Unable to determine the cause of Caleb’s curious cast of features, Ollie split his attention between work and his house. He never saw anything, but that only heightened his concern about Jonas. Was he sleeping and dreaming of the perfect life they would never have together, or had Jonas realized his folly and left?
Ollie felt a driving urge to run home and make sure Jonas was still there. He tried to fight it, but he simply couldn’t. When the time for the midday meal came, Ollie practically ran to his house. When he opened the door, he was shocked to find McBride standing in the living room.
Chapter 6
Jonas was curled up in a ball in the back of the closet. He had heard someone come in, but something had tipped him off to the fact it wasn’t his love. Perhaps it was the sound of his footfalls or some intuitive kind of knowing, but Jonas was fully aware that Ollie hadn’t entered. The only other person who would just come into Ollie’s house was McBride. Terrified that if he discovered him, he would beat him to death, Jonas crept into the only hiding place he had access to.
Trying to control his breathing only made it seem twice as loud and three times as fast. Hot tears of shame coursed down his cheeks. Jonas wasn’t embarrassed by his feelings for Ollie. What was so humiliating was that he could never make someone else understand. Leaving behind his lifestyle was the easiest thing in the world for Jonas to do. He had never grasped the sense of entitlement that so many of his class seemed to have. Jonas tried to be the carbon copy of his father, but the only way he mimicked him was in appearance. As a clone, Jonas looked just like his father. But that was where the similarities began and ended.
From the first time Jonas bared a slammer’s neck to drink his fill, he knew he would much rather be on the other end. Jonas wanted to give up his neck at a slammer’s demand. He wanted to be entirely submissive to another. Giving his blood, body, and soul to Ollie was the ultimate expression of his devotion. But Ollie had refused to go that far.
They had fed from one another, binding their blood, and Ollie had willingly taken when Jonas offered up his body, but he refused to bind their souls. Ollie insisted it was just a ritual without meaning, but if that were true, he wouldn’t resist consummating their union in such a way.
And that was when Jonas realized he’d left the candles, the decorative collar, and his only set of clothing on the floor of the bedroom. He had been cleaning up this morning when Ollie entered and messed everything right back up.
A shiver of excitement washed over Jonas when he remembered Ollie’s large hands, gripping him and bending him where he wanted him. Ollie had a way of taking control that made Jonas more than eager to submit. He was never cruel or brutal, just powerful and commanding. Despite his fear, Jonas became aroused. In the murky darkness of the closet, he glared down at his erect cock. Now was not the time! He couldn’t imagine how infuriated McBride would be to find him in his slammer’s closet with a powerful hard-on.
Straining, he tried to hear if McBride was moving around the house, but he heard nothing. What was he doing? He had to know that Ollie was out in the field. Ollie said McBride often looked their way and conducted random head counts. He trusted the brothers and the two new thralls to work, but McBride told Ollie he also liked to make sure things were going smoothly. If someone was missing, he wanted to know why. Also, if the progress was slow, he wanted to know what was stalling their advancement.
From all that Ollie had told him, McBride seemed a most benevolent master. He was conscientious, considerate, and caring. He’d never tossed any of the brothers in the stocks despite the fact that Caleb had given him dozens of reasons to do so. Rather than brutalize the eldest Morgan, McBride had taken to visiting with him and talking to him. Ollie seemed surprised that it had worked as well as it had. Ollie didn’t think anything would bring the rage in Caleb down a notch, but McBride was able to do so.
Jonas was in awe of him for that. As soon as Jonas had seen Caleb, he knew he would be trouble. Instead of forcing him to toe the line, Jonas had given him a private room, and the innocuous items he’d asked for, then let him be. Not once had Jonas come to drink from Caleb’s neck. For McBride to have tamed him was an astonishing feat.
While Jonas was sitting there contemplating the differences between the father and the son of the lineage McBride, Jonas heard the front door open and close. He heard two voices, but he didn’t hear what they were saying.
