by Loki Renard
There was a car. A drive. A run through a field. He knew everything. He knew the secrets. Mason had once showed him a secret entrance to his house. It led to a bush in a field, Hogan's Heroes style. The guards didn't even know about it because Mason never told anyone but his most trusted friend.
He ran through the Earth, feeling it beating all around him until he hit a door. Unlocked. Haha! Of course! It was meant to be! Aiden threw himself through the door of the little burrow and found his sister naked on a table.
What the hell? He rubbed his eyes as she screamed and jumped up and was suddenly wearing the table cloth. Fuck. He was so wasted. Mason was there too, standing over her, his pants down.
“Ellie! What the fuck are you doing to my sister!”
“Aiden, get out of here!” Ellie shrieked at him.
A second later, what felt like fifteen men landed on top of him. The guards he'd managed to slip by coming through the secret passage had caught up and now he was beneath a man pile. There was a lot of noise and confusion and then he was telling everybody his plans and then... nothing.
26
STEVE
Looking Mason Malone in the eye and trying to explain how the client they'd been guarding ended up high as a kite in the middle of his house was about the hardest thing Steve had ever had to do, and not just because it was a massive professional embarrassment, or because he was shaken to his core by having almost lost Aiden forever. It was difficult, because neither he nor Rob really had any idea what the hell had happened.
Aiden had not been much help in putting things together. He had been utterly incoherent by the time they'd gotten a much needed dose of Narcan into him and after that he'd just passed out, but they'd managed to string a few pieces of the picture together anyway.
They'd found Steve's phone on Aiden. The last call had been to Cornoli, indicating that Aiden had basically organised his own hit. By all rights, he should have gotten a bullet between his eyes, except Bobby Cornoli was a sick fuck and it seemed he had given him enough heroin to down a horse instead.
It was actually a smart move. Murdering a guy like Aiden Taylor-Chapman, that would bring some serious heat. Giving him the means to overdose? No heat at all. Just another rich kid dead too soon, story hushed up by the family, no consequences for anybody.
Still, explaining this wasn't easy. They'd fucked up, literally slept on the job. Steve knew he should have been awake. He shouldn't have been pouting like a little bitch just because Aiden acted out and did the sort of shit Aiden did. He should have whipped the boy's ass just like Rob had and gotten over it.
Mason was at least listening to their attempts at piecing together the chain of events. Aiden's sister had been utterly livid about the whole thing, torn strips off them until she was sent up stairs like a little girl who'd forgotten her manners. Steve was pretty sure she was going to regret her outburst, but as far as he was concerned, it was justified.
“We've let you down, Mr Malone, and we're sorry.”
“You haven't let me down,” Mason said. “I get it. Aiden's a hell of a guy. I've never known anybody to stop him from getting his way. The drugs don't change that. When he wants something, he wants something...”
“What he wanted was to die,” Robert interjected. “He apologized to us before he left. Told us he'd never make our lives difficult again.”
“Shit.” Mason ran his hands through his hair. “What are we going to do with him?”
His frustration and concern were real. As much as Aiden was a pain in the ass, everyone who knew him had affection for him, and Mason's care was obvious.
“Steve and I have developed something of a personal relationship with Mr Taylor-Chapman,” Rob continued to explain. “And we think we can help, but not under these circumstances. We were thinking a change of arrangement might be in order.”
Mason folded his arms over his chest. “I'm listening.”
27
ROB
He's looking weak,” Steve's voice was heavy with concern. “Is he breathing okay?”
Rob leaned down and checked Aiden's pulse. It was steady and strong, just as it had been the hour before and the hour before that. Steve hadn't stopped fussing over Aiden's unconscious form since they'd removed him from Mason's house and got themselves onto a private charter plane.
“He's fine,” he reassured Steve.
Aiden was at their feet, curled up in a ball in a pile of blankets in which he'd been cocooned since the plane took off. He'd been sedated when they took him aboard. Now a drip was running to keep him hydrated.
