by Onley James
Elijah whined, thighs burning as he fucked himself on Shep’s cock. “Oh, I missed you so much. You feel so fucking good.”
“I missed you, too, rabbit. Fuck. Jesus. Slow down or this will be over fast,” Shep panted.
“Touch me. Make me come,” Elijah demanded, moaning low as Shep’s slick hand wrapped around him. “Yeah. Jerk me off. Make me come.”
Shep fisted Elijah’s cock in time with Elijah’s bouncing rhythm. The sight of the organ in the cooler didn’t faze him one bit. If anything, it spurred him on, made his movements more frantic. Maybe Elijah was the real monster because he liked seeing David Cane’s heart while the man he loved, the man who had killed for him, fucked him. He felt no guilt, no remorse. Just power and a strange invincibility. He would never be in danger with Shep by his side and Shep would soon vow to be by his side forever in Elijah’s favorite place in the world. So, yeah, maybe Shep wasn’t the monster, maybe Elijah was. Maybe they both were. Elijah was okay with that.
“Did it hurt?” Elijah asked, panting, pleasure licking along his spine.
Shep didn’t even have to ask what he meant. “Yes.”
Heat gathered at the base of Elijah’s spine, his balls drawing up tight. He was so close. “Did he suffer? Did he cry?”
Shep grunted, a noise that always let Elijah know he was close to orgasm. “I made sure of it,” he snarled.
Two more strokes and Elijah was coming, his release spilling over Shep’s fist as waves of pleasure rolled along his body. Shep kept thrusting up into Elijah, pulling him back against him, rocking into his body again and again. “Fuck, I’m gonna come. Gonna fill you up.”
Shep dragged Elijah back down once more, and he felt Shep’s cock throb as he emptied himself into Elijah. He melted back against Shep, refusing to move just yet. "That was hot.”
“You liked your present, rabbit?”
“You’re setting the bar pretty high for yourself. A human heart for my birthday. What can I expect for Christmas? Or our anniversary?”
Shep gave a winded laugh. “Oh, I’m sure I’ll think of something. Do you want your other present?”
Elijah tilted his head to look up at Shep. “I don’t know. Do I get to keep this one?”
Shep pressed a kiss to the sweaty nape of Elijah’s neck. “I hope so. It’s our rings.”
“So you still want to marry me in Prague?”
“Technically, we’re getting married in the LA city courthouse when we get back. But, yes. I still want to marry you in Prague. Do you still want to marry me, rabbit?”
“I do.”
One Year Later
“He’s dead,” Wyatt stated.
Elijah’s heart caught in his throat as he frowned into the somber faces of Wyatt and Charlie who stared at him from his laptop via a Skype phone call. Had Linc told them Shep’s secret? Their secret. “What? Who?” he managed.
Charlie rubbed Wyatt’s back as he said, “My father.”
Shock rocked Elijah’s entire body, followed by shame. He was always so caught up in his life, it never even occurred to him this could be about Wyatt. To say that his friend had a complicated relationship with his father was an understatement. Wyatt’s father had kept his son hidden in the metaphorical closet, allowing others to physically and sexually abuse him all while he smiled and waved and ran his campaigns as a Republican family-values senator. Poor Wyatt might have stayed in the closet forever had his father not accidentally hired a gay former Marine to keep tabs on the boy.
“What? How?”
“DIC,” Charlie informed him before biting down on her lower lip as if to keep from laughing.
Elijah froze, sure he hadn’t heard what he thought he had. “Dick? Who’s Dick?”
Wyatt shook his head. “Not who. What. Disseminated intravascular coagulation. I didn’t even know he’d been sick. I haven’t talked to him in months, not since he’d been ousted from office. Last I heard he was facing time in a federal prison for tax evasion. My mother said he hadn’t been feeling well for a while and he just kept getting sicker. She tried to get him to go to the doctor, but he refused. Then he spiked a high fever and became really confused and started developing these weird spots all over his body. My mom called an ambulance, and they hospitalized him. She said suddenly he just started bleeding from every orifice.”
“Jesus. Are you okay?”
Wyatt shrugged. “Weirdly, I don’t really feel much of anything. Maybe I’m just in shock. Maybe he was already dead to me in my head. I thought maybe you could come for the funeral. It’s at the end of the week.”
