The Dangerous Delaneys and Me

by Anne Brooke

  Around about then I ran out of words, which was probably a good thing, as Mark was staring at me as if he was about to rip me apart with his teeth and use my skin to line his curtains. Though he didn’t really strike me as a man who cared much about curtains. I did the only thing I could think of to do. I sank to my knees in front of him and bowed my head.

  “Forgive me for speaking out of turn, Mr. Delaney, sir,” I whispered, “but I wanted you to know the truth.”

  His shadow loomed over me, and I began to tremble.

  “You dare question my decisions?” he said, his voice a quiet dagger-point of warning that didn’t make my trembling any less. “You think you might actually have any kind of say about what we do in our business?”

  “Mark…”

  Johnny’s calm tones cut through Mark’s rising anger and the scene being played out between us.

  Mark cursed. “What?”

  “You’re in charge, you know that,” Johnny said, softly so I had to concentrate to hear at all. “You’ve always been the decision-maker, but I don’t think that’s what Liam meant. He’s not questioning your rule. Nobody is.”

  “Oh, really? Just what the hell is he doing then?”

  With my head bowed, I couldn’t see what was going on, but a shadow moved, and I felt a hand on my shoulder. I knew it was Johnny’s and felt my eyes well up. God, crying would be embarrassing, so I tried my best to blink the tears away.

  When Johnny spoke, it was with a slight quaver in his voice, but I couldn’t blame him as Mark could be scary. “Actually, I think Liam has just given us both a nice compliment, hasn’t he?”

  A short pause, during which I could swear I heard Mark’s thought processes working.

  “A compliment?” he growled, but I could tell he was listening, rather than simply being angry with me.

  Thank God for that, as the last thing I wanted to do was to rile him. He might be tempted to bring a real gun to our next encounter, and I wasn’t sure I could handle that; I’d already been a complete wimp with a make-believe gun, though, of course, I hadn’t known it wasn’t real at the time.

  “Yes,” said Johnny, batting on my side with rather more confidence now, and thank God someone was. “Liam’s just told us how much he likes us both and that he’d like to entertain us on an exclusive basis. Isn’t that what you’ve always been after, Mark? You’ve been telling me for a while how fed up you are with all the casual boyfriends you have.”

  He was? This time, I couldn’t help it. My head jerked up and I stared directly up at Mark, who was looking distinctly uncomfortable.

  He flicked a glance at me and then gave his twin a stare that could have been counted as a weapon of mass destruction, should any of those still be in existence at all.

  “That was a secret,” he hissed, and I could sense his temper rising again.

  I didn’t want him to lash out at Johnny, who appeared to be the only person standing between me and an unpleasant punishment. Besides, if the Delaneys fought amongst themselves, it would be a disaster; nobody else in our town was strong enough to keep the rest of the criminals under control. They had to keep their united front if we law-abiding citizens were to sleep easy in our beds.

  With all that in mind, I stumbled forth into the fray again. Once an idiot, always an idiot, eh?

  “It still is a secret, Mr. Delaney, sir,” I stuttered. “Telling me is like telling yourself. I belong to you, don’t I? Or I’d like to, if you let me. Anyway, someone who looks like you or the other Mr. Delaney is always going to have a queue of blokes lining up between here and the next town just for a chance of you getting into their pants, so you were definitely doing those casual boyfriends a favor, no question. Sorry if I’m speaking out of turn, sir.”

  Then I shut up. My mother always said it would be a miracle if I learnt to keep my mouth closed, so maybe I was learning something after all. She might even be proud, though less so if she knew I was kneeling naked at the feet of a man who had the power to make me disappear if he wanted to.

  “Is that so, Liam?” Mark’s tone was calmer now, and I felt my shoulders relax just a little. “You reckon there’s a line of men out there eager to leap into the clutches of a pair of criminals like us?”

  “If they’ve got any sense, sir. I mean look at the two of you: you’re seriously hot. And you’re twins, too. God, it’s like gay heaven. And, hey, everyone loves a bad boy, don’t they?”