After his mad rampage through upstate New York, he'd crashed, and crashed hard. He'd almost fucking died thanks to Bobby Cornoli. That was one guy who needed a bullet, but Rob and Steve weren't assassins, and they had bigger things to worry about than carrying out street justice on some mobster scumbag.
Per their discussion with Mason, all had agreed that if they wanted Aiden safe, they had to get him away from New York and away from any kind of drugs. Where they were going, there wasn't going to be much of anything at all.
With the change in air pressure, Aiden started to stir. The sedative Rob had administered had kept him quiet for quite a few hours, but it began to wear off as they started to descend around Oslo. This was the first leg of a journey which would take them deep into the Norwegian fjords, away from any of the temptations that were so dangerous for him.
“Hey,” Rob said gently as Aiden woke up. He was so fucking glad to see those sweet blue eyes looking up at him again.
“Hey,” Aiden said, groggy. “Where are we?”
“On a plane,” Rob said, reaching down to gentle him so he didn't get up too quickly.
Aiden rubbed his hand through his hair. “A plane? Where are we going?”
“Norway.”
“Norway? I'm fucking high aren't I.”
“You're stone cold sober. We're getting you somewhere you can be safe.”
“Why?” Aiden sat up a little more and looked at them both, his expression wracked with guilt. “I used.”
“It's okay. We know. It's okay,” Rob reassured him.
“Steve...”
Steve reached down and took Aiden's hand in his big paw. “I'm here, boy.”
Aiden's voice was plaintive and weak. “I used, Steve. I used a lot.”
“I know.” Steve's voice was tight, but not angry.
“It was supposed to be over. I was supposed to...”
“It's not over, kid. Not by a long way.”
Aiden's confusion was clear. He probably didn't have any recollection of much of anything after he took his first hit. He'd been absolutely raving by the time he got to Mason Malone's house. In addition to stealing a car, ploughing it into a field and breaking into the Malone compound, he'd cut a chunk out of his shoulder to take out an imaginary tracker and insisted that Ellie go with him on a boat. It had been quite a night for him, and he probably wasn't going to recover from it for a while.
“I'm alive,” Aiden whispered more to himself than anything. “Why?”
“Because we're not done with you,” Rob said firmly.
28
AIDEN
Not done with me...” Aiden's voice cracked at all the implications that very short sentence held. “Rob, I can't take anymore. I can't. I'm sorry. I'm a loser. Just get rid of me already.”
“He's not talking about punishing you,” Steve chimed in. “Nor am I.”
“But... I...”
“Called a mob hit in on yourself, and almost committed suicide. We know.”
Shit. He'd hoped to avoid conversations like these for the rest of forever. Being confronted with his pathetic self wasn't pleasant. He knew he'd fucked up. He'd just hoped that he'd fucked up for the last time.
“So you're just... staying around to watch me be a terrible person? Mason's paying you for that?”
They looked at each other.
“No.” They spoke practically in unison.
“What do you mean, no?
”
“I mean we've come to an arrangement regarding you. You're ours.”
“Yours?”
“Our boy. Ours. To keep,” Steve said.
He was more confused than ever. Steve fucking hated him, as far as he knew.
“You mean Rob's.”
“No,” Steve said. “Ours.”
Aiden rubbed his hands over his face. The floor of the plane was getting uncomfortable and he had no idea what was going on. They should be mad. Really mad. They should want absolutely nothing to do with him. And yet, they were on a plane apparently in Norway, telling him that he was theirs.
“You hate me,” he mumbled confused. “Because of the drugs and the prostitution and...”
“No.” Steve interjected. “You hate you for that.”
Aiden knew that was bullshit. “I saw the way you guys looked at me when you found out about the rest. You think I'm scum.”
“There's a difference between condemning the actions and condemning the man,” Rob said. “We don't like what you did, but we're not perfect either. The future is for making amends, Aiden. It's for getting over the past. We want to do that with you.”
“Why?” Aiden's voice cracked. He was close to tears as Steve reached down and pulled him up into his lap.
“I'm sorry,” Steve said softly. “I'm sorry I didn't talk to you. I'm sorry I didn't deal with you like I should have. I froze you out and that was fucked up.”
“I deserved it,” Aiden said softly.
“No, you didn't. I was hurt because I thought you'd betrayed our intimacy. But I was the one who ended up betraying it. I was the one who made everything worse. I was upset, because we fucked once and I fell for you. Hard. And I didn't know how to deal with it.”
“You love me?” Aiden couldn't believe it. “You must have really poor taste in men.”
“Maybe,” Steven agreed, pressing a kiss to Aiden's forehead. “You're a mess on your own, boy. You need someone to take care of you. Someone to keep you in line. And us? We need someone who can take what we have to give.”
“And I have a choice or...”
He didn't really care if he had a choice. He was just so relieved that they wanted him at all. To be held in Steve's arms again made him feel as if he had died and gone straight to heaven.
“No choice,” Steve growled. “No choices, no escapes, no chances. You're ours and you'll do as we say or you'll pay the price, and boy, I mean you'll do exactly as we say, understand?”
“Yes sir,” Aiden gulped.
“And boy,” Steven scruffed the back of his neck and spoke in a low growl that sent excitement racing through Aiden's veins more strongly than any drug. “You're never touching anything stronger than Tylenol again. Got it?”
Steve didn't have to threaten him. Aiden was never going to touch another drug again, Tylenol included. If he could do everything he had done and been forgiven, then maybe he was worth something to them after all. And maybe if he was worth something to them, he could be worth something to himself.
He'd hit rock bottom full force, faced his own death and he was still here. There was only one answer to give.
“Yes sir.”
29
THE LAST AIDEN
So, how's this supposed to work, then?”
Aiden found himself sitting on a chair in front of Rob and Steve, who were standing shoulder to shoulder, looking at him with unfamiliar pride. Aiden wasn't used to people looking at him like this, as if they were about to enjoy their time with him. They had spent the last week traveling through Norway, all the way to the very end of it, as far as Aiden could tell. Both Rob and Steve had been sweet and attentive, making sure he knew he was wanted.
He was feeling guilty as hell for the stunt he'd pulled, calling Cornoli on himself. The further they traveled, and the longer he had to relax, unwind and settle himself, the more he saw how fucking stupid he had been. The fact that Robert and Steven were being so calm about it just made it worse.
They hadn't let him out of their sight, not for a minute, and at the slightest hint of his mood dipping, one or the other would make a concerted effort to cheer him up. They were sweet and he knew he was safe with them, and yet, he kind of wished they weren't being so nice. Which made no fucking sense at all. What kind of person wanted people to be mean to them? What was wrong with him?
The house they'd settled in was really nice, something out of a fairytale almost. It was a bright blue two storied fishing cottage set on an elevated plain above the sea. The land around was grass and crags for miles, wild and free. There was a little village that they could reach in the ancient VW Rob had insisted on buying, much to Steve's chagrin, and they were all settled in, the three of them sharing one large bedroom on the top floor.
Rob and Steve had called a 'family meeting', the term alone making Aiden squirm. Then they'd made him sit and look up at them as they laid down the law.
“It's simple,” Rob said, pointing to Steve. “He's going to be your Dom. I'm going to be your Daddy. And you, are going to be our boy.”
Aiden blushed, speechless. Daddy? Dom? Boy? What?
“Uhm.”
Rob chuckled. “It's a lot to take in, but it fits. Steve's tastes run to the dominant, and so do mine, but you already know I like to look after you, don't you?” His voice warmed and Aiden's blush became a squirm.
“You're our boy,” Steve added. “Because, well, you are. Have been from the moment we met.”
That was probably true, but it was hard to hear. He was an obvious subordinate to these men, and part of him hated it. Part of him wanted to reclaim the top spot, be the alpha as he used to be among the junkies and the hookers and the rest of the broken souls. That wasn't going to happen though. He couldn't imagine a world where he had any seniority over these two. They were older, they were tougher, and neither one of them had any interest in letting him have control.
“We're going to take you one on one,” Rob said. “Show you want we want from you, what we have to give you.”
“You're going to fuck me in an orderly fashion, you mean,” Aiden smirked. They'd all been horny on the trip, but there had obviously been a moratorium on anything sexual called between Rob and Steve. Now that seemed like it was about to be broken.
They chuckled and glanced at one another, and Aiden smiled. “I'm right, aren't I.”
“Do you want to start with your Daddy, or your Dom?” Rob posed the question.
Aiden looked nervously between them, then settled on the decision. “Dom,” he said. “Then Rob can make things better.”
“Not Rob,” Robert corrected him. “Daddy.”
“Uh. Yeah.”
“Say it.” The hazel eyes locked on him intensely.
Aiden felt his face heat up as if someone had turned an element on underneath his skin. “Uhmm...”
“I think he needs to start with his Daddy,” Steve said. “Seems like that's going to be more of a challenge for our boy.”
Letting out a soft whine, Aiden shook his head. Privately, he'd thought of Robert in a paternal way, but to have that openly acknowledged was just too much.
Robert stepped forward and crouched down in front of him. “Hey,” he said softly, taking Aiden's chin in his fingers. “Nothing to be embarrassed about. Everybody needs a daddy. I reckon you never had one, not really anyway. Am I right?”
Aiden tried to lower his head, to avoid Robert's gaze, but it was impossible. Rob wasn't letting him squirm out of this.
“I don't know.”
“You do know,” Rob said softly. “You know what you've needed your whole life. Someone who loves you enough to pay attention to you and keep you in line. Someone who will take you down a peg when you need it. And someone who can look after you when you need that too. That's what a daddy is for, Aiden.”
Aiden sniffed, trying hard as fuck not to cry.
30
DADDY
From the moment he first saw Aiden, Rob had been wanting to look after him. Behind all th
e attitude, bluster, and outright asshole behavior at times, there was a broken boy behind those blue eyes just crying out for somebody to care. Rob had felt it since day one, but being a bodyguard didn't leave a lot of time for being a daddy, and even if it had, he was sure Aiden would have rejected it outright in the beginning.
Now was a different matter. Aiden had ended up in the place all hardcore addicts eventually find. The place where the darkness rises up and consumes them and they face the very real possibility that they will die by their own hands. It would have been so easy for Aiden to slip into that dark night, but he'd made it back from the edge of madness and death, and Rob was determined to do everything to lift this boy up and make him see that there was still something for him in the world, something he hadn't had before.
But it was still going to be a challenge. Aiden couldn't even say the word Daddy, which was utterly adorable. He was sitting there in front of Rob trying not to cry, and failing as a tear ran down his cheek.
“Here's how this works,” he said, speaking softly. “You're my boy and you're going to follow my rules. You're going to do chores. You're going to behave yourself. If you don't, daddy is going to deal with you.”
Aiden let out a little groan.
“But, I'm also going to take care of you,” Rob added. “In every way. So whenever you need something, if it's a hug or a spanking, you can come to me.”
Now Aiden put his hands up, covering his face entirely. Rob smiled and peeled them away gently. “No need to hide from your daddy,” he said as Aiden started to squirm where he sat.
Steve had been right. This was going to be way harder on Aiden than the dom stuff. If he'd just grabbed him, tied him up and started fucking him, Aiden would have known what to do with that. But he had no idea how to confront his emotions, especially the smaller, softer parts of him that had been shuttered away behind the Taylor-Chapman name for far too long.