Guns n' Boys: Swamp Blood (Book 3) (gay dark mafia erotic romance)

by K. A. Merikan

  He grabbed Dana by the hair and pressed her against the wall, breathing hard.

  “Hey! Why me? I didn’t do anything!” she groaned but didn’t fight him off.

  Domenico hissed and threw her on the bed. He shook his head, shocked by her attitude. “And you did nothing, you bitch.”

  “I just did what he asked me to!” Dana hissed at him. “I don’t know why I’m the bad guy here!”

  “No? Did I tell you to let him go? I’m still your mentor, and you defy me, because you wanted us to go straight for the border, isn’t that right?” He growled, pulling both her hands back far enough for it to hurt. The twitching in her muscles actually brought some relief.

  “I had the time, so I took him! I just wanted to be nice.”

  Dana. Nice. Dom could laugh if he weren’t so annoyed. He let her go and snagged one of the Snickers bars. “You know what? Make yourself useful and come back with that fucker Jed.”

  Dana groaned and rushed out of his reach, massaging her wrists. She gave him a glare and left without a word. He could swear that sometimes she acted as if she were in some kind of fucked up no-sex relationship with him.

  Domenico opened the Snickers and sank his teeth into it as he picked up the note. The sense of betrayal was spreading through his body like poison. He couldn’t believe both his trainees double-crossed him like that. Mark clearly didn’t even want to stay, but there would be a price to pay for Dana.

  She came back with Jed who had dark circles under his eyes, and his long blond hair was in a mess. If Dom hadn’t known better, he’d venture that Jed had a drunk fuck with someone, but he supposed Jed just drank too much and slept on the floor.

  “Get in and close the door,” Dom said, leaning back and watching them both. They were so different—Dana cold and calculating, and sensitive Jed who was afraid to sext—they would make one another so miserable.

  “What is it?” asked Jed, massaging his eyeballs.

  “You need a beard,” said Domenico.

  Jed looked up at him with a frown and touched his chin. “Huh? Since when are you my fashion advisor as well?”

  “Since my cousin’s staying with you,” hissed Domenico, shooting Dana a cold glance. She drew in a sharp breath and met Jed’s panicked gaze halfway.

  “You can’t do this!”

  Domenico raised his eyebrows. Just seeing them so unhappy was making his anger a bit more bearable. “No? And you want to train under me?”

  “How is being his beard helping me with anything? Or even you for that matter?” Dana asked in frustration, and Jed slowly raised his hand.

  “Shut up,” said Domenico, swallowing the chocolate and pushing straight into the bubble of Jed’s personal space. “Or we’ll talk about that video again.”

  Jed exhaled and looked at his feet, letting his hand drop. Domenico squeezed his jaw tight and poked the biker’s chest. “Your club is working with the Villanis. I want you to help Dana get intel about their deals. Understood?”

  “Only about what doesn’t hurt my club,” Jed muttered, but he didn’t pull out of Dom’s grip. It felt like holding a mouse in a trap and watching it squirm.

  Domenico snorted. “I don’t care about your club. I want to know about my enemies. That’s what I want, and the two of you will get it for me. Do you understand, or do I have to make myself even more clear?” he asked, looking between the two scowling faces.

  Jed groaned. “Fine.”

  “How long am I supposed to stay here?” Dana asked and crossed her arms on her chest.

  Domenico straightened and stared her down. “As long as I want you to. It might be shorter if you don’t disappoint me again. Let’s start with a month.”

  Dana shook her head slightly but didn’t argue anymore, just looking Jed up and down, likely assessing his usefulness or lack of thereof.

  A knock on the door had them all tensing, but when Seth looked in, Domenico’s face brightened. Just seeing Seth could do the strangest things to him.

  “Hey there. You ready to go?”

  “I was gonna ask the same thing. Dana?” Seth smiled at her, but she barely managed to lift the corners of her lips in the worst fake smile attempt she’d ever given.

  Domenico waved his hand. “She’s staying. And they say hostage situations can’t produce a match made in heaven,” said Domenico, grabbing the other Snickers bar from the bed. Even its sweetness couldn’t dissolve the bitterness in his mouth.