  A strange noise assaulted my ears and I glanced up, wondering what on earth was happening. To my surprise, Mark’s face was screwed up and a peculiar hissing sound was coming out of his lips. My first assumption was he was having some kind of fit, and I wondered how up-to-date my first aid skills might be, but then I realized he was laughing.

  Johnny patted my arm and moved off to lean against one of the kitchen cupboards. It looked like the danger was over for the time being. I waited, still kneeling, until Mark wiped his hand over his face and gained the equilibrium I was used to again.

  “Get up, Liam,” he said at last.

  I obeyed at once, making a mental note to practice my kneeling-to-standing skills so I might look less clumsy one day. Then, head bowed—my, but how I was learning—I waited for whatever Mark would do next.

  It shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did. He grabbed my head in both hands and kissed me. Instinctively, I opened my mouth wide and sucked in his tongue, grinding my now definitely awake cock against his abdomen. God, but he was seriously sexy, him and Johnny both, and I couldn’t help but moan in appreciation of his touch.

  Behind me, I felt Johnny’s lips nibbling at my neck and groaned again. Without warning, Mark broke the contact and spun me around, lurching me against the sink.

  “Lean over and spread your legs,” he commanded, and I was obeying before he’d even finished his sentence.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You’re a challenge, Liam, but an interesting one,” Mark said, as Johnny slipped his finger into my mouth.

  “Yes, sir,” I mumbled, forming the words around Johnny’s finger. With his other hand, he began stroking my hair.

  “Now you know you need punishment, don’t you, for speaking out of turn?”

  “Yes, sir, I need to be punished for that, sir.”

  “Good. I’m glad you understand, but because your heart’s somehow in the right place, I’ll make sure it doesn’t hurt as much as it could do. Agreed?”

  “Yes, sir, anything you say, sir. Always.”

  “Okay.”

  From behind, I heard the sound of a zip being undone and then a condom being opened. God knows where he got it from, but then I suppose gangsters have to be ready for any circumstances. This time there was no spitting, however, and no question of lube. A few seconds later, Mark’s sheathed cock was poking at my arsehole. Thank goodness, there was still some lube left in my arse from earlier on, but it was still going to be one hell of an almost dry fuck. If anything was going to teach me a lesson, this would.

  “Easy, baby,” Johnny murmured. “Relax yourself; it’s going to happen anyway.”

  Soothed by the touch of Johnny’s hand stroking my hair, I tried to obey him and breathe normally as Mark pushed his way determinedly inside me. It was certainly painful, beyond what I’d imagined, though not as bad as it could have been and maybe Mark knew that. Who could tell? I cried out, even as Johnny hushed me.

  “Please, please…” I begged them both, my heartbeat rising and crying out again.

  Mark paused in his assault and, though my arse felt as if it was burning up or being split with the size of him, the relief of not being pushed to the sink with his thrusting cock brought fresh tears to my eyes. Johnny wiped my tears away, murmuring low words I couldn’t take in, as if he were soothing a child.

  A shape at the corner of my eye and then Mark was whispering in my ear. “Accept it, Liam. Accept it if you really want to belong to us alone.”

  There were a few moments when all I could hear was my own harsh breathing and all
I could feel was the burgeoning pain. Then I cleared my throat. The pain clarified what I wanted, that was for sure, and what I wanted was to be with them more than I wanted to be safe.

  “Yes,” I panted out. “Yes, I accept it. I accept you, both of you. Fuck me, Mr. Delaney, sir. Fuck me good, but please, I want the other Mr. Delaney’s tongue in my mouth. I want to be touched by you both.”

  Mark kissed my ear and began to grind his way into me again, just as Johnny’s tongue opened my lips and filled me there, too, taking some of the edge of pain away. I couldn’t help myself, though, and I made a hell of a lot of noise, all the time yelling and sobbing, my voice muffled from being filled with Johnny’s tongue. I have to admit, however, I loved it, too. I wanted to be punished by these two more than I wanted to be loved by anyone else in the whole damn world.

