Rapture

by Angelique Voisen

  Kade grunted, his thrusts gaining momentum. When he buried his head to the side of my neck and thrust into me one last time, I leaned forward, licking and sucking at his skin. He exploded.

  “Come for me, pup.” He reached for my cock, pinched at the swollen head.

  Sighing with relief, I did, shooting my load across his chest. Before I lost myself in bliss, Kade broke the spell.

  “You aren’t allowed to fall asleep. I’m far from done with you.”

  Kade peeled off his condom. He straddled my face again, and it didn’t take long for him to get hard. By the time he re-positioned himself, my own cock stood, half hard.

  “Mine.” He repeated the word, over and over again, like a prayer, as if he couldn’t quite believe them as he thrust inside me again.

  Not the words of a conqueror or a predator finally latching his teeth into the tender flesh of his prey, but he dismantled me piece-by-piece all the same by making me a stranger to my own quivering body.

  Kade reached for my cock, his movements fast, just to hear me cry out while he staked his claim on the place I once thought shameful and secret, a place that was only his to claim.

  “I want to hear you say my name, Chase,” Kade said with panting breath.

  Chase. Not Pup or pet, I remembered thinking, even as our orgasms climbed towards the peak, eager to soar. He slammed hard into me, his strokes deep and lingering, greedily seeking more than I could give.

  Kade pinched my tip at the right moment, making my entire body buckle. Unthinkingly, I screamed out his name, the sound of it seemingly like music to his ears.

  He growled, his entire body shuddering and shaking with sweat as he sunk in hilt deep. My chest rose and fell unevenly. Every muscle in my body seemed to slacken and relax. If it had lips, I knew it would whisper two wicked loaded words to Kade.

  Welcome home.

  “Not so bad now, was it? Feeling better?” Kade asked, releasing my wrists from the leather cuffs before collapsing beside me and pulling me to him.

  What the fuck did you just do to both of us, I wanted to demand, but I didn’t. Hesitantly, I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. The deed and damage had been done. Why had I made such a big deal out of this? Because it would tear away the last piece of a secret I’d kept locked away?

  Kade traced the tip of my jaw, my neck. His jaw tightened when he brushed Marco’s name on my left chest.

  Worry wormed its way down my spine, along with revulsion. Why the hell would I be shamed? Kade knew what he took, didn’t he? But the needy, desperate part of me wished terribly I hadn’t been second-hand goods when he found me. If I could turn back time, I’d remain pure and without faults.

  Would he still want you then? Has it ever occurred to you, Kade wanted you because Marco had already done part of his job of breaking you?

  As if he read my mind, he spoke, “We both know you’re mine, pup. These are just inconveniences we can easily fix. We’ll go to the tattoo parlor soon.”

  He kissed my forehead.

  An inconvenience to fix, just like me perhaps? Didn’t Kade say he could make me whole only to break me again?

  A human being isn’t like Humpty Dumpty, Chase. He can’t always piece you together and hope everything’s intact and in place. Sooner or later, the pieces won’t fit anymore.

  A shudder passed through my spine. Shocked, I desperately looked back at Kade, wondering if he saw the tiny reaction. He’d find out. Kade could easily read me like an open book. The hand stroking my spine halted.

  “Are you cold? I’ll turn down the air-conditioning,” he said instead, pressing a warm hand against my cheek before rising to adjust the temperature. He slid next to me again.

  I blinked, shocked. Not infallible as he claims, is he? Squeezing my eyes shut, I silenced the voice, not wanting any more complications. Much easier to yield, to let Kade the lead me where he willed.

  “Let me tell you a secret,” Kade said, his voice soothing, forcing me to look at him. His strong arms banded around me protectively, restraining yet grounding me at the same time. “I’ve wanted you the moment Marco first introduced you as his boy. Saw a young and handsome little thing. So needy for love, desperate and perfect for corruption, not knowing the road he headed for was the one that led to hell.”

  I cringed, not needing a reminder of the old self I had to kill. I pleaded silently with Kade to stop. Stop his unnecessary cruelty because I knew how easily his words could cut me up a thousand times worse than his deeds. He didn’t stop. Kade went on, pinning my gaze with his like a predator toying with his prey.