  Seth raised his eyebrows. “Oh. Okay…” was all he had. At least someone knew when not to ask too many questions. “Where’s Mark then? I doubt he fell in love here.”

  Anger bubbled up in Domenico’s chest again, and he pushed through Dana and Jed, walking out into the corridor. “No. He left for his new dick last night. Let’s grab the bags and go.”

  Seth followed him. “I packed everything. It’s not like we have much here. It would be best to stop by the swamp house and pick up our laundry. Dana? I’ll leave your pants there, so pick them up yourself.”

  She pressed her lips together and looked away, and when that had her looking at Jed, she walked off to the only window. It was only fair to let her taste a bit of rejection. She would not give up on training with Domenico after being so clearly shown how much she had yet to learn.

  Domenico smiled at Seth as he entered their room to pick up his bag, even though he didn’t feel any joy. “We can do that.”

  Seth rubbed Dom’s shoulder. “Do you want me to drive?”

  Domenico exhaled, and some of the stiffness left his frame. “Sure,” he muttered, holding Seth’s gaze for a good few seconds before heading downstairs. They waved at Ripper, who sat in the lounge with a notebook and the map Domenico had drawn for him, but there were no tearful good-byes. Domenico really wanted to leave this whole episode behind him anyway.

  Ryder was still sleeping on the sofa, and the whole lounge needed a good scrub, in Dom’s opinion. Seth threw their bags into the back seat of the van and put on a pair of shades. He gave Dom a wide smile. “You wanna call Mark?”

  Domenico’s head exploded. “No. Fuck him. He didn’t want to fucking say good-bye and just left us the chocolate he didn’t want anymore. So fucking typical,” growled Dom, slapping the dashboard. And to think that he’d been actually sorry for the little fucker.

  Seth sighed and got into the car, but as Dom sat down as well, he couldn’t let go of the topic. What kind of audacity did the kid have to do this to Domenico Acerbi? Just blow him off this way?

  “Maybe he’s bad at good-byes?” Seth suggested and started the car.

  “That’s not my problem, is it?” asked Domenico. He pulled a baseball cap out of the glove compartment and hid his hair underneath, just to be on the safe side. He was still technically a wanted man. Though technically, he’d been a wanted man for the last ten years.

  “I know it’s a bit shitty, but I suppose it’s his choice at the end of the day. It’s not like he stole our car or something.”

  Domenico closed his mouth, staring at the back of the van ahead of them. Seth was right, but the investment of time Domenico had put into Mark wasn’t something to be just thanked for with a chocolate bar, as tasty as they were. He couldn’t pinpoint why it bothered him so much if they wanted to leave the boy behind anyway, but each time he thought about it, it just pulled on the wrong strings in him. Mark had lost the money Domenico was thinking about leaving with him, just in case, and there would be no checking on Fred or good advice. Suit yourself, Mark.

  “Whatever.”

  Seth drove down the well-known route to the swamp house. “He did leave a thank you note...”

  “Wow. That’s an achievement. He’s gonna be sorry when it turns out Fred wants to piss on him,” grumbled Domenico, remembering the night when he pushed Mark into understanding the error of his ways. He imagined it had been quite cathartic for Mark, and that Dom had become a father figure of sorts for him, which was why the whole disappearance felt all the more like a slap in the face.
>
  Seth groaned. "Jesus, Dom. You don't have to be crude. We saved him from Jed, gave him some quality time, and he decided that was it. He’s a teenager, give him a break."

  Domenico opened the window, really wanting some bird noises to fill his ears instead of Seth’s self-righteous nagging. “When I was his age, I already killed men. I knew my place and my responsibilities.”

  Seth’s knuckles went white as he gripped the wheel harder. “He’s not you.”

  Domenico’s mind stopped racing for a second, and for a few moments, it felt like he was the loneliest man in the world, not Jed. He put his hand on Seth’s. “Nobody’s like me.”

  “Don’t you want to at least call him, so we can see if Fred isn’t a cannibal lamp maker?” Seth turned into the forest road with a pout.

  Domenico shrugged. “I told him we could. He said no, and then actually walked out on us. Clearly, that’s not what he wants.”