  It didn’t take Mark long to come, which was probably a good thing as I had no idea how much more of the combination of pain and deep pleasure I could actually take. Hell, it had been a long day, and you never knew what the twins would get up to next. I’d try to be better prepared next time.

  As Mark withdrew from my body, the pain of that making me cry out one more time, I started to collapse, but Johnny caught me and laid me gently on the floor, my legs akimbo and cock still shamefully erect. My whole body was shaking.

  “Mark, cushions, please?” he said.

  Mark fetched them, which was possibly the first time I’d known him do what his brother suggested, and laid them under my arse, an act I was ridiculously grateful for.

  “Thank you, thank you, sir,” I mumbled, my head resting on Johnny’s thigh.

  Mark laid his hand on my belly, and my skittering heart began to ease its rapid pace. I was so glad he was here that I couldn’t stop looking at him, could never get enough of them both, come what may.

  “Do you understand why you’ve been punished?” he asked at last, but this time the anger had gone from his tone.

  “Yes, sir,” I said quietly. “I shouldn’t have questioned you, no matter what. I’m truly sorry. Thank you for punishing me. I hope you still found me entertaining this evening, sirs, in spite of my mistakes.”

  “Always,” Johnny said with a smile, his hand caressing my cheek. I smiled up at him, but it was Mark who drew my attention with his words.

  “You, Liam,” he said, “are one of the most entertaining men we’ve ever met, I have to say. So entertaining I think we might even take your suggestion and keep you to ourselves. We can find other forms of entertainment for Mr. Buchanan. After all, if you can accept you’ve been wrong with such grace, then so can we. In the meantime…”

  “Somebody looks as if he still needs some relief,” Johnny finished with a sly grin on his face, “and…”

  “Never let it be said that the Delaney brothers can’t give a reward where it might be due.”

  With that, Mark leant down and wrapped his gloriously warm lips over my unexpectedly hard cock, swallowing me right down to the root. This time the cries that came from my mouth weren’t anything to do with agony, and the Delaneys’ reward was certainly—what can I say?—quick in coming. Gazing up into Johnny’s face with joy while I shot my load down Mark’s throat and knowing I was satisfactory entertainment for these fascinating and difficult twins was for now happiness enough for me.

  And something told me there was much more to come. One thing I’d certainly learned was how much I was looking forward to our next encounter, and neither had I any intention of letting the twins leave it quite such a long time again.

  Next time, I told myself, next time there’d be much more to play for, whether or not the Delaneys realized it yet. Oh, yes, I simply couldn’t wait for them to see that entertainment, of whatever sort, was nothing more than the beginning for us all.

  Chapter Three

  One week after my last encounter with the Delaney twins, I made up my mind I was going to make whatever was going on among the three of us stick. I think I’d known how I saw it for a while, but it was the first time I’d admitted to myself I might quite like them and me, whatever that meant, to be more than simply entertainment.

  I was probably screwed before I even finished thinking the thought. Hell, my pleasant middle-class, middle-grade background hadn’t prepared me in any way for wanting to make a go of it, at least for now, with two blokes rather than one and really, for this, I blamed my parents. I’d had a sheltered upbringing. They hadn’t explained how to handle a threesome in sex education lessons at my school, or maybe I’d been sick on that day and had missed it. I wouldn’t have been surprised.

  It was crazy, though, wasn’t it? The Delaneys were gangsters in all but name, they did God knows what with drugs and threats and dirty dealings, and they had beautiful men at their beck and call if they wanted them, I was sure of it. So what the hell were they doing with me? And, more importantly, just what was it that kept me so fascinated, fleeced and…well…fucked when it came to the tasty twins? What did it really say about me?