Elijah was nodding before Wyatt even finished talking. “Of course. I wouldn’t miss it. I’ll need to miss a couple of days of filming but Shep can deal with that.”
Charlie leaned in. “How’s that going? Shep as your manager?”
Elijah grinned. “He’s great. Compared to Lucifer, people think he’s a dream. He is also freaky good at organizing the ten million things in my life and he looks just menacing enough for people to not fuck with me and Mark during contract negotiations.”
“That’s always a plus,” Wyatt acknowledged. “Sorry to drop this on you on your birthday.”
“Well, I know you’re like this famous YouTuber now, but I’m still pretty sure you can’t control when people die. I promise I won’t let it spoil my day.”
The front door opened and Shep came inside, shaking the snow off his jacket. He had several bags in his hands which he dropped on the counter before leaning over to kiss the top of Elijah’s head. “Shep!” Wyatt and Charlie cried out as if they hadn’t seen him when they’d talked to Elijah on Skype ten days ago.
“Thing one, thing two. How’s life in LA?” he asked gruffly.
“Traffic sucks. Everybody’s insane. My father’s dead and Charlie had sex with a dude that had to be seventy at least.”
“Wyatt,” Charlie shouted, slapping him. “I told you that was top secret information.”
Wyatt waved a hand in her direction. “They live on top of a deserted mountain. Who are they going to tell?”
“Sorry to hear about your father, Wyatt,” Shep said, sounding like he wasn’t sorry at all.
“Thanks, man.”
Elijah ignored their exchange. “Uh, we’re not hermits. But your secret love of octogenarians is safe with us,” Elijah promised. “I got to go. I’m going to go have sex with my husband and eat cake off his naked body.”
Shep laughed from somewhere behind him. Wyatt and Charlie waved in unison. “Bye, guys. We love you. Happy birthday, Elijah. Happy Anniversary eve to both of you.” They blew kisses and then the screen went blank.
Elijah closed the laptop, before walking the few short steps to the kitchen of their tiny cabin home, snatching a bottle of wine from Shep and adding it to the wine fridge beneath the island. What their home lacked in size, it made up for in luxury. It was the perfect home base for when Elijah was in between movies or they freed up their schedule for time alone like tonight.
“Sam?” Elijah asked, hopping himself up onto the butcher block counter.
“Yes, rabbit?” Shep responded, his voice mimicking Elijah’s innocent tone as he opened a bag of potato chips.
“By any chance, did you and the boys off Wyatt’s dad on your last outing?”
Shep shook his head, popping a chip in his mouth and chewing thoughtfully before answering. “No. A human trafficker with a penchant for branding the girls he kidnapped.”
Elijah gasped. “I knew it. You did kill somebody. I knew you weren’t having a boy’s trip. There was no way you’d sign on to go hiking in Costa Rica. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Shep offered Elijah a chip. “One: killing people is a perfectly valid form of male bonding. Two: we hiked for miles. He lived way up that mountain. Three: You never asked.”
Elijah rolled his eyes. “Fine. Did you bring my present?”
“Of course. Did you bring mine?”
Elijah scoffed. “I am your present.”
Shep
snipered in for a kiss before ducking back to finish putting away the groceries. “Of course, you are.”
“No, I mean it. Your present is on me.” Elijah started to unbutton his pale blue button-down shirt.
It was only then that Shep seemed to notice his attire. “Is that why you are wearing black thermal underwear and an oxford shirt?”
“I’m wearing the shirt because it hides your present and the blue brings out my eyes. I’m wearing the thermals cause I got cold waiting for you to come home.”
“That’s very practical of you,” Shep said before sealing his lips over Elijah’s in a kiss that warmed him to his toes.
“Uh uh. None of that til I get my present,” Elijah said.
“Well you don’t get your present until I see my present.”
A whole slew of butterflies took flight in Elijah’s belly as he separated the folds of his shirt to reveal the gift. He bit down on his bottom lip as Shep’s eyes locked on the ink scrawled in Elijah’s own hand that would now live forever on his chest.
This heart is yours.
Elijah swallowed hard as Shep’s fingers traced each letter. “Do you like it?”