  “And what would you have done if you found out about the guy being a creep, huh? Given him money to stay at a motel? He’s sixteen, and not responsible like you were. Just the other day, he wanted to buy a pair of white sneakers, and we lived by the swamp.”

  Domenico gritted his teeth and hissed when the car shook on a bump. “I don’t know. I didn’t really think about it. He’s probably fine,” Dom said, even though thinking about an adult man coercing a teenager into sex appalled him no less than it did years ago, when he’d been the prey.

  “It’s not like he has a passport to stay with us for longer. And it wouldn’t be safe for him anyway. No stability. I don’t even know where we will be in a month…” Seth glanced Dom’s way, then back to the road.

  Domenico swallowed around the lump that suddenly grew in his throat. “He’s a good kid, but no one’s looking out for him.”

  “There’s no way to leave him a contact to us, Dom. It wouldn’t be safe.”

  “I know. I know we can’t really help him. Even if we found him some kind of home, he’d still be alone after that. He needs to fare on his own somehow,” said Domenico as he saw their damaged van on the side of the road. Seth only managed to pass next to it after driving one wheel over the wall of the gully. Dana could take care of it and claim the vehicle as her own.

  Once they got to the shack, Seth gave Dom a quick kiss before leaving. Dom watched him pick up the laundry and was happy to see Seth not limping all that badly. He remembered how annoyed he’d been with Mark setting up that laundry line. Back then, he told Mark that they wouldn’t be staying in the shack for long enough to use it, but Mark insisted Seth would appreciate it. They had both been right to some extent.

  Domenico slid out of the car and slowly made his way inside the little, shabby home. Mark had been all over this place, cleaning the walls of spiders and dusting every surface. It’d been fun to watch him so determined. When Domenico pushed the curtain aside, a big cloud of dust flew into his face, and he coughed, leaning down to gather his things. There weren’t that many, but he still took his time packing them all and moving everything they could still use to the back of the van.

  Seth took their only pan, the gas stove, and any non-perishable foods. Even the stupid knife set he’d bought for cutting up an alligator. If Dom never saw another alligator in his life, it would be too soon.

  “I think we’ve got everything,” Seth said half an hour later, lighting himself a cigarette next to the van.

  “Yeah,” said Domenico, looking at the shack with a hint of nostalgia. He hoped Dana had really buried the owner’s body, as clearly she didn’t always do what she was told when she thought she could get away with it. He let Seth light one for him too, and they took their time watching the place that had been their safe space for a few days. It still felt odd to leave. But leaving came with peace of mind, too. When he looked at Seth, feeling better, healthy, able to pull the stunt he did at the base, it made him feel that maybe the nightmares would be going away finally, leaving Dom to enjoy his lover without fear.

  Five minutes later, they were on their way back to the asphalt road, with Domenico studying the map. They would go for the quickest way out of the state.

  “So Dana’s staying here? For how long?” Seth asked, and only now Dom noticed he had an alligator tooth pendant hanging down his chest.

  He smiled and reached to the tooth. “Did you get that at the souvenir store?”

  Seth hesitated with the answer, which only intrigued Dom more. “No, Mark made it for me. From the alligator you killed.”

  Domenico gently pulled on the tooth, squeezing it between his fingers. His heartbeat quickened. “He cut the thing up? Does he have one too?” Was this some kind of friendship necklace, or some shit like that? Though he did feel the thing suited Seth’s rugged looks. Especially with the stubble back on Seth’s face.

  Seth snorted. “It was a thank you for saving him from the alligator. He had to fiddle around with its corpse, I suppose. No other way to pull out a tooth. I regretted that no one saved the body so that I could cook it, so at least there’s this.”

  Domenico rubbed his eyes as they finally drove onto the asphalt road. “You do realize there’s neither a fridge nor a freezer in that shack?”

  “Spoilsport.”

  “That’s me. Always spoiling everyone’s fun,” muttered Domenico. He opened the bag of sweets they’d retrieved from the house and helped himself to a toffee. Mark would have liked them.

  Seth pushed him with his elbow. “Don’t beat yourself up about it. Nobody’s perfect.”

