by Mari Carr
Christian couldn’t even imagine what Devon must be going through.
“If she was engaged to you, does that mean you’re the man they were training her to submit to?” Charlotte asked. The instant the words were out, Charlotte looked stricken, realizing what she’d just said. She slapped a hand over her mouth.
Devon was completely still, but Christian could see the rage and grief coiling inside the other man. Vincent must have sensed it too, because he rose and stepped between Devon and Charlotte.
Devon picked up a brass astrolabe from a shelf and heaved it against the wall. It split, littering the ground with screws and bits of brass.
Franco ran to him, shoving him back against the wall, pinning him by the shoulders. “Calm down. Calm down.”
Franco started to murmur in Spanish and Devon closed his eyes, his lashes damp. He threw his arms around Franco, hugging the other man with wild desperation.
Sebastian jerked his head, and Christian urged Vincent and Charlotte out of the room into a dimly lit hall.
Charlotte looked near tears herself. “I’m such an ass. I’m so horrible. I didn’t think. Sometimes I just say things.”
“He would have realized it eventually,” Sebastian said.
Vincent was shaking his head. “He already had. So let me see if I got this right. Devon was engaged—betrothed?—to Rose, and he had no idea that Caden’s parents had put her through all this. She never said anything to him?”
“That’s what it seems like,” Sebastian said.
“Why would Caden’s parents do this to her? Where were her parents?” Charlotte asked.
Vincent wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “And where is Rose now? Can’t the Grand Master just summon her? Or hell, text her?”
Sebastian shrugged. “She could. But first…first we need to know if Rose is aware of what Caden is doing. She could be the key to unlocking all of this. But if we talk to her, we could tip our hand and we’ll never figure out what’s going on.” Sebastian rubbed the back of his neck. “Fuck! What a mess.”
“You can come back in,” Franco said from the doorway to the office.
They filed in to find Devon dry-eyed, if pale and extremely grim looking.
Devon walked over to a cabinet in the corner of the office. Charlotte gasped when he turned around with a gun in his hand. It was a Glock and it had a silencer on it.
Devon’s face was deadly serious as he turned toward them once more. “Caden saw Vincent’s face, right?”
Christian nodded. “Yeah. There’s a chance he got a glimpse at all of us, but he definitely got a good look at Vincent.”
“Do you really think that’s necessary?” Vincent asked.
“Don’t you? You’re sitting here with a bloody head. Caden shot me. He won’t hesitate to pull the trigger if you’re standing in the way of something he wants. I think you’re lucky he expected those tunnels to be empty tonight.”
“Otherwise he would have had a gun?” Charlotte’s voice was soft, full of fear.
Devon nodded and handed Christian the gun. “Take this and consider yourselves on high alert. If he’s desperate enough to get this folio back, he might come after you. Hopefully he’s smart enough to realize that we’ll keep the folio here in headquarters, but you never know. You know how to use a gun?”
Christian nodded. He’d spent the better part of an afternoon at a shooting range, studying for a part. It wasn’t much, but it was something.
Before standing at that altar, all his studies as an adult had been in preparation to make him a better actor. He never once thought he’d be called on to use them in real life. BDSM, guns, spying. None of it felt quite real to him.
As he took the gun, Charlotte stepped next to him. She was pale, her eyes wide with fear. No. This was all too real. No one would hurt her or Vincent again, he silently vowed. They were his life now and he would fight to the death to protect them. He’d been too far away to help Vincent in the tunnel and that fact was already haunting him. There was no doubt he’d see that punch and the way Vincent’s head flew back painfully hard against the wall every time he closed his eyes.
He’d failed his lover once. He wouldn’t do it again.
“Christian,” she said softly. “I think Vincent needs to lie down.”
Christian tucked the gun in the back of his jeans, tugging out his shirt hem to cover it. “You’re right.” He glanced at his brother. “Call me if you discover anything else.”
