what’s happened to him. What this guy has done. What if they’ve…hurt him? What if he’s…” Niall voice caught at the end.
“Don’t do this to yourself, caro. Don’t play that game. We’ll bring him home. Truly home. I’ve already spoken with a realtor about putting this place on the market. She thinks I can get a good return on my investment even in this economy. We’ll get Trevor out of his lease, and then the three of us will make a family. Your vision has become reality, caro. I can feel him. I can feel his spirit with us. He’s still here, he holding on, waiting for us to find him.”
“I want to hold him, Matt. I want him in my arms again.”
“I know. I do too, and we will. I promise.”
Matt looked over at the steps when he heard Ryan’s feet hit the metal treads. His breath caught, and his heart galloped in his chest.
“It’s done. They’ll send out some units in the morning to track down the three men.”
“In the morning?” Calleigh exclaimed.
“Without any evidence, they can’t just go banging on doors in the middle of the night,” Clay explained.
“Okay everybody. I think we all need to get some sleep at this point. Technically, it is morning. We’ll do Trevor no good, if we’re too exhausted to think clearly when the news comes in,” Ryan said.
Matt’s hand smacked Niall’s ass. “Up, caro. Let’s see our guests to the door then I’ll take you to bed.”
It took a few minutes but eventually Matt’s condo emptied and he shut off the lights. He turned and found an empty parlour, but sounds from downstairs echoed up the stairwell. He didn’t know if he would actually sleep, but at least he could hold Niall for a few hours.
* * * *
“Matt?”
Matt heard Niall’s soft voice in the dark bedroom as clear as a shout across the room. “Yes, caro?”
“Do you think it’d be wrong if we…never mind.”
“You want to make love to me, Niall?”
Niall’s body twisted so they were facing each other, his eyes wide and mouth agape.
“You’d do that?”
“Sure, why not?”
“Well, I didn’t think you liked it or something. We’ve never…you’ve always been in the driver’s seat.”
“We did fall into those roles, didn’t we? I do like it. Not as much as you or Trevor, but sometimes… Sure.”
Matt rolled onto his back and brought Niall over the top of him. He spread his legs, and Niall’s hips nestled perfectly into the cradle of Matt’s body. Niall stretched his frame out as much as possible and his lips landed on Matt’s neck.
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��Tell me we’re not doing something wrong here,” Niall beseeched into Matt’s ear.
“Why would it be wrong? We need to share our love as much tonight as we do every night, more in fact. I need to feel your touch. I need to know at least one of men I love is safe and here in my arms. Love me, Niall.”
“Forever. Yo mutah mutu nutah…wipi kutah.”
“That’s beautiful. What does it mean?”
“It comes from the father of my people, Sachem Uncas. Its literal translation means, this heart is not my heart…but your heart.”
Matt gasped as Niall sucked on the skin of his neck. “Very…very poetic man.”
“Mm’hm,” Niall murmured as he placed kisses down Matt’s chest.
Matt’s cock filled and he felt Niall’s similar response against his hip. Niall’s fingers played with Matt’s nipples, the nubs not nearly as sensitive as Trevor’s but plenty responsive to the stimulation. Niall’s mouth moved over every inch of Matt’s body. No nook or cranny went unexplored, no hill or valley unconquered. Matt’s hands touched Niall wherever he could reach. Silken hair threaded though his hands, smooth skin glided beneath the tips of his fingers. Niall got Matt to roll onto his stomach, and those magical lips started their journey all over again.
Matt slowly went insane. When Niall’s fingers finally traced over the curve of his buttocks, he pushed into the touch. He needed those fingers inside him. Long, elegant artist’s fingers able to capture stark beauty or help a victim heal beyond their pain with one snap.
“Where’s the lube, love?”
“Bathroom. Got a new bottle the other day.”
When Niall’s heat left Matt’s back, he moaned. He should have put the lube in the bedside drawer, what had he been thinking?
Niall returned in less than a minute. Matt turned his head and saw one of the most perfect bodies in his existence. Niall stood in the doorframe. He carried a candle Matt remembered stashing in the bathroom in case the power went out. The flickering flame danced over skin dusky with the heritage of Niall’s people, except for two white scars across his chest. The two tattoos were dark shadows beneath his skin, Niall’s past as much a part of him as his present. Matt ideally wondered if Niall would be willing to get another tattoo to symbolise his, Trevor’s and Matt’s love. Sleek curves of toned muscle sat gracefully beneath naturally smooth skin.
Niall closed the distance between them. He placed the candle in its holder on the bedside table then climbed back onto the bed. Matt felt Niall’s warm skin against him again, their bodies touching but not yet united. Matt groaned as he realised he needed this more than he’d anticipated. He needed to be claimed by his men, as much as he’d claimed them in the beginning. He wanted to experience this for the rest of his life.
Matt had never craved the feel of another man inside him until now. All he could think about was Niall’s cock inside his body. Cool lube landed on top of Matt’s hole. The fingers he’d craved now massaged the gel into his hot skin. One finger pushed inside, and Matt’s hands clenched in the sheets. He spread his legs a little wider, arching up into the penetration. It burned, but Matt had never been afraid to play with fire. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d done this. A year ago? Year and a half?
The first bite faded and Matt arched up for more. Niall didn’t add a second right away. Instead that finger explored Matt’s channel, smoothing up and down the walls that rippled with tension. Matt lay flat on the bed, and Niall angled his finger downwards, sliding right across Matt’s gland. A guttural moan escaped as a spike of pleasure poured from every cell of his body. Matt’s muscles quivered as he tightened his chute around Niall’s digit.
