Jonas nodded, finished his drink, and rose.
Arm in arm they walked up the sweeping staircase toward the top floor. Now that McBride had taken on everything in his father’s old life, he’d decided he would take on his room, too, at least for tonight. It was big enough that he and Jonas could share it to keep up appearances without actually having to be intimate. Once he went down the hall to his real bedroom, Ollie would come up the back staircase.
“Tell me about the closet.”
For a moment, Jonas looked on the verge of spinning an elaborate lie or perhaps claiming no knowledge about the extra room or the odd costumes hidden within, but given what McBride had done for him, Jonas changed his mind.
“Your father liked to dress Zeth up in different outfits.”
“The butler and valet said it was you.”
“I was the one who assisted in dressing him and presenting him to your father, but I assure you, the costumes were his idea.” Jonas met his probing gaze. “Remember that by the time I came out here with the Morgan brothers, I was already fully in love with Ollie. I had no interest in a thrall or even your father, really, but I did my best to do right by him.”
McBride extricated himself from the rest of his clothing. The drapes were drawn and the lights were arranged so that their shadows wouldn’t be thrown against the windows. Whatever show he and Jonas were putting on was well and truly over. As he finished undressing for bed, McBride thought about the strange and elaborate costumes he’d discovered in the extra room behind the closet. The only reason he’d learned about the space at all was because he needed clothing for the thralls. Since he couldn’t let his slammers go into town, he’d been using the more normal items from the closet so that once the bond was fully forged, his slammers could make the gift of clothing to their mates. Thralls stayed nude until such an event.
“What was wrong with my father?” McBride asked even though he didn’t really want to know. If it was something defective in his genetic makeup, McBride carried it, too, since he was his father’s clone.
“I honestly don’t know.” Jonas was still unbuttoning his shirt. As he did, he revealed a smooth, hairless chest. McBride realized he hadn’t shaved to appear more thrall-like. He’d had the hair permanently removed. Such devotion to a man he shouldn’t be able to have was astonishing. It also made McBride realize he’d done the right thing. If not for McBride stepping in, Jonas wouldn’t be here now. “Your father was a very private man.”
“Why did he pick you?”
“I was willing to indulge his peculiar desires.” Jonas shrugged. “He was willing to indulge mine. We dovetailed nicely.”
“You didn’t…” McBride wasn’t sure how to phrase the question. He didn’t want to be vulgar or cruel, not when he felt compassion toward Jonas. Since McBride had walked in his shoes by lusting after Caleb, he understood exactly how tormented Jonas had been. Resisting the man he wanted proved to be impossible for Jonas, but McBride had chosen a different way. Given how utterly broken Caleb looked tonight, he was finished with him for good. It hurt, but McBride imagined the pain he felt now was far less than what he would feel later on if his feelings for Caleb were allowed to deepen.
“We never had sex. He never drank from me. He wanted a companion to give him an air of normalcy and respectability. He’d lived out here alone for too long, and people were beginning to talk.”
“When he lived here alone, how did he feed?” McBride slid into the bed. The sheets were so slick as to be almost slimy. He shivered and climbed back out.
“He had bloodbags.”
“Gah.” McBride made a face. In case of emergency, landed gentrymen could drink blood in a bag that was warmed to body temperature. Once, McBride had tasted one, and the horrible food Easton had made didn’t come close to the revulsions of bagged blood.
“I know, but he didn’t want slammers out here. He stayed in the house with the shades drawn and drank bagged blood. Until he got Zeth, that is.” Jonas looked at him. “Don’t ask me how he knew him or that he was for sale. I don’t know. He just did. Once Zeth came, your father was much happier. He still stayed in the house, but he wasn’t as jumpy. And I think Zeth loved him in a way. Zeth enjoyed the forbidden nature of their relationship where your father didn’t seem to care that he was breaking the law.”
“And you do?”
“I do.” Now that he was done with the buttons, Jonas peeled off his shirt, and then set to work on his trousers. “I saw Ollie and I was smitten, but I knew if I stayed away from him, I would be fine. So that’s what I did. But then fate intervened.”