  All these deep questions were crowding through my inadequate male brain as I was supposed to be packaging up the latest painting for one of Melissa’s top-notch customers at the gallery. Struggling with philosophy must have been the reason why I didn’t hear the gallery door open or the tap-tap of kitten heels on wood, or even feel the blast of early autumn air from the outside, until the woman herself was upon me.

  “Liam? Just what on earth are you doing down there?”

  “What? Oh, yes, well, hello, Melissa, I didn’t hear you come in,” I gabbled inanely for a while as I scrabbled around the floor gathering up brown tape and ribbon. Melissa always preferred it when I used ribbon as part of the wrapping. She thought it looked elegant.

  “So I see,” she said, depositing her Prada handbag on the office table and slipping off her red Blahniks. “But what I really need to know is just what the hell you think you’re doing to that Lily Cooper?”

  Lily Cooper was Melissa’s top artist and the one currently in demand everywhere. She painted abstract wave-like shapes in blue and green mainly and in tiny separate patterns across the canvas. I always thought she was a cross between Bridget Riley and Rothko, but happier. Melissa, however, tended to snort when I let this little gem out, so I didn’t say it much to gallery visitors, at least when the boss was in. I knew what was best for me, on the whole.

  Right now, what was best for me was taking a very good look at Lily’s latest offering and seeing what Melissa meant. It didn’t take long to see the problem. To my surprise, small wads of brown tape were dotted across the top of the picture frame as if someone had tried to give it a not very professional hairdo. I must have done it without realizing whilst trying to “think things through,” which just goes to show no man should be allowed to do this without medical assistance on standby.

  “God, sorry, Melissa.” I stuttered a totally inadequate response, whilst vainly trying to unleash the balls of tape from their temporary home. “I must’ve been distracted. I’ll make sure everything’s okay before I send it off, I swear it, and at least I haven’t messed up the painting itself…”

  I trailed off. Melissa didn’t take kindly to excuses. Right now, she was staring at me and frowning. I sat on my heels and gazed back at her.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, more simply this time. “I wasn’t concentrating properly. I promise you I’ll make sure it’s perfect for the client, just how you like it.”

  My boss pursed her lips and nodded, accepting my statement for what it was, but I thought the storm clouds might just have eased a little. Thank goodness, as Melissa in full fury was an experience I’d much rather avoid if I could help it.

  She tapped her perfectly manicured fingers on the desk.

  “You’re an idiot, Liam,” she said, “but you’re a hard worker and you’re usually much better than this. Come into my office now and tell me what the hell is wrong with you.”

  Without waiting to see if I would follow—though I’d be a fool to dare otherwise—Melissa picked
up her handbag and shoes and padded her way across the main office, out into the reception area and into her own suite of rooms. I made a slight detour to lock the entrance and switch the sign around, as she liked privacy for her little chats with me, of which there were many. Then I hurried to her office for what would no doubt be a severe dressing-down.

  To my surprise, it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared.

  “What’s on your mind, Liam?” she said, never one to linger before getting right to the heart of the matter. “Spit it out.”

  There were probably at least a hundred things I could have said possibly more suitable for a boss-employee conversation, but what came out was certainly the truth. And how many times does a bloke actually admit that?

  “It’s the Delaney twins,” I said. “I’m involved with them, I think.”

  Melissa laughed. “You think? I’ll have you know the hot gossip about your goings-on—and I mean that in the grossest sense of the word—with the Delaneys is the topic of choice in every hair salon, every boutique and every bar in town, my dear. Involved is, as far as I understand, a definite understatement.”

  I had the grace to blush. “That’s not what I meant, Melissa. I meant I’m involved, I think, not just involved.”

  She blinked at me and her laugh vanished from her face. “Explain.”

  I wasn’t sure what the right words were for saying something like this to your boss, so I decided simply to tell it as I saw it.

  “It’s not just a quick fuck,” I said, “or rather quick fucks as obviously there are two of them rather than just one…not like other blokes I’ve had in the past, who only came in ones, as it were. At least I don’t think it’s like this. Because I really like them, you see, I mean really like them.