Sebastian gave him one brief nod, which left Christian in doubt that call would take place. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to press the point right now. Vincent really did look groggy and while the bleeding appeared to have slowed, they needed to clean it properly and bandage him up.
He’d call Sebastian in the morning to stress that their help was only going to continue if the lines of communication remained open. While the Grand Master and Franco had both warned them to be careful, Christian had never gotten a life-or-death vibe from them until tonight. There was no way he would put Vincent and Charlotte in harm’s way again because they’d been sent into a dangerous situation with only half the information. He would make damn sure his brother understood that.
Christian took Vincent’s elbow to steady him, but his partner was beginning to regain his strength. He walked out of the library without assistance.
“Should I get an Uber?” Charlotte asked, glancing around them. Devon’s warning had taken root, leaving her frightened and leery.
“No,” Vincent said, misunderstanding her offer. “I can walk back to the hotel just fine.”
“It’ll be okay, Charlotte,” Christian reassured her, the metal of the gun warm against his back.
“Fine, but I don’t want to go back to the hotel. I have bandages and some pain meds at my place. Let’s just stay there tonight.”
Christian lifted his arm, directing them all toward home. “Sounds like a good plan. Let’s pop up to the penthouse first though so Vincent and I can grab some clean clothes. I’m covered in dust and spider webs.”
“Better that than blood,” Vincent muttered.
Christian knew Vincent had meant the words as a joke, but they merely reminded him of how badly this night could have ended. What if the man had been carrying a weapon more deadly than a flashlight? He could have pulled a knife or a gun and Christian would have been helpless to stop him from using them. He was looking mortality in the eye right now and hating that the odds had been stacked against him.
It wouldn’t happen again. Until the threat looming over their heads was gone, the gun was traveling with him.
The rest of the walk back to the penthouse, and then to Charlotte’s place, was made in silence. He wasn’t sure what his partners were thinking about, but for him, his mind was whirling over everything they’d discussed in Juliette’s office. Like Franco, he struggled to understand the connections between modern-day purists and a bunch of relics from the Nazi era. It appeared Juliette had opened Pandora’s box when these things that had been buried in the tunnels for decades found their way back into the light of day. Someone was determined to bury them again, but Christian couldn’t understand why.
As they walked into her place, Charlotte took Vincent straight to the bathroom and Christian went to the kitchen for a drink. The dusty tunnel had left him parched and fighting a headache himself. He grabbed a cold bottle of water from the fridge for himself and then a couple more for the others. As the door to the refrigerator closed, he noticed a colorful invitation attached to the door with a magnet that said, “All roads lead to happy hour.” He chuckled at the magnet, and then realized her invitation was for a work party being held tonight.
Charlotte walked into the kitchen and headed straight to a drawer at the end of the counter. “I have some Tylenol PM in here somewhere.”
“Were you planning to go to this party?” Christian asked.
Charlotte looked over his shoulder and cursed. “Damn. Forgot all about that. I was looking forward to it a week ago, but life has
sort of taken a hard left since then. I’ll offer an excuse for missing when I get back into the office. It’s no big deal.”
“Funny how life can change so much in the blink of an eye, isn’t it?”
She nodded. “Yeah. It is.”
Christian handed her the bottles of water and she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Thanks. I’ve cleaned up the cut and put a bandage on it. It actually wasn’t as bad as it looked. More blood than wound.”
“Is he in pain?”
She shrugged. “He says he’s fine now, but I think he’s just saying that so I won’t worry.” She shook the bottle of pills. “These should help.”
Christian followed her to her bedroom, surprised to find Vincent propped up in the middle of her king with his back against the headboard. He was completely naked.
“Blood on all my clothes,” Vincent muttered.
“Your boxers too?” Christian teased.
Vincent didn’t laugh. Instead, he responded in a way that had Christian’s cock rock-hard in an instant.
“Put that gun over here on the nightstand,” Vincent commanded.