  “Maybe. I don’t want to make any mistakes again.” He pulled down the cap when a police car rushed past them, driving the other way. “I used to think there was always one correct solution, but that’s not true.” Whatever he’d have chosen today, it would have been a mistake in some way.

  Seth took a deep breath and got more serious. “There are more ways to do something, but those ways require giving up on one or another principle. I’ve always found that… even when you do some things I don’t agree with, there’s integrity to them.”

  Domenico relaxed into the seat and looked at Seth, with a glimmer of hope flickering in his heart. “I didn’t think you’d ever say that.”

  “I don’t want you to get muddled up in thinking too much about ‘what ifs.’ I do enough of that for both of us. I like that you make a decision and stick to it.”

  Domenico smiled. It felt good to have this kind of support from someone he valued so much. From the one person who knew the real Domenico Acerbi, without any parts of him left in the dark. “I like that you understand.”

  Seth just smiled back, and they drove on in the most comfortable silence, commenting on some house from time to time, stopping for an alligator to pass the street and enjoying the sunshine. Despite his anger, Dom did hope that Mark was now somewhere safe, enjoying the sun, and maybe even having a barbecue, as Fred was supposedly so fond of them.

  The sound of Seth’s guitar-based ringtone came as a surprise, but Domenico reached straight into Seth’s front pocket anyway, taking his time to brush the cock tucked beneath the denim. His mind emptied when he saw Mark’s name on the screen. Heat rose in Domenico’s veins as it did in anticipation of a fight, and he put Mark on loudspeaker, already gnashing his teeth.

  “Hey.”

  Seth raised his eyebrows. “Hey, Mark! We were just about to call you. How are you doing?”

  The traitor spoke in a cheery voice. “Oh, it’s great, fine. I wanted to call so you don’t worry about me.”

  “Why would we worry?” asked Domenico, feeling his skin harden. “You were really eager to go.”

  “Um… yeah. I didn’t want to bother you, and Dana offered the lift…”

  Seth sighed. “So how’s Fred? Is he okay? Is he the same guy from the photo and all that?”

  “Yes, he’s great. He’s a lot like my dad, Seth. But in a sexy way, of course.” Mark laughed.

  Domenico scowled. As much as he hated Mark’s behavior, he was somewhat relieved to hear the good n
ews. “That’s disgusting, but to each their own.”

  Seth groaned. “Um, okay. Anything else you want to tell us? Because I don’t know when we will be within reach again.”

  “No, I gotta go. Just say thank you to Dana from me for the ride. The place was just forty minutes away, but I really appreciate it. Okay, bye!” Mark said quickly and disconnected.

  Domenico took another toffee and put the phone in the basin-like space on the dashboard. “At least he had the decency to call.”

  All of a sudden, Seth pulled over on the side of the road. He took off his shades and looked at Dom. “Something’s terribly wrong.”

  Domenico stared at him, surprised by the change of mood, but the serious expression on Seth’s face made him stop himself from laughing. “What? Why?”

  “Mark told me the other day that his parents weren’t dead. That his father abused him, beat him, and forced him into prostitution. He’s a drunk. In no way Mark saying that the guy is a lot like his dad is a good thing. I bet the bastard was listening, and he had to think of a way to tell us. He’s in trouble, Dom.” Seth ran his fingers through his hair, searching Dom’s eyes for answers he didn’t have.

  Heat climbed up Domenico’s neck, and he stared ahead, breathing hard as the new information sank in. Mark was asking them for help. “Fuck. Fuck. Fucking fuck!” he growled, smashing his hands against the dashboard. “I knew this was a fucking bad idea.”

  Seth slumped in the seat with a sneer. “It’s still not that far away…”

  Domenico leaned forward and hid his face in his hands. “Whatever we do, he’ll still be stranded. He’ll just find another Fred, and that’s that,” hissed Domenico as Mark’s teary face in the woods came back to haunt him. And what about their own safety? Having an extra person around like Mark, a minor, could compromise their whole journey. Compromise Seth’s safety.

  “Couldn’t we find a way to get him a fake passport somewhere?” Seth whispered.

  “What?” Domenico peeked out from behind his fingers, hardly breathing. “We can’t just take him. That’s nuts...”