For what seemed forever, Jonas sat and sweated in the closet, straining to hear what was being said. He quite suddenly realized that even if he wanted to run, there was nowhere to go. And then he heard McBride’s voice clearly ask, “Is someone else here?”
Chapter 7
The very idea of there being an interloper hiding on his farm in Ollie’s home so shocked McBride he didn’t hesitate. A dozen long-legged strides took him to Ollie’s bedroom. What he discovered was a tangled mess of bedclothes and two different outfits tossed on the floor. One set of clothing he recognized as Ollie’s, but the other clothing clearly wasn’t. The pants were too small for Ollie, and they were fashioned of expensive material. There was a shirt, too, made of silk. McBride didn’t have to touch it to know because he recognized the sheen of the fiber. Clothing fibers were his business after all. And then something about the colors—pale lavender and a rich mulberry—made a memory tug at his brain. What was it about that particular color combination that seemed familiar to him? Moreover, the size of the garments also pushed for recognition. The information was like a bubble rising up in his gray matter. If only he could get it to pop, everything would make sense.
“There’s no use hiding.” McBride considered that there was only one place that would hold a full-grown man. He tapped on the folding closet door. “Come out before I have to come in.”
Slowly, the closet door opened. A man with longish blond hair and worried eyes stepped out. McBride didn’t recognize him, but he was still struck by a curious kind of familiarity.
“I can explain,” Ollie began, but didn’t. He kept opening his mouth to speak, but nothing emerged other than air.
“It’s okay,” the blond said to Ollie. “I didn’t think me hiding out here was going to work for long.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come running in as soon as the midday meal was called. If I had stayed at work, or been more sedate, he wouldn’t have known.” Ollie moved to the man’s side. There was a distinct bite scar on the mystery man’s neck, one that looked like it had been brutally ripped open many times. On the other side was a smaller and far tidier mark, making McBride wonder how old and how often this thrall had been bandied about. If Ollie had already bought himself a mate, McBride was angry that he hadn’t known, but he was curious how Ollie had managed such a thing. Only gentrymen were able to buy thralls for slammers. And then the multiple scars registered that this man had been used dozens of times by at least a dozen men. He worried about blood-borne diseases, especially when they hadn’t cleared the Larsden case.
If this thrall had a sickness, he could pass it to Ollie, who would then in turn pass it to McBride. Just two nights ago, McBride had fed from Ollie’s neck. Afterward, he’d shared a meal with him and talked about the inappropriate relationship that Ollie had been subjected to at his last master’s hands.
That thought turned McBride’s knees into water and filled his belly with rocks. As he turned to look at Ollie, he already knew what he was going to say.
Parting his lips, Ollie said, “This is Jonas.”
No wonder all the shades were pulled yesterday and Ollie had been reluctant to let him in. McBride looked at the man, curious and furious in fairly equal measures. “You were my late father’s companion.”
Jonas nodded and then lowered his gaze to the floor.
“Do me the courtesy of looking at me when I’m talking to you.”
Up came Jonas’s head, his gaze locking on McBride.
“Get dressed, Jonas, and, Ollie, I want you to get back out into the field.” McBride never took his attention o
ff Jonas. How could he? Jonas was a landed gentryman who had at one time owned Ollie. He’d also conducted a clandestine relationship with him that McBride thought was over when Jonas disappeared shortly after the death of McBride’s father. Apparently, he was wrong about everything. “How long has this been going on?”
“Please let me stay and explain.” Ollie was trembling all over. It was clear he was afraid to leave McBride alone with Jonas.
“I just came here two nights ago.” Jonas’s voice was rich and cultured, showing again how much higher up he was from Ollie, yet from what Ollie had told McBride, Jonas was utterly submissive to Ollie when they had sex. Clearly, looking at his neck, he loved to be fed from, and violently, too. However, McBride noticed on the other side of his neck was a lone scar. No doubt, that was the mark that Ollie had made on him. Something about the delicate shape of it told McBride it had been placed with love. Worse, he realized he’d placed a very similar mark on Caleb.