Christian placed it on the flat surface. While it obviously made Charlotte uneasy, Christian saw the same determined gleam in Vincent’s eye that said they were on the same page. They would both protect their own.
“I hate that thing,” Charlotte admitted as she gave Vincent a bottle of water and two pills. “But I understand why we need it. Here.”
“What are they?”
“Tylenol. For your headache.”
Vincent swallowed them down, then rested his head against the headboard. The head above his shoulders might hurt, but the same couldn’t be said for the head below his waist. Vincent hadn’t bothered to throw a sheet over himself, so his thick erection was more than evident.
“Don’t you want to sleep?” Charlotte asked.
Vincent started to shake his head then thought better of it. “Stand at the foot of the bed and take off your clothes.” He glanced over at Christian. “Both of you.”
Neither he nor Charlotte hesitated. They hadn’t been together sexually since the flight yesterday, and all that had done was whet Christian’s appetite for more. Christian undressed Charlotte, slowly revealing her for their lover, who sat on the bed watching them with hungry eyes as he stroked his massive cock.
Once Charlotte was naked, she returned the favor, stripping Christian out of his clothing as she kissed and caressed each bit of bare skin.
When the last piece of clothing hit the floor, they turned to face Vincent in unison.
“You want this?” Vincent asked, drawing their attention to his dick.
Christian nodded, as did Charlotte.
“Then crawl up here and get it.”
Vincent sat with one leg bent at the knee, the other lying flat on the mattress. His legs were parted, giving them both room between.
As he released his grip on his cock, Charlotte was there to take possession. She stroked him in her palm, her fingers looking tiny around the hard flesh in comparison to Vincent’s massive hand.
Christian refused to be an observer. He reached lower to fondle Vincent’s balls. He enjoyed his lover’s sharp intake of breath.
“Put your mouth on me,” Vincent demanded.
Christian bent down, sucking in his lover’s cock as Charlotte stroked him. Together, they worked in tandem, slowly driving Vincent’s arousal higher. Christian was in awe of Vincent’s stamina. There was no way he could have held out in the face of such a sensual assault.
Vincent’s hand on his head halted his actions when Christian began to move faster, to take him deeper.
“Fuck Charlotte, Christian. She’s hurting. She needs a man inside her. Right now.”
Christian looked at Charlotte and knew Vincent was right. Her face was flushed and, while she still had one hand wrapped around Vincent’s cock, her other hand was between her legs as she sought her own pleasure.
Christian gripped her wrist and pulled it away from her pussy. “Mine,” he warned her.
Vincent grabbed Christian’s hand, the action reminiscent of their bound hands at the altar. “Ours.”
The moment lingered for just a few seconds as all three of them held on, with their eyes and their hands. And then, the dam broke.
Christian tugged Charlotte to her hands and knees between Vincent’s legs. “Suck his cock, Charlotte. Do a good job and I’ll fuck you as hard and as fast as you want.”
He might have laughed at Charlotte’s quick, unspoken response. One second she was looking at him over her shoulder, the next her mouth was halfway down Vincent’s hard flesh.
Vincent gripped her hair in his hands. “Easy, wildcat. We’re all three reaching the finish line together.”
Christian didn’t think it would take any of them long to break through that tape. Charlotte had failed to tell Vincent his Tylenol was the sleepy variety. His eyes were growing heavy, not just with need, but exhaustion.
As for him, Christian had the rest of his life to practice endurance. Right now, all he wanted was to bury himself deep inside her warmth and pump out every fucking bad feeling and fear still lingering from the terror of those tunnels.
Vincent began to control Charlotte’s movements on his cock, his fingers tugging her hair in a way that made her groan. Christian watched it for several moments before he felt Vincent’s gaze on him. His lover raised one eyebrow as if to say “get on with it.”
Christian grinned then grasped her hips, driving to the hilt in one hard thrust.