“How?” McBride used his implant to summon the butler. He wanted the sheets changed to a different fabric. There was no way he’d ever fall asleep on these. They appeared to be dry, but they felt wet and slimy on his skin. It was like trying to sleep on a peeled grape.
“An admirer bought the Morgan brothers for me.”
“I thought you bought them.”
“No. I saw them the day I toured the prison, but when I saw Ollie, I knew I wouldn’t be able to control myself.” Jonas watched as the butler stripped the bed. “There was something so interesting about him. Something masculine and strong. That dominating part of Ollie called out to the submissive part of me.” After a moment, Jonas shook his head as if he were trying to shake off the memory. “I think it was your father who bought them for me.”
The information stunned McBride. “How would my father know you were even interested in the Morgan brothers?”
“He was the sheriff, which meant he oversaw the prison in Woven Spire.”
Jonas’s comment reminded McBride he hadn’t checked in on the prison in over a week. He’d been a bit too busy dealing with finding mates for his men, avoiding an entanglement with Caleb, and covering for Ollie and Jonas. Still, if there had been any issues, they would have called him.
“I think someone told your father about me and my interest because shortly after my visit to the prison, I was asked to come out here and meet him, which I did.” Jonas cast his gaze to the window that looked out toward the Morgan brothers’ houses. The drapes were closed, but Jonas looked toward where Ollie’s house would be. “Shortly after that I got the Morgan brothers as a gift, your father asked me to bond with him, and then I came out here.”
“But you never bonded with him.”
“Not in body, soul, or blood.” A look of tragedy crossed Jonas’s face. “I didn’t perform the ritual with Ollie.”
“I’ve learned it isn’t necessary.”
“I know, but I would like to.”
McBride let out a long sigh. He would have to be their witness because there couldn’t be anyone else. Perhaps it was further punishment for wanting to break the law with Caleb.
“I know it’s a lot to ask.” Jonas looked again toward the window and where Ollie’s little home was situated. McBride had more than enough proof that the two men were fully, completely, and totally in love. There was no question in his mind that he had done the right thing by claiming Jonas as his companion so that Jonas and Ollie could be together. McBride only hoped that someone might make a similar sacrifice for him. If ever he would have someone, that man would have to live with the knowledge that in writing, McBride belonged to another. That thought turned his mind back to Caleb, who would probably willingly become McBride’s secret lover if only McBride hadn’t allowed his most hated enemy access to Caleb’s brother.
“I’ll be your witness.” McBride considered. “But someday I will ask you for a favor, and I hope you will be as indulgent with me as I have been with you.”
“I will oblige you however I can.” Jonas bowed deeply, conveying his respect.
“Thank you.” McBride wondered what in the world he would ask for. If he could have anything without guilt or repercussions, he would choose one night with Caleb. That would never, could never happen, but the idea of it was powerfully alluring. One night to have Caleb in his arms, in his bed, and do all the wicked things he’d been
thinking of. One night would never be long enough to do all that he wanted, but McBride wouldn’t be greedy. He’d take that stolen moment in the darkness and cherish it for the rest of his life.
“Thank you.” Jonas bowed again.
Now that the sheets were changed, McBride slid into bed. “Much better.”
The butler nodded and left.
“I mean it, McBride. Thank you.” Jonas finished undressing and climbed in next to him. “You’ve done more for me for free than anyone has done after tremendous payments.”
“I don’t really know if I’ve done you any favors.”
“You’ve allowed me to be with the man I love.”
“But only in secret.” McBride tucked his hands behind his head and looked up at the ceiling. He frowned. There were faces popping out of the textures swirled there. Or so he thought. “Are those…”
“Faces. Yes.” Jonas was on his side, but he looked up at the ceiling and then away. “Your father did that.”
“With his own hand?”
“Yes.”
“He must have been crazy.” Which concerned McBride about his own mental health.
“I think so.”
“Maybe I am, too.”
“You must be.”
McBride looked over at Jonas with lifted brows.