  “Beautiful boy, I desired you so badly, even when you were no longer whole or perfect.”

  My heart halted for a fraction of a second. It hurt suddenly to breathe. “What? You still want me like this?” I whispered, not liking this new game he started. “Don’t lie to me. Please.”

  “Especially then. Maybe I’m sick that way. And haven’t I told you before? I hate liars.”

  Hard to argue with a man capable of rendering me speechless, so I let the silence sit. Strangely, it wasn’t the kind of silence that reeked tension, but one that brought peaceful contentment.

  When Marco and his men used me, they reminded me I was nothing more than a convenient and dirty toy to torment and use. To be put away in the dark after fulfilling my purpose. I’d been terrified of eventually becoming like the other toys kept by the Brotherhood. Glassy-eyed druggies. Living corpses. Living dolls.

  Kade, though, re-ignited the life and passion Marco extinguished. He made me remember, even just a bit, that I was still a human being. I might be his captive and slave, but I wasn’t like those dolls. I could still cry, laugh, fight, dance if I wanted to, even if I danced with shackles.

  Returning to my old life before the Brotherhood, the life I hardly remembered, was no longer an option. Even if by some miracle I somehow make my way back to the real world, I doubted I’d ever be the same.

  If only this hard road lay open to me, then like Kade said, I could make it easy. Embrace it, with Kade teaching me how and leading me on his leash.

  Chapter Seven

  Kade

  “After hearing Marco bitch and whine about you taking his boy, I almost doubted you, Kade, but it looks like you have your new sub tamed,” Keith said with a drag of his cigarette from behind his scarred and messy desk.

  I remained lounging casually in the seat opposite his desk, vaguely succeeding in looking relaxed and indifferent.

  Seated between my legs, his leash curled around my left arm, Chase stiffened, pressing his forehead to my calf. Thankfully, he didn’t break position. Chase knew how important this meeting was, how his first reappearance with me in public had been a necessity. A reassurance to Keith and to the rest of the brotherhood I hadn’t lost my head.

  “I said I had it under control, didn’t I?” I said, aware I sounded a little too defensive.

  “You did,” Keith said, tone careful and guarded. The frown on his face hadn’t disappeared. He snubbed his stick and lit another, contemplative gaze not moving away from mine.

  Keith could always read my body language like a book even when we were kids. A slight tensing of my shoulders could be a dead giveaway. I wasn’t entirely too sure why it bothered me so much, or why I struggled so much to put up such an elaborate performance against my brother. My own fucking flesh and blood. A man I braved a thousand shit storms with, and someone I wouldn’t hesitate to kill for. Time and time again.

  Fuck. Couldn’t he give me a little breathing space now and then?

  Chase’s warm body pressed against my leg, and his lean chest rubbing against the fabric of my jeans made it hard to think. I wanted to spear my fingers through his hair, to cup his cheek, thumb the contrasting texture of my collar and his neck, peel off the shirt and jeans I dressed him in so no fabric got in the way of my touches, but I did none of those things.

  Trusting Chase understood I had to be hard, to continue playing my part, I righted the course of th
e conversation to the real reason why Keith called for this meeting. “So are we finally going to talk shop, or continue talking about my personal business?”

  “Both.” Keith blew out a ring of smoke. “The boy better be worth it, brother, because he just cost us our most prolific dealer. Marco’s sales have gone down considerably. Now he’s asking for a larger cut of the profit, saying you owe him some.”

  “Sales for this month aren’t going well because of a couple of fresh shit-faced dealers stupid enough to get caught by the cops,” I pointed out. Remembering Henderson’s recent report, my brows furrowed. “I heard some of them started talking so they can weasel out some deals with the DEA. Keith, how much trouble are we in?”

  “Not as deep as you’d think. None of the arrested dealers have any valuable information on them. We made sure of that.”