Matt’s body stretched to accommodate the second invader. The burn was back, deeper, a throb that caused Matt to hunger for more. Niall’s breaths came in short gasps from behind Matt. Matt’s cock strained against the sheets and precum dampened the fabric. Niall played Matt’s body as a virtuoso played their instrument, his touch hitting that spot inside, stoking the fire churning in Matt’s body.
“Please, Niall. Want you. Need you.”
“I know, love. I can see you. Your back is gleaming with sweat, your body opening to accept mine. I see. I see everything you are, everything you have been, everything you will become.”
Niall’s fingers left and Matt missed the touch almost immediately, but he knew what was coming. He’d been there, in that moment right before he entered another man’s body. The anticipation of how tightly that body below you will clasp around your cock. The excitation of thousands of nerve endings, sending signals to your brain in that first moment you push your way inside, telling you it was perfection personified.
Niall closed Matt’s legs, his knees resting on the bed outside Matt’s legs. The penetration was slow. It was everything Matt remembered and yet nothing he’d ever experienced. No man before had ever filled him the way Niall did. Niall settled his body on top of Matt’s. Skin to skin, Niall rocked into Matt over and over. His cock dragged across Matt’s prostate with every thrust. Niall’s power came from his tempered strength. Matt loved that power, wanted it, wanted everything Niall had to give him. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the rush of feelings. Every thrust echoed in his body as Niall moved within him.
The long, slow lovemaking was exactly what Matt needed. It reaffirmed his connection to Niall, it gave him the peace that had been absent since the moment Trevor’s hand slipped from his grasp so many hours ago. Almost twelve now, twelve hours since he’d lost his bello. Silent tears trickled from the corners of Matt’s eyes. Niall’s hands linked with his and squeezed.
“I have you, love. It’s okay, let it go. Let it go.”
The tears no longer trickled but poured. Matt’s body heaved, and Niall’s weight above him, inside him, kept him pinned to the bed. Niall continued to push his way deeper into Matt’s heart, and when the tears stopped, Niall’s lips licked the salt from Matt’s skin.
“There now. The evil is gone, only good spirits remain.”
Niall pushed up and knelt behind Matt. Matt moved onto his hands and knees. He pushed back into each shove of Niall’s dick. Matt cried out as Niall’s hand surrounded his cock and began to jerk. Smooth strokes across his sensitive head combined with Niall’s possession of his body shot Matt up towards the moon. He hovered for the briefest of seconds then came crashing back towards earth as he came. Niall continued to thrust, and right when Matt thought he’d come into his landing, another gust sent him soaring back towards the heavens. Again and again, until his body literally collapsed with Niall still buried deep within him. Matt worked the muscles in his rear to bring Niall over the edge of bliss and, with a cry, his lover spilled inside him.
Exhaustion pulled Matt under. He vaguely heard Niall head for the bathroom and when a warm cloth cleaned the traces of their love from his body, Matt sighed.
Niall slipped his arms around Matt and buried his face in the curved of Matt’s neck. “Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds and whose breath gives life to the world. I come before you, one of your many children. I am small and weak—I need your strength and wisdom.”
Matt lifted Niall’s hands to his mouth and kissed the palm. He drifted away with hope that Niall’s whispered prayer would be heard.
Chapter Sixteen
Trevor no longer felt his hands or feet. Ice filled his veins and shivers racked his body. He’d been left alone for who knows how long. Time was irrelevant. All he thought about was getting the hell out of there. He focused on his memories of Niall and Matt. How it felt to lie on the couch with his head in their laps watching a movie, the warmth of sleeping between them. Little touches in the night as the three of them each reaffirmed to their subconscious that their partners were still with them. He remember how it felt to be held between them, how Matt’s weight pressed him into the bed so perfectly, how Niall’s graceful hands caressed every inch of Trevor’s body with reverence. Thought of the photos Niall had taken proof of their love for one another.
He wanted to go home, and it was up to him to get there. Trevor pulled energy from deep within his body. He twisted the tape at his wrists. Over and over. It stretched a fraction. Not enough to get out, but enough to give Trevor hope. With renewed vigour, Trevor worked the binding. His skin was raw from the adhesive, the skin on fire from whatever reaction Trevor had to the chemicals. He pushed the discomfort to the back of his brain and continued to twist and turn.
An explosive crack filled the space, and the sound of footsteps came towards him.
“Good morning, pet. Did you have a good night? I hope the rats didn’t nibble on your toes too badly. I’d hate to see your perfect skin marred by their sharp little teeth, disease-filled vermin. They’re predicting snow today. I’d take you to the park, but I think the other pet owners would become jealous and try to steal you away from me.”
Warm fingers touched Trevor’s cheek. The heat on his icy skin was nearly painful.
“You have a nasty bruise here. Maybe that will remind you to obey your master. No more whoring, right?”
Trevor shook his head. Whatever the guy wanted. Whatever he said, it didn’t matter. Only getting home mattered.
“Good boy. I think a little more time in your kennel then we’ll be able to restart your obedience classes.”
Lips landed on Trevor’s forehead and he tried not to jerk away from the touch. Don’t antagonise, don’t be combative, survive, escape. That was his mantra.
“Now, do you need to relieve yourself?”
Trevor shook his head. There was no way he was letting this guy anywhere near his dick. He’d piss himself before letting that happen.
“Come now, pet. You’ve been down here a long time. The body has certain functions that must be met.”
That hand slid down Trevor’s chest, heading for his waist. Trevor screamed behind the tape. He bucked and pushed against the floor with his feet. A heavy body landed on top of him, thick legs straddled either side of Trevor’s hips, and arms with the strength of a boa constrictor squeezed around Trevor’s chest. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t breathe.