“You gave up your own happiness for me and Ollie, yet you say you don’t think you’ve done us any favors.”
“You and Ollie will have to live a life of secrecy and lies. On paper, and here, we’ll have to act as if we are dedicated companions. Only behind closed doors can you and Ollie actually be together. I don’t think that’s much of a life.”
Jonas rolled to his back. He seemed to be considering the ceiling and possibly what McBride had said. After a very long time, Jonas spoke softly. “I would rather have a dozen stolen moments with Ollie than none at all.”
And that crumbled McBride’s resolve to stay away from Caleb. In his determination to make any kind of relationship between them impossible, he realized all he had done was hurt himself in an effort to protect Caleb. Sadly, his grand plan hurt Caleb, too. Perhaps McBride had hurt Caleb far worse than himself. That thought broke his heart. He didn’t want to hurt anyone. He just wanted to stay on the right side of the law. It was his job. It was all that he really had. Without law and order the world would degenerate into chaos.
In that moment, where McBride was ashamed he’d hurt another worse than himself, and that other was the man he honestly loved, McBride realized he wanted Caleb with his body, soul, and blood. All he had done was make an impossible situation far worse than it already was.
Chapter 14
Ollie moved his few belongings out of his house and into the big house. Most of his brothers were happy for him, all of them in fact, but for Caleb. While everyone else congratulated Ollie and offered up back slaps and grins that he would now be McBride’s cook, Caleb shook his head but kept his mouth closed.
Caleb knows what’s going on.
What stunned Ollie was that Caleb didn’t say anything. Caleb could have called Ollie and Jonas out, lodged a complaint against any one of them—Ollie, Jonas, or even McBride—for breaking the law, but Caleb didn’t do anything. Instead, Caleb shook his head, cast his disappointed gaze upon Ollie, but continued to work the field. Somehow, Caleb’s silent disapproval was far more cutting than his physical anger or harsh words could ever be. Ollie felt ashamed that he’d let Caleb down.
Something inside Ollie wanted to explain himself to Caleb, but another part, a stronger part, told Ollie that telling the truth to Caleb would be meaningless since he already knew that McBride had claimed Jonas so that Ollie and Jonas could be together. The other brothers didn’t know, but Caleb did, and it bothered him, but Caleb wouldn’t retaliate. Caleb was disappointed in Ollie, but what Ollie didn’t know was why. He knew Caleb and Jonas didn’t like each other, but Caleb’s disappointment seemed to go deeper than that.
“Maybe he’s disappointed that I have chosen to live a lie.”
That thought compelled Ollie to wonder about Caleb and McBride. He saw himself in Caleb, and a bit of McBride in Jonas. Ollie didn’t have confirmation, but he believed those two were doing the same thing that he and Jonas had done. McBride and Caleb were trying to stay away from each other because they knew it was wrong, but they were ultimately going to fail.
Or were they?
Had McBride taken on Jonas as a way of putting a block between him and Caleb? It certainly could work. Caleb hated Jonas enough that if he even suspected that McBride was with Jonas, Caleb wouldn’t even let McBride feed again without a fight lest his blood somehow end up in Jonas’s gut. Caleb would rather kill Jonas than let his bloodbond with his own brother linger, and that said a lot about Caleb’s mindset.
Not that any of that was Ollie’s problem. Now that he and Jonas could be together, they just had to find time to make that happen. Ollie need not have worried. What amazed him was how often he and Jonas found ways to do that now that Ollie was living in the big house as the cook. Since Jonas was a gentryman of leisure, he was able to be just about anywhere he wanted at any time. Ollie found him in all kinds of places waiting for a kiss, a hug, but nothing more.
Today, he’d found Jonas waiting for him in the walk-in pantry.
“I want to do the ritual first.” Jonas trailed his hand down the center of Ollie’s chest to his cock, but he only touched lightly then pulled his hand away entirely. It was torture.
“But why?” Ollie was about ready to burst he wanted Jonas so desperately. “We’re already fully bonded, so it doesn’t really matter.”