  Keith ran a frustrated hand across his hair, looking more tired than I’d ever seen him. When he looked back at me, any suspicion he harbored before dissipated, and guilt rammed hard into my gut. I saw the same twelve-year-old brother who’d bite down on his lower lip when I had another illegal cage fight. He’d bite until his lip bled, but wouldn’t say anything because he knew we needed the money.

  “Someday, we don’t have to do this shit anymore. I can fucking promise you that,” Keith would say after while he tended to my bruises and cuts, frown on his face. Made good on his promise, too, didn’t he?

  “Sorry, bro. Shit after shit of bad luck’s being dumped on us lately, and I’m starting to see fucking traitors everywhere.” Keith let out a sigh, leveling his gaze with me. “There’s a snitch in the operation, Kade. Don’t know who, or why the son-of-a-bitch decided to make his move now, but we need to weed the bastard out.”

  “I thought we made sure everyone in the Brotherhood stayed loyal to prevent shit like this from happening,” I said, anger renewed.

  The Brotherhood was my life. Even if the world outside considered us scum and poison, the Brotherhood was the only real family I had aside from Keith. Family stuck together. Every core member had been handpicked and hardwired to do what needed to be done. Loyal to the last man, except for those on the lower rung of the ladder. We were more than careful.

  Fuck, we were meticulous when it came to divulging important information about the information.

  “Thought we did, too, but I guess we can’t catch every rat.”

  “Leave it to me. I’ll sort this out,” I answered, unaware I’d started stroking and rubbing at Chase’s hair for comfort.

  Talk of a snitch made me uneasy. I hated the thought of some worm working for the outside authorities, slowly yanking away at the foundations the empire my brother and I built from dirt.

  What the hell was I doing, fooling around and letting a man screw around with my head? I needed to get my head back in the game and do what needed doing. Thorough security checks on everyone. Leave no stone untouched. Settle old scores and news. Weeks of tending and shaping Chase made me forget my responsibilities for a little while, but my brother needed me now. It didn’t need to be said.

  Chase would understand. I’d trained him well enough.

  “Discreetly, you understand, bro? Violence only when you think it’s necessary. I don’t want the other men riled up for no reason,” Keith said.

  I cracked my knuckles and stood, eager to start on the task right away. The faster we nipped the problem in the bud, the better. “Done. I’ll get Henderson and the other men to start investigating.”

  “Take Grayson and Cel with you,” Keith said, gaze sliding back to Chase clinging by my feet.

  I let the distaste and displeasure show on my face. A hard man with dead eyes, Grayson worked Keith’s private security, his bodyguard and personal assassin. Ex-special forces I occasionally crossed paths with during my time in the Army. A man I trusted to guard my brother’s body, but one I personally disliked.

  Rumor had it Grayson picked up Cel, his partner, a young woman about Chase’s age, from an illegal sex ring and made her both his fuck toy and his student. Both of them, not surprisingly, had a few loose screws in their heads but were extremely loyal to Keith. We might work the same circuit in the Brotherhood and did the same dirty deeds, but Grayson enjoyed his work a little too damn much for my comfort.

  Fuck. Keith really didn’t look like he was going to easily leave me, and my personal life, alone. A test of resolve and loyalty then, but fuck, it grated on my nerves. I had to let this one go, though. Business always came first, even if a wedge had been driven between us.

  “Is that wise? What about you?” I asked, keeping my voice steady.

  “Don’t worry about me. I want this problem dealt with as soon as possible.”

  “At least take some of my men if you’re giving Grayson and Cel.” Keith actually cracked a smile at the concern in my voice. I added, “I’m serious.”

  “All right, if it would quit your nagging. Hell. Sometimes I wonder what I’ll do without you, big bro.”

  * * *

  “Productive day, boss?” Henderson asked, collapsing on the couch opposite mine, beer in one hand.

  “The usual checks and inquiries. I’m getting sick of this shit.” I grunted, glad for the air conditioning in the office above one of the warehouses in which we usually did our daily operations. “Things on your end?”