“You shouldn’t be on my land.”
Jonas nodded curtly. “I came for Ollie.”
“You can’t have him.” McBride wasn’t about to allow Ollie to go into the clutches of an immoral man for an unlawful liaison. No matter what was going on between him and Caleb, it hadn’t gotten this far and it wouldn’t. However, the similarities pounded at his brain for recognition that he didn’t want to give.
“Please let me—us—explain.” Ollie hastily yanked up the clothing on the floor, but McBride refused to let him hand the garments to Jonas. Keeping him bare was keeping him off-kilter, which was exactly what McBride wanted to do. Unsettled people spoke more and were more likely to blurt out the truth. They were pretty much willing to do whatever they could to get to a more comfortable place. And now he realized why the size and color of the clothing rang a distant bell in his memory. When he’d gone through his father’s closet and found the secret room where his father and Jonas had kept the playtime clothing for their thrall, some of the outfits had been similar to what Jonas liked to wear. The cut and color of the clothing was what rang reminiscent in his mind.
“I love him.” Jonas spoke the words with the obvious conviction that they would explain everything McBride needed to know. And they did, but that didn’t change the fact that what Jonas was doing was wrong. Moreover, it brought home the point that what McBride was doing with Caleb was just as wrong.
“He’s a slammer.” McBride almost slapped himself for pointing out the obvious.
“I’m aware of that.”
“Then you’re aware that your relationship with him is immoral.”
“It’s wrong in the eyes of the law.” Jonas lifted his head a notch higher. He was short for a landed gentryman, which was probably why he had chosen Ollie, who was six and a half feet tall, as his lusty playmate. Ollie towered over Jonas by a good half a foot, and he had to be at least fifty pounds heavier.
“The fact that it’s wrong in the eyes of the law is all I care about. Since I’m the sheriff of Woven Spire County, that makes it illegal in my eyes.” McBride let out a low, slow sigh. He could think of a million other things he’d rather do today than deal with this mess. “I have no choice but to arrest you.”
Ollie looked stricken. “Please don’t do this. I love him, and he loves me.”
“This isn’t about love, Ollie. I don’t have a choice.” McBride grabbed Jonas’s clothing from Ollie and thrust the garments toward Jonas. Most of it tumbled to the floor. He was going to bend over to pick them up, but he noticed a thrall collar. The item was highly decorative, reminding McBride of one he’d found in the secret closet. Rather than touch any of it, he uttered a curt, “Get dressed.”
Jonas’s hand trembled as he reached down for his clothing. Scooping the items up, he held them to his chest without making any effort to cover himself. “Please listen.”
“There’s nothing you can say that’s going to make this situation work.” McBride prided himself on being a good lawman. He listened to people and tried to arrive at a workable solution for everyone, but this was one case where there simply wasn’t an answer that would please all the involved parties. If ever he’d seen a lose-lose situation, this was it. None of them were going to feel good about the outcome.
“Please.” Ollie was practically in tears.
“Ollie, understand the position you’ve put me in.”
“But we won’t tell anyone.” Ollie wrapped his arm protectively around Jonas. When Jonas leaned into him, McBride realized that Jonas was submissive to Ollie, just as Ollie had described. It confirmed Ollie’s claim that Jonas hadn’t taken advantage of him since Ollie penetrated Jonas and not the other way around, but that still didn’t make the relationship okay in the eyes of the law. McBride also knew the collar on the floor was worn by Jonas. How odd that he fancied himself a thrall. McBride couldn’t imagine being submissive to anyone. But then his mind thought of Caleb pushing him onto the bed and making a crazy kind of love to him. Somehow, when he pictured that, Jonas’s urge to surrender made far more sense. Too much sense, actually.
“It’s not about what you would tell or if other people know. I would know. I’m also the sheriff. I can’t condone law breaking of any kind. Worse, you want me to allow it to happen on my land, right under my very nose.” McBride shook his head. He certainly didn’t want to make this all about him, but he had no other hook to hang it on. “When you’re caught—”
“If we’re caught,” Ollie corrected forcefully.