“It matters to me.”
“You can’t wear that collar.”
“I know, but we can still do the ritual.”
Ollie sighed and tucked away his determination to take Jonas right here in the pantry. If it was important to his mate, then it was important to him, too. “We need a witness.”
“McBride said he would.”
“I still don’t understand why he did this for us.” It was a tremendous sacrifice without one single benefit for McBride from what Ollie could see.
“He had his reasons.” Jonas stepped back a bit and looked upward, perhaps in the direction where McBride was.
“Do you know what they are?”
“They?”
“McBride’s reasons for helping us. Do they involve Caleb?” Ollie wondered sometimes how Jonas could seem to know so much without being told. In some ways, Jonas was a lot like Caleb in that he grasped things intuitively. Usually, Jonas was very talkative about what he knew and he loved to gossip, but lately he’d been more circumspect, or at least he had on the subject of McBride and Caleb.
“I think…” Jonas trailed off. “It doesn’t matter what I think.”
“It matters to me.”
Jonas offered up a wan smile when Ollie tossed his own words back at him. “I feel badly talking about McBride behind his back. He’s done so much for us that we shouldn’t return his kindness with idle talk.”
Ollie lowered his head. Jonas was right. Speculating about McBride after all he had done for them was nothing short of ungrateful. And then a new thought came to Ollie. “But what if we can help them be together?” The thought of giving his brother something he clearly wanted in addition to pleasing McBride seemed like a win-win situation.
“I think we should stay out of it unless McBride specifically asks us for help.”
It was another good point, but Ollie still wanted to give back in kind to McBride. “After all he’s done for us, we should do something in return.”
“I know, but not this. I think…I think he’s doing everything he can to keep away from Caleb. I don’t think it’s right for us to try to push him into a situation he’s clearly trying to avoid.”
“You mean like the way you tried to avoid me?” Ollie remembered seeing Jonas at the prison and practically falling in love with him at first sight. It had been an agonizing month until he saw him again, a
s his slammer. But Jonas had carefully drunk from all the other brothers, except for Caleb, first in an effort to appear no more interested in Ollie than any of the others.
That night, their first, flashed into Ollie’s mind. Jonas had entered his bedroom, and he’d been trembling. Ollie understood because he was shaking, too. He wanted Jonas almost desperately, but he knew he couldn’t do anything about his lust. It had made him exquisitely aware of his body and Jonas’s whereabouts. Ollie had been able to sense his presence, and one look generally called him closer.
“I knew that I would fail to stay away from you.” Jonas stepped forward until he was pressed against Ollie. “I tried so hard, but nothing was going to keep me from being with you.”
“I felt the same way. Seeing you, wanting you, but knowing that the hungers I had were so dreadfully backward.”
“Hungers?” Jonas tilted up his face, making his big blue eyes bigger and about a thousand times more innocent.
“Hunger for your lips.” Ollie traced his finger lightly over the bottom one, loving the way Jonas was unable to draw a steady breath. “Hunger to feel your body beneath mine.” Ollie gripped his buttocks, one in each hand, and pulled him tight. “Hunger to taste your blood.” Lowering his head, Ollie licked the scar he’d made on Jonas’s neck, holding him close as he squirmed in erotic torture. “But most gnawing of all was the hunger to merge with your very soul.”
“Ah, Zooks, Ollie. Bite me. I’ll go mad if you don’t.”
“I thought you wanted to wait for the ritual?” Ollie had him right where he wanted him, and he wasn’t about to give in quickly. That he would surrender to his need was a foregone conclusion, but he wanted to drag things out until his mate was practically in tears with longing. Jonas never looked better than when he was desperate for their bodies to merge. He said it was knowing how good that moment of penetration was that made him one step away from a mindless animal.
“I do, but I want you now.” Jonas looked torn, so Ollie bit lightly against the scar to make him whimper. “Wait.” Jonas took a deep breath. “What did you mean by dreadfully backward?”
Ollie Morgan [Seven Brothers for McBride 3] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) Page 10