  He eyed Chase kneeling quietly beside me for a moment before easily losing interest. Leaving Chase back in my personal rooms in the Brotherhood main house hadn’t been an option. Trust and loyalty came in short supply these days, and without Henderson to stand guard, I couldn’t guarantee Chase’s safety. Chase had been by my side for the past week, his performance nothing but spectacular, even in the company of my crew and Keith’s guests.

  Henderson’s gaze warily strayed to Grayson and Cel, the sadistic beast and his pretty apprentice. The pair remained seated by the cheap plastic chairs and table nearby, cleaning and polishing their impressive assortment of guns, knives, and ammunition, as if they were preparing for some bloody war.

  Occasionally, they exchanged words too soft for me to hear, like lovers sharing an intimate secret. Otherwise, they spoke very little. Not the best or most fun people to strike up a conversation with, and with the pair always hovering around, I couldn’t speak freely to Chase.

  “Goddamn nothing. I don’t like this one bit, Kade. Whoever the snitch is, he’s being quiet. It’s the fucking cunning ones we always have to worry about.”

  “If you let us do the questioning, this will go a lot faster,” Grayson spoke up, flashing his sharp teeth, the scars threading the entire right side of his face twitching. His tongue darted out, tracing the polished edge of a wicked hunting knife. “What do I always say about traitors, Cel?”

  The lean and inked black-haired woman beside him replied, not looking from the gun she had been assembling. “Better to gut the closest seed before it comes to bloom, Master.”

  “Exactly, C.” Grayson beamed at her proudly, thumbing the side of her cheek before violently gripping her hair.

  He jerked his zipper down with his free hand, fingers forcing her mouth open, and slammed her face down his cock. She choked for a second before recovering herself. Like the meticulous way she tended to their equipment, she performed the same way on her Master’s shaft.

  Henderson threw me a “what the fuck” look.

  “Keith wants this done quietly,” I reminded him, weaving my fingers absently into Chase’s hair. Unconsciously, Chase leaned into my hand like a needy pup, eyes closed with obvious relief.

  Grayson shrugged. “You’re the boss’s brother.”

  “Exactly. We’re done for the day. You can go back to Keith, or whatever it is you do at night,” I said through gritted teeth.

  Having Keith’s dogs constantly hovering behind me at all times over the past few days grated on my nerves. What kind of message did that fucking relay anyway? That Keith didn’t even trust his own fucking brother, his right-hand man, to watch his back?

  “
It’s reasonable you’re edgy, but the boss says not to leave you alone. Until you’re safely back at headquarters.”

  I’m not a retard, you fucking asshole. I know exactly why my brother wants you to watch me, I wanted to answer. I formulated the most polite response I could muster instead.

  “I have some personal business to attend to,” I snapped, trying to curb my rising temper.

  Grayson’s dead and unreadable gray eyes hovered with brief interest on Chase, even as Cel continued giving him head. Consciously, I possessively pressed Chase closer to me. Fucking creepy as hell. I didn’t want to know what ran through the crazy bastard’s mind when he looked at what belonged to me.

  Unaware of the danger he was in, Chase only sighed sleepily against my leg, looking every bit handsome and tempting. Nothing better I wanted but to head to my rooms back at headquarters, without a care in the world. To drape my pup over my lap, give him a spanking to wake him up. Then I’d tie him to my bed, pull out the anal plug I placed in him, and fuck both his ass and mouth until he screamed my name.

  “I don’t exactly relish babysitting you even at night. How about a compromise?” Grayson eventually asked. He must’ve come because he let out a sigh, pushing Cel away after she’d swallowed and cleaned him. She resumed her previous task, like some sort of well-trained robot. “I’ll head back, see how what else the boss needs, but Cel stays with you, hmm?”

  Grayson didn’t sound like he was making a suggestion. More like a fucking command from my brother’s assigned mouthpiece. An instant refusal and a curse hovered on the tip of my tongue, but arguing wouldn’t get me anywhere. Tolerating Cel would be a lot easier than Grayson. Besides, Chase and I were running late for an appointment with my tattoo artist.

  “Fine.” I grunted.

  “Good then.” Grayson packed his gear, ruffling Cel’s hair like a favorite dog, before murmuring, “be good.”