After that, the wild animals emerged as all three of them shed their human skin. They fucked as if it was their sole purpose in life.
Charlotte reared back against Christian’s thrusts, forcing him deeper, as she used her hands and mouth to drive Vincent crazy.
“I want to come on your tits,” Vincent said, matching his words with action, freeing his dick from Charlotte’s mouth with a pop.
He pressed on Christian’s shoulder. “Get on your back, but don’t take your cock out of her.”
Christian lay down, still buried inside their woman as her back rested against his chest.
Vincent shoved both their legs apart as he knelt between. He stroked his cock as he ran the fingers of his free hand around the place where Christian penetrated Charlotte. He touched it all—her clit, his balls, the base of his dick, and then he even rammed one finger inside Christian’s ass.
The unexpected thrust mingled with a bite of pain, and Christian lost it, coming hard inside Charlotte.
Vincent’s determination to finish together remained. He tugged his finger out of Christian’s anus and rubbed his thumb roughly over Charlotte’s clit as he stroked his own dick so hard, Christian thought it must hurt.
Christian had only just begun to recover from his climax when Charlotte’s pussy muscles constricted against him.
“Fuck me,” he muttered as he tried to hold on. Her orgasm stroked his very sensitive flesh.
Vincent cried out next as he came, jets of come erupting in milky white drops that covered Charlotte’s breasts and stomach.
Christian lay still, in silent wonder. They’d only fucked three times so far and had barely scratched the surface of all the amazing things they could do to each other. And, despite that, it was already the best sex of his life.
Vincent bent over them, one hand holding him up as the other rubbed his come into Charlotte’s pale skin. Christian watched his lover’s actions until it was too painful to hold his head up. It fell back on the mattress.
“Christian?” Vincent asked.
“Hmmm?”
“Can you clean our girl up?” Vincent’s voice was groggy as he fought against the sleep aid. “I can’t seem to keep my eyes open.”
With that, Vincent moved to one side of the bed, pulled down the sheets and climbed in. Christian suspected he was asleep before his head hit the pillow.
“Shower?” he murmured.
Charlotte slowly, gingerly rolled off him
. They’d taken her roughly. Again.
“Sorry,” he said with a grin that belied the apology.
Charlotte narrowed her eyes. “No, you aren’t. And don’t you dare apologize for that. That was…Jesus…something I hope we can repeat about a million more times.”
Christian chuckled as the two of them stumbled like a couple of drunks to the shower. Neither of them had the energy to do much more than wash away the evidence. Wrapped in towels, they returned to the bedroom.
Charlotte claimed the middle as Christian curled up next to her, spooning her from behind. Like Vincent, it didn’t take Charlotte long to fall asleep.
It was harder for Christian. The gun still lay on the nightstand beside him, Devon’s words playing themselves over and over in his head.
High alert.
Someone could be coming.
He played through too many horrible scenarios before sleep finally came for him. However, even then, his dreams were lucid, vivid, frightening.
Someone is coming.
Chapter Seven
“What do you mean, you failed to retrieve the folio?”
Caden propped his feet on his desk and chugged some whiskey straight from the bottle. He was too tired for a glass. Tired. He was always tired lately. Tired of the secrets—secrets in secrets in secrets. Tired of hiding. Tired of trying to be someone he couldn’t be—someone better than he was.
And especially tired of his father.
He let his father rant about how important that folio was. How the whole world would come apart if Caden didn’t make sure some secrets stayed secret. He turned down the volume on his cell. If there was one bright spot in all of this, it was that his father wasn’t in the same city, or even state.
Caden didn’t care about his dad’s anger. He hadn’t cared for a long time. He was doing this for Tabitha. For Rose.
He didn’t really care that he hadn’t protected the folio as his father ordered him to. But he was pissed, because the fact that his father wanted the folio meant it might have something in it he could use. Something he could use to get the hell away from these people—his family, the Trinity Masters, all of them.