“No, when you’re caught, because it’s only a matter of time until that happens. And when it does, no matter what you say or how you try to claim that I didn’t know, the fact is I did. I will lose everything.” Besides, he didn’t believe they were in love at all. Jonas had taken advantage of Ollie, and now Ollie had some kind of fixation on Jonas. As soon as there was time and distance between them, the infatuation would fade. McBride felt the same way about him and Caleb. If he had a companion and Caleb had a thrall, they would have someone else to focus their lust on. Taking that step would put an end to the dangerous dance they were doing now. The same would be true for Ollie and Jonas.
“I have nothing.” Jonas’s voice was very low and breathless. He would have been impossible to hear but for the fact the house was dreadfully quiet. It was almost as if the house stood waiting with its breath held to hear what everyone within had to say.
Baffled as to why Jonas was telling him this, McBride said, “I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”
“I gave up everything I owned so that I could be with Ollie.”
McBride recalled Ollie telling him about how everything in the house started disappearing. When McBride had taken over his father’s holdings, he’d been surprised at how empty the house was. The furniture and fixtures were there, but there weren’t all the usual accoutrements and trappings of a grand home. Rather than plush furniture, what was left behind was serviceable. There were no decorative paintings or art of any kind. Even the dishes and flatware were more utilitarian than decadent. It wasn’t a poor home by any means, but it wasn’t a rich one, either.
McBride had just assumed that his father’s companion had taken the bulk of the expensive items with him when he disappeared, but now it seemed the items had never existed at all. When he asked Jonas, he stated that what he left in the house were the things owned by McBride’s father.
“I didn’t take anything that wasn’t mine,” Jonas said. “I’m not a thief.”
“I wasn’t accusing you.”
Jonas looked away, but it was clear he felt that in some way McBride was pointing an accusatory finger at him. “Your father was terribly tightfisted with his money. I don’t know why he refused to spend it, but he did. All that he had came to you when he passed.”
McBride remembered getting the notice and seeing the amount. It was modest to say the least. Since he’d been running the farm, profits had increased dramatically. McBride wondered if his father had simply mismanaged the funds, but grilling Jonas in this moment seemed un
fair. He had to get him gone and restore order to his lands. After Caleb’s shocking confession last night, McBride had to do something drastic to put a block between them. They couldn’t take another step down that dangerous path, or they would end up like Ollie and Jonas.
“Why would you sell or give away all your worldly possessions?” McBride was baffled as to why Jonas would do such a thing.
“Because I wanted to turn myself into a thrall and give myself to Ollie.”
In that moment, McBride understood just how desperate Jonas was. He did indeed love Ollie. He wanted to be with him so much he made himself a pauper under the misguided notion that was all it would take. It was going to crush him when he found out he’d destroyed his life for nothing.
Chapter 8
“You can’t change your status that way, Jonas, and you know it. You were born a landed gentryman, and you’ll die a landed gentryman. You can’t transform yourself into a thrall by shaving off all your body hair and getting rid of all your money and holdings.” McBride’s hands were on his hips, indicating just how frustrated and angry he was.
Ollie wished he could say something to make the situation work, but there wasn’t much he could do. Before they even got involved, Jonas had told Ollie their love was forbidden. At the time, they had contented themselves with looks, but it was clear when Jonas fed from Ollie that his passion was growing. It was the neighbor wounding Ollie that had pushed them to acknowledge the depth of their emotions. When Jonas had sat at his bedside, his eyes filled with guilt and shame, Ollie had realized just how deeply Jonas cared and how far he would go to protect him.
“Please, I won’t cause any trouble.” Jonas looked on the verge of a complete breakdown. He’d risked everything to return to the tallos farm. Ollie’s joy at seeing him was tempered by the fear of being able to keep him. “I just want to be with the man I love.”
Ollie Morgan [Seven Brothers for McBride 3] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) Page 5