Shep dragged his gaze to Elijah’s. “I love it. It’s perfect. You’re perfect.”
Elijah beamed like an idiot, before making grabby hands at Shep. “Now me. Though I don’t think you’ll be able to top last year.”
“Oh, I think I might surprise you.”
Shep handed over a small black velvet bag with a drawstring. Elijah hurried to open it, surprised when an intricately carved wooden box fell out. “This is beautiful.”
“I made it for you,” Shep said.
Elijah’s mouth fell open. “You… I love it.”
Shep smiled. “I’m glad, but your actual present’s inside.”
Elijah slowly opened the box, the hinges protesting from lack of use. Inside was a heart shaped red stone cushioned on a bed of white satin. It had to be at least one and a half carats. “This is… this is too much. You must have spent a fortune.”
Shep didn’t acknowledge Elijah’s unasked question. Instead, he said, “Did you know that there is a process where you can turn human ashes into diamonds?”
“What?”
“Yeah, it’s the strangest thing. You send them the ashes and a check, and they’ll turn those ashes into a diamond. They don’t even ask whose ashes they are.”
“This diamond used to be a person,” Elijah asked, his heart beating faster.
“Yep.”
Elijah narrowed his gaze at Shep. “And my mother’s still safe in Boca?”
Shep laughed. “As far as I know.”
“So, this is Cane?”
“Yes.”
Elijah gazed at him with wonder. "You did it.”
Shep frowned. “Did what?”
“You outdid yourself. Last year you gave me a heart in a cooler, this year you gave me the rest of him in a heart. It’s perfect.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
“I don’t like it. I love it. I love you, Sam.”
“I love you too, rabbit.”
He stared at the heart, reaching out to touch it timidly as if it might bite him. “You know we are unhinged right?”
Shep kissed him once more. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The End
Thank you so much for reading Captivating, Book 2 in my Elite Protection Services Series. I hope you loved reading this book as much as I loved writing it.
As an RN, I feel the need to explain a bit about the creative license I took with this book. First and foremost, its fiction. I do NOT recommend falling in love with a sociopath or a narcissist. I took a lot of liberties when creating Shepherd and used his mother's 'teachings' as my scapegoat. What she says about the difference between sociopaths and psychopaths in her conversation is one hundred percent the truth including the statistics about how many Fortune 500 companies are run by psychopaths. Shep is a sort of smoothed out mix of both without the ick factor (I hope). All this to say, please don't write me angry letters, I know that I've embellished and bastardized common psychiatric diagnoses and that this is a very farfetched story. I just want to entertain and provide a distraction for a bit, not educate the world.
I also wanted to let you know that, yes, you can, in fact, create diamonds from human remains. The company is called LifeGem and it is both very cool and insanely expensive. You can get them in a variety of sizes ranging up to 1.5 carats and you CAN get them in several different colors. That being said, I totally made up the heart part.
I'm currently working to bring you two new books early in 2020. Book three, Exasperating, will feature poor ignored Robby and my favorite Texas horndog, Calder and Disciplinary Action will be an age-gap, Daddy kink book heavy on the BDSM and the student/teacher dynamics.
If you guys are really loving the books please consider joining my Facebook reader group, Onley's Oubliette and signing up for my newsletter on my website so you can stay up to date on freebies, release dates, teasers and more. You can also always hit me up on my social media. I love talking to readers.
Finally, if you did love this book, (or even if you didn't. Eek!) it would be amazing if you could take a minute to review it. Reviews are like gold for authors.
Thank you again for reading.
ONLEY JAMES is the pen name of YA author, Martina McAtee, who lives in Florida with her daughter, her daughter-in-law, and a menagerie of animals, both good and evil. When she’s not writing m/m romance or supernatural LGBT young adult books, she’s running 7 Sisters Publishing and attempting to maintain both her sanity and her full-time job as an RN.
When not at work you can find her mainlining Starbucks refreshers, whining about how much she has to do and avoiding the things she has to do by binge-watching unhealthy amounts of television in one sitting. She loves ghost stories, true crime documentaries, obsessively scrolling social media and writing kinky, snarky books about men who fall in love with other men.
Find her online at:
www.